Villagers of various faiths in Punjab, India, are coming together to revive Muslim places of worship that were destroyed or abandoned during the sectarian violence of India’s partition in 1947. This collaborative effort aims to heal historical wounds and foster interfaith unity.
Gajju Khan, an 87-year-old Muslim resident of Jakhiwal village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, expressed hope that he would live to hear the azaan, the Muslim call to prayer, echo once more from his village's mosque. The last time he heard it was when he was eight years old in Tira Maloya, Chandigarh, where his parents were killed during the 1947 bloodshed. Khan and his brothers were sheltered by Sikh neighbors during the brutal violence, a memory he cherishes. He never anticipated a house of worship would be rebuilt for the 18 Muslim families remaining in Jakhiwal, especially with funding almost entirely from the village's Sikh and Hindu residents.
“This was my maternal home. My parents sent my two brothers and me here to save us from the bloodshed – they were killed back in our village,” Khan recounted. “Sikhs hid us from the patrols of men with sticks and burning torches.”
A significant contribution came from 77-year-old Sikh villager Bibi Rajinder Kaur, who persuaded her grandson to donate a parcel of their farmland for the mosque's construction. Kaur explained her motivation, stating that while other faiths had places to gather, local Muslims had none. “There is no deed better than giving someone a place to worship,” she said. “Also, it felt like we needed to appease God for the blood this land had seen. The Muslims in our village had to travel 4km [2.5 miles] to another village just to pray.”
The 1947 partition of British India severed Punjab in two, leading to catastrophic communal violence and forced migrations that left the eastern, Indian side of the region virtually devoid of its Muslim population. Hundreds of village mosques were subsequently abandoned, desecrated, or repurposed into cattle sheds and storage units.
However, over the past decade, rural Sikh and Hindu communities have quietly initiated efforts to restore these places of worship. Even in villages with no Muslim residents, people have invited Muslim farmhands and clerics from nearby districts to pray in these newly revived mosques.
Approximately 50 miles from Jakhiwal, in Punawal village, Sangrur district, Jaspal Sharma, 48, from a family of Hindu priests, donated his land for a new mosque. He also hosted a feast for the entire village at its inauguration in February. Sharma described the donation as a neighborly duty, noting that only a very small proportion of Punawal's 550 households are Muslim.
“It’s right opposite our house, so the sound of prayers five times a day creates a lively atmosphere. We like it,” Sharma commented. “And it wasn’t just us; everyone in the village, Hindus and Sikhs together, contributed what they could. Some gave money; others donated bricks and cement.”
In Umarpura village, Malerkotla, Sukhjinder Singh Pandher and his brother undertook the restoration of a local shrine as an act of filial reverence, honoring their grandfather who fled west Punjab during partition to settle in India. “Nobody is treated as different here,” Pandher stated, sharing tea with Muslim neighbors in the restored mosque. “Eid and Gurpurab [Sikhs’ most holy festival] are celebrated by both communities with the same fervour.” He added, “We live as one and no matter what happens in the rest of the country, the mood here is that of love and unity. Punjab’s conscience cannot tolerate cruelty against a being, irrespective of caste and religion.”
Inspired by Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, the former shahi, or chief, imam of Punjab, non-Muslim villagers have contributed to the revival of more than 165 such mosques over the past nine years.
Maulana Muhammad Usman Rehmani Ludhianvi, who succeeded his father as shahi imam in 2021, reflected on the historical context and current unity. “Partition tore at the natural fabric of Punjab,” he said. “This state itself is an inquilab [revolution]. Online, there is immense polarisation, but on the ground in our villages, ordinary people are still choosing to protect each other.”
