– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Tumkuru, June 12: At a 30-minute drive from Tumkuru city in Karnataka, Sathgatta village is not so famous for any special thing but for a recent development. Around 150 Muslim families have been staying there since time immemorial. As in any other village, there also lies a burial ground and an Eidgah spread over 3200 sq. ft. of land (around three guntas).
Nobody in the village knew about the Eidgah land until a Waqf officer trying to set right the records of Waqf properties found an astonishing fact. The Eidgah was constructed on the land belonging to a fellow non-Muslim villager who had donated for Eidgah construction happily during olden times.
Another discovery in the records was more shocking. A 30 guntas land with mango groves all around cultivated by another fellow villager Thimme Gowda actually is a waqf property. Looking at the mango trees, one can assess they are around 50 years old.
District Waqf Committee president and advocate Afroze Ahmed visited the village and met the cultivator Thimme Gowda along with Hanumantharaiappa, a retired police officer from the same village. After a long persuasion, Thimme Gowda admitted that the land does not belong to him and promised to return it to the Waqf Board. He also disclosed that his great grandfather had offered his land for the construction of Eidgah then voluntarily. And since then the Muslims have been offering Eid prayers on his ancestor’s land.
Meanwhile, somebody instigated Thimme Gowda to desist from returning the land. He went into anonymity. He could not be traced for a long time. The retired police officer somehow contacted Gowda and persuaded him to keep up his promise and uphold the age-old family and village values. This will pave the way for harmony and brotherhood in the village. Finally, Thimme Gowda got convinced and handed over the land and signed the documents. And of course, Gowda’s ancestral land was given back to him by the village Muslims.
A new Eidgah was constructed on the Waqf land and inaugurated recently. Both Thimme Gowda and Hanumanthiah were duly honoured with shawl and garlands on the inauguration of the Eidgah. The forthcoming Eid al-Adha will be the first occasion to offer Namaz at the new Eidgah.
