‘Prosperity makes Shab-e-Barat occasion for pomp & assertion’

Imtiaz Ahmad
Shab-e-Barat is a good example of the transformation of a Muslim festival under conditions of commercialization and search for identity in a plural society. Until a few decades ago, it was an innocuous religious festival associated with piety and obeisance to the dead. It was an occasion for prayers for the soul of the dead. Muslims usually spent the night in prayer and ritual offering to the dead, often in silence at home.No great pomp and show was associated with it. They would visit the graveyards where their ancestors lay buried and light candles on their graves. Some would prepare sweets and offer them to the dead and distribute in the community.
Over the past two or three decades, the character of the festival has changed from a subdued religious occasion to one where there is enormous display of pomp and show. There are fireworks and people, particularly young men, come out on the streets and indulge in revelry. Sweets are still distributed, but the focus is now on revelry and boisterous demonstration of solidarity of the Muslims. Since the festival coincides with the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, the festival becomes an occasion for sermons and gatherings of Muslim clerics. On most occasions, these gatherings and the accompanying celebrations go on all night.
This transformation of an otherwise innocuous sacred event into a boisterous and celebratory occasion has been prompted by several factors. One is prosperity. Muslims, particularly among the emerging socially mobile middle class, donate substantial amounts of money for holding large gatherings and for spending on the festivities. Another factor is the process of commercialization where the all-night gatherings also become a virtual marketplace for people to buy and sell goods. So strong is the pull of trade and commerce that the sanctity of the occasion is pushed to the background.
Most Muslim festivals, except for the Ramadan Eid, are relatively individual or family affairs. Shab-e-Barat has become an occasion for the display of community solidarity. Most Muslim youths use this occasion to show that it is a public celebration like Diwali or the birthdays of Hindu gods and goddesses like Ramnavmi or Janmashtami. Muslims use the festival to show that they too have public festivals and demonstrate a sense of community solidarity. While the community may feel that it is a Muslim festival, but the way it is now celebrated has been influenced greatly by the parallel growth of Hindu festivals and the pomp and show associated with them.
Usually, such transformation that Shab-e-Barat has undergone is natural for a society in which prosperity has become widespread and the prevailing democratic ethos allow all communities to celebrate their festivals with pomp and show. However, the state machinery is wary of such transformation of a Muslim festival. The state authorities often issue public statements advising Muslims to exercise restraint. The police are deployed in large numbers to ensure that Muslims do not go overboard and create potential for conflict. This presence of the state machinery creates more potential for violence and breakdown of social harmony.
Whether heavy deployment of police creates greater potential for conflict or breakdown of public peace is an open question. Muslims are as much interested in maintaining peace and harmony as other Indian citizens. Left to themselves, they may ensure peace, but the alarmist orientation of the law-enforcement agencies provokes potential for conflict and disturbance of public order. The state agencies may do well to reconsider this.
(The writer is a renowned political scientist)