Hyderabad: The Bibi Ka Alam procession story and its importance

When it comes to Bibi Ka Alam, no one generally stops to ask who this 'Bibi' is.

Hyderabad: There is no doubt that the Bibi Ka Alam procession in the Old City of Hyderabad is one of the largest religious gatherings in the city. In public memory, even the Nizams of Hyderabad participated in it every year, setting the tone of its importance. The fact that it is essentially a Shia Muslim gathering has no bearing, as Sunni Muslims and even Hindus participate in it.

It is in fact a very powerful story of cultural assimilation which dating back to the 17th century when Hyderabad was ruled by its founding Qutb Shahi or Golconda dynasty (1518-1687). The tradition continued even with the later Nizams. For those who are unaware, the Bibi Ka Alam procession is one of the many that is carried out on the 10th day of Muharram, to observe the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, one of the sons of Imam Ali (the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammed).

Imam Hussain was killed in Karbala on the day of Ashura, which is the 10th day of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic calendar). This has been a big part of Hyderabad’s religious ethos as the founder of the founding dynasty of the city was from Iran. The Qutb Shahis were essentially Shia Muslim, and they left their indelible mark on the city’s culture due to it.

While the history of Hyderabad’s rulers from the founding dynasty is in fact quite interesting and vast, I’m going to focus on the Bibi Ka Alam and its story. It is one of the many threads of the city’s stories that shows how sometimes legends and facts both make up part of the city’s history.

The founders of Hyderabad

Before coming to the Bibi Ka Alam, it is first important to understand how the city was founded.

Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah (1591-1611), the fourth king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. His grandfather Sultan Quli has originally come to India in the late 15th century as a refugee escaping persecution in Iran. Sultan Quli eventually landed up in the city of Bidar, which was the second capital of the Bahamani dynasty (1347-1518). Bidar then had been a hub for Iranian migration.

Sultan Quli eventually worked his way up to become the governor of Telangana, with the Golconda fort as his capital, under the Bahamani empire, which collapsed in 1518. That is how Sultan Quli eventually became an independent ruler. However, there was no Hyderabad until 1591. Sultan Quli and two of his sons – Jamshed Quli and Ibrahim Qutb Shah – became the second and third kings and ruled from the fort.

It was Muhammed Quli who decided to move out of the fort and founded Hyderabad in 1591. However, that city he built originally has been lost of time due to the Mughals in the north, who under Aurangzeb attacked the Golconda empire as part of their conquests. Hyderabad was eventually rebuilt by the Nizams, who were originally high-ranking Mughal commanders and later were appointed as governors of the south.

The Bibi Ka Alam story

When it comes to Bibi Ka Alam, no one generally stops to ask who this ‘Bibi’ is. It is in fact a reference to Bibi Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. The relic in this Ashurkhana has a wooden plank that is believed to be the one on which Fatima was given her last ablution before burial. The relic is believed to have come to the city as a gift to Muhammad Quli Qutb Shahi from the Bijapur empire.

The Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur were contemporaries of Golconda. There is also another story associated with Muharram and elephants at the historic Hussaini Alam with Hayat Bakshi Begum, the dowager queen Hayat Bakshi Begum, the daughter of Hyderabad’s founder Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah.

Hayat Bakshi Begum went on to marry her cousin and the fifth king Muhammad Qutb Shah (1612-26), and was the mother of the sixth Golconda king, Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626-72), who was the longest serving king among all of the seven Qutb Shahi rulers.

The Hussaini Alam Muharram Ashurkhana is essentially a story of a mother praying for her son. Sultan Abdullah became king at the age of 18 (or so) when his father died, and his mother more or less became the de facto ruler as he was quite young. The story goes that one fine day the young Sultan a wild elephant after killing its mahout disappeared with him in the wilderness.

Hayat Bakshi Begum is supposed to have prayed to the Imams for his safety, promising to install a golden chain at the Hussaini Alam Ashurkhana. She fulfilled her promise when her son returned safely, and it is said that the Hussaini Alam Kaman (arch) was built big enough for elephants to pass through as a symbolic end to the entire event.