Bengaluru: Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi’s late father-in-law was a retired inspector of police, and after his death the job was given to his son Agsar, who was working with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) later took voluntary retirement. Being closely associated with a police family, we are shocked and unable to believe the accusation that Qasmi had links with Al-Qaeda terror module, said his followers from the mosque where he preached.
A good orator
Sixty-one-year old Qasmi holds a post-graduation degree in Urdu and is a good orator, said head of a mosque, where he delivers sermons (Bayaan). “We have not seen him making derogatory or hate speech against other religion; but being a staunch Muslim, he was very rude while preaching at mosques and madarasas. He delivers speech for about 1-1/2 hours every Friday noon at our Makkah Masjid in Banashankari,” said Nayaz Pasha, president of the committee members of the mosque.
Qasmi who is originally from Shivajinagar in the city, had studied two years in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh before starting his career as Imam and Khatib at various mosques in the city. “We initially thought he was picked by the police probably for his inflammatory speeches that he might have delivered somewhere, but later it came in the media that he had links with the Al Qaeda. Its too big for us to think and we are all shocked about this new development,” Nayaz Pasha told Deccan Chronicle.
Al Rafiya Jammia Masjid where Maulana Anzar Shah preached
Not much association with mosque
“Its four years and running for Anzar Shah Qasmi, the maulvi, at the Makkah Masjid here in Banashankari, but his association with the mosque and the madarasa was only the 1-1/2 hour speech that he delivered every Friday afternoon and nothing apart from that. He comes, delivers his speech and leaves,” Pasha said. We don’t know whom he mingled with or whom he was in contact with outside. He was drawing a salary of '20,000 from the mosque for his work, he added.
Had a good fan following
“At least 2,000 community members would gather if he was coming to deliver a speech. He was very rude in his speeches, but it was for our well-being. Many men had stopped consuming alcohol and many couples were united, even if they came for Talaq,” said Sadaqath, one of his followers at the Makkah Masjid. “He used to rant at our very own community members who wear western clothing and who do not wear skull caps or pray regularly. He used to speak against Muslim women who did not wear burqas,” said Nayaz Pasha.
“He had a good fan-following throughout the city and the country. Though some of the community members heard his angry speeches for entertainment, some of them heard it on a serious notes and even got addicted,” said Zulfiqar Khan, Vice President of the committee members of Makkah Masjid.
(Left)Nayaz Pasha, president of Makkah Masjid mosque committee in Banshankari and Zilfiqar Khan, vice-president (Photo: DC)
‘Was punctual, led simple life’
Qasmi was considered to be a learned scholarly person among the community members. He was punctual and led a simple life. “He even vacated a rented house after the house owner increased the rent by Rs 3,000, as his financial condition was poor. We do not know how much money he had though,” said Nayaz Pasha.
A busy man
Anzar Shah has two sons and one daughter and lived with his wife in Hegde Nagar. Initially, he and his family use to live in Jayanagar 9th Block East, next to the Noorani Mosque where he was the imam earlier. Then they moved to Minaj Nagar, when he joined the Makkah Masjid, after there were complaints against him from the previous masjid. He then took a house in Illyaz Nagar for staying for two days in a week while he preached at the Jamia Masjid and the Makkah Masjid.
He was picked by the Delhi police from the Illyaz Nagar house on Wednesday night. He had also living in Tannery Road for some time as it was his wife’s place, where he was a maulvi at the Modi Masjid nearby, after which he moved to Hegde Nagar. He used to preached at the Jamia Masjid on Thursdays and Makkah Masjid on Fridays, said Zulfiqar Khan. He used two phones and carried a laptop whenever he came to the masjid. He usually traveled in auto-rickshaw or used to get dropped in cars of his followers. He was a busy man traveling and delivering speeches in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bihar, and several other places in India, Zulfiqar added.
‘He was sacked, later reinstated’
“Fourteen months ago, we had taken him off job from our mosque as we came to know that he had delivered some derogatory speech while I had gone for the Haj pilgrimage,” said Nayaz Pasha. “We had also lodged a complaint against him at the Banashankari police station on November 14, 2014. Later, there was pressure on the committee from our community seniors, who were highly placed individuals, that we reinstate him, and hence we took an undertaking from him in writing that he will not resort to any unconstitutional speeches before our community members,” Pasha said.
