On 27 December 1963, ''Moi-e-Muqqadas'', a holy relic believed by many to be a strand from the beard of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

, went missing the

Hazratbal Shrine The Hazratbal Shrine ( ks, ), popularly called Dargah Sharif ("the Holy Shrine"), is a Muslim shrine located in Hazratbal locality of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India. It contains a relic, ''Moi-e-Muqqadas'', which is widely believed to ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, leading to widespread protests across the Indian subcontinent. The relic was recovered on 4January 1964. No information about the thieves was disclosed.

History of the relic

The relic was brought to India in 1635 by Syed Abdullah. It was then passed through his son Syed Hamid to a Kashmiri businessman named Nooruddin. In the late 17th century, the

Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

imprisoned Nooruddin and seized the relic, moving it to the Sufi tomb in Ajmer. Aurangzeb returned the relic in 1700 after Nooruddin had died. The relic was preserved by his descendants and kept in a place that later became the

Theft

On 27 December 1963 news broke out that the holy relic was stolen from the shrine. Around 50,000 people carrying black flags demonstrated in front of the shrine. According to ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', the Srinagar superintendent of police said that he believed that the theft had occurred around 2am when the custodians of the shrine were sleeping. The next day, the Prime Minister of the state,

Khwaja Shams-ud-Din Khwaja Shams-ud-Din (1922 – 19 April 1999) was the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir for a brief period of time from 12 October 1963 to 29 February 1964. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1956 and re-elected in 1962, 1967 ...

, reached the shrine and announced an award of 100,000 rupees for providing information regarding the theft. On 29December, a curfew was imposed and police arrested the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

leader

Mohammad Shafi Qureshi Mohammad Shafi Abbasi Qureshi (24 November 1928 – 28 August 2016) was an Indian politician and statesman from Kashmir and the founder of the Congress Party in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Life He was born on 24 November 1928 in Kas ...

. To investigate the theft, on 31December, Indian Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

sent the head of the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

, B. N. Mullick, to Kashmir.

Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq Mohammad Farooq Shah commonly known as Mirwaiz Moluvi Mohammad Farooq was the Mirwaiz of his time in Kashmir and chairman of the All Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee, a coalition of disparate political parties in Jammu and Kashmir that so ...

set up the Sacred Relic Action Committee, of which he was the president. On 4 January 1964, the relic was recovered, and the ''

Sadr-i-Riyasat Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...

Karan Singh Karan Singh (born 9 March 1931) is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the son of the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh. He was the prince regent of Jammu and Kashmir until 1952. From 19 ...

organised prayers at a Hindu temple to help dispel communal tension. When Mullick informed Nehru about the recovery, Nehru said to Mullick that "you have saved Kashmir for India". In his memoirs, Mullick claims that the information about the investigation was not disclosed. The Home Minister of India,

Gulzarilal Nanda Gulzarilal Nanda (4 July 1898 – 15 January 1998) was an Indian politician and economist who specialized in labour issues. He was the Interim Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and L ...

, also said in the parliament that the thieves "shall be identified".

Aftermath

Chief Minister

Syed Mir Qasim Syed Mir Qasim (1921 - 12 December 2004) was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 1971 to 1975. Syed Mir Qasim's political career first began during the British Raj, when he became a leader of the non-sectarian, pro-democracy Quit Kash ...

writes that, even though the relic was recovered, its authenticity was not verified. The incident led to

riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. There was a huge refugee influx in a small time frame of three months period between December 1963 and February 1964 to India as a result of these riots. A fictionalized version of the incident is the subject of Salman Rushdie's short story "The Prophet's Hair" (1981).

References

{{reflist, 2 Theft Relics 1963 in India Jammu and Kashmir 1963 crimes in India Crime in Jammu and Kashmir