Interview with Bhai Juzar Haidermota, Mumbai, by Mudar Patherya


At 5 pm on 24 December 2002, two individuals walked into my office in Masjid Bunder, Mumbai.

I would have presumed that they were customers except for one detail – they were pointing a dagger and gun at me.

“Hand over all your cash and valuables,” they said in gruff Marathi.

One moment one is talking to one’s employee about a certain dispatch; another moment one is required to clean out one’s tijori.

So when a dramatic switch like this happens, the first reaction is slow the pace of response. So that one can think. So that something can throw the assailants off guard. So that unexpected help may materialize.

In my case, I did something that is a part of our psyche. I invoked the vaseela of our awliya kiraam. In this instance, I whispered ‘Maula Mohammed Burhannuddin! Madad karo! Maara jaan aney maal ni hifazat karo!’

With the barrel of a gun and the sharp edge of a dagger still pointing at me, I slowly pulled both my cash drawers open for the assailants to pick their loot.

The men looked around - instead of looking down – and said ‘Ithe kahich nahi’ (There is nothing here). They left as suddenly as they had come.

All the other offices in my building were looted of large amounts.

Huzurala (TUS) saved me – in the flash of an instant.

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