Temple, dargah, gurudwara: Youth learn about interfaith harmony at Rubaroo's interfaith walk

Hyderabad: Rubaroo, a Hyderabad-based youth development organization, organized an interfaith walk that passed through temples, dargahs, and gurudwaras. The walk was part of the Agaaz-e-Baatcheet programme 2022-23 which was initiated in 2017 with the hope to bridge gaps and create a platform to begin conversations on interfaith.

This year the programme is supported by DKA Austria. The purpose of the programme is to make young people the advocates of interfaith harmony.

Dr. Haseeb Jafferi, a descendant of Salabath Jung from the Nizam family, was the lead facilitator of the walk. He has a profound knowledge of Hyderabadi Tehzeeb, heritage, and Sufism which he has learned from a very early age at his home. He is an experiential educator and uses deep facilitation techniques to bring alive experiential history through narration and experiential pedagogy.

Dr. Haseeb started the walk with an "adaab" and then shared the significance of water in different faiths while speaking about the historical foundation of Gulzar Houz. Here is Dr. Haseeb Jafferi recounting the walk:

The first place worth visiting as part of the walk was Shri Mahadev Temple which is one of the popular lord Shiva temples in the premises of the Old City. The custodian of the temple spoke about Hinduism.

Next, the cohort moved to the Urdu Galli dargah and learned about Sufism and Islamic culture from Muzaffar Ali Moosavi, the current custodian of the dargah. We also discovered it is one of the few dargahs in the country that celebrates the festival of Basant Panchami.

The next stop was Badshahi Ashurkhana, one of the best-preserved buildings in the city. The walkers were mesmerized by the brilliantly coloured Persian tile-mosaic walls. Insights about the history of the Shia community, the battle of Karbala, and the martyrdom of Imam Ali were shared by Murutuza Ali Moosavi, the custodian of Badshahi Ashurkhana.Temple, dargah, gurudwara: Youth learn about interfaith harmony at Rubaroo's interfaith walk

The walk ended at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha where the young people sat down to listen to stories of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the golden rules of Sikhism, Panj kakar from Harweendar Singh Gyani. The session ended with each participant sharing their feelings about the walk. One of the biggest learnings from the walk was that every religion talks about one thing or multiple things in the same way, aiming towards being good humans.

"Contrary to how the media portray religions, I was very surprised how the scholars and priests were very positive and open to the idea of interfaith dialogue. I felt very hopeful," said Krishna.