Son et lumiere at Sibtainabad Imambada to mark Chehellum
LUCKNOW: For the first time, the Sibtainabad Imambada in the city will use a son et lumiere (sound and light show) to commemorate the Karbala martyrs on the eve of Chehellum or Arbaeen, falling on December 2. Chehellum is observed on the 40th day after Moharram, the day of martyrdom and is falling on December 3 this year.
The grand show on Shab-eArbaeen (eve of Chehlum) will encapsulate mourning in the holy city of Karbala as well as the city of Nawabs that is said to have a most unique tradition of azadaari (mourning) after Iraq. “
It is perhaps the only city to have replicas of the mausoleum of Imams including those of the second, fourth, fifth and sixth Imams and several other religious spots. The nawabs got them constructed to facilitate their people, who could not visit these shrines,” said Meer Jafar Abdullah, a member of the royal family of Awadh.
S Mohammed Haider, mutwalli of Sibtainabad Imambada, said the show was being organised in collaboration with ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’, a non-government organisation of Muslim youths and professionals, and the waqf management committee of Imambada Sibtainabad.
“In the show, a film will be screened on the huge screen that has been prepared by digitising the old images of azadaari in Awadh during the nawabi era and also in Karbala,” Rizvi said.
Recitations of the sequence of events during the battle of Karbala, narrated by Sanney Naqvi and Masood Abdullah in their own style, will be another highlight of the show.
The imambada is also holding an inter-faith dialogue, inviting speakers and debaters across the community lines. On the occasion, Maulana S Kalbe Sadiq, educationist and cleric, Rajender Singh Bagga, president, Lucknow Gurudwara Prabandan Committee (LGPC), Carlyle McFarland, principal La Martiniere College, Himanshu Bajpai, theatre artist and scholar, Rana Safvi, historian and author, Dr Ali Khan Mehmudabad, PhD, MPhil, University of Cambridge and MZ Khan of the department of civil engineering, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow would be the key speakers. There will be a brainstorming on the real message of Islam and also on the historic battle of Karbala.
The programme will be organised on Sibtainabad Imambada premises from 6:30 pm onwards.