Syed Mohammad Noor ur Rahman Barkati is an Indian Muslim cleric who was the Shahi

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

of the

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 ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Though he claimed himself to be ''

Shahi Imam The Shahi Imam is the Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid. History Mughal Emperor Shahjahan appointed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari, who originally came from Shah of Bukhara, Uzbekistan to be the first Imam of the Mosque in 1656. ...

'' (Royal Imam), according to a report of ''

Ebela ''Ebela'' (Bengali: এবেলা) was a Bengali tabloid targeted primarily at young Bengali readers of West Bengal. It is the second Bengali daily published by ABP Group after ''Anandabazar Patrika''. This is a 24-page tabloid was being cir ...

'', he was not so as he did not lead any royal in prayer.

Appointment

Barkati is the second ''imam'' from his family, succeeding his father in 1989.

Controversies

In March 2010, Barkati was accused of formalising the marriage of a Muslim boy with a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

girl. Though he admitted the fact, he said the matter was "politically motivated". Barkati also organised prayers for

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

after he was killed by United States in March 2011. In December 2016, Barkati issued a ''

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

'' against

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

chief Dilip Ghosh for allegedly giving hate speech against chief minister

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...

. In the ''fatwa'', he asked people to stone Ghosh and exile him from the state. In January 2017, Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

received a fatwa from Barkati for demonetising 500 and 1000 rupees bank notes. He offered an amount of 25 lakh rupees to someone who would "cut off PM Narendra Modi's beard, shave his head and smear him with black ink". His activity drew criticism with ruling

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

MLA Siddiqullah Chowdhury saying that it showed Barkati's immaturity.

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

West Bengal secretary Muhammad Nooruddin said that his comments would damage the reputation of Muslims. Former

state president Rahul Sinha said India was not a place for ''fatwa''s. Barkati said in May that he would beat Muslims who would join Bharatiya Janata Party or

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

. He also said that Muslims who said "Jai Shree Ram" (Hindu slogan) were eunuchs. Barkati also warned of waging a ''

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

'' if India became a Hindu state. After the central government passed an order banning the use of red beacons, Barkati refused to remove the beacon from his car, citing that the ''imams'' were given right to use the beacon during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. He finally removed it after a meeting with Trinamool Congress MLA

Bobby Hakim Firhad Hakim 1 January 1959) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 38th Mayor of Kolkata. He is also serving as Cabinet Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of West Bengal. He is a MLA of ...

. Barkati has been accused by Bengali newspaper ''

'' of trying to illegally occupy the mosque. He has also been criticised for using the mosque premises for press conferences where he gave political messages. He has also been accused of possessing inappropriate wealth.

Sacking

On 17 May 2017, Barkati was sacked from his post of Shahi Imam. Shahzada Anwar Ali Shah, the president of the trustee board, said that he was sacked because he insulted the religion and the country by making anti national statements. He also said that Barkati was indirectly helping Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to spread in the state.

References

{{authority control Islam and politics Indian imams