Shahi Imam title given by Shah Jahan: Bukhari

New Delhi: Defending his decision to anoint his son as his successor, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari has claimed before the Delhi high court that it was an inherited title bestowed on the first Imam by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and it was a custom which was not in conflict with law for centuries.

Bukhari claimed that the Emperor had said that the Imamat of the Jama Masjid will continue in the family of the first Imam only.  

“As Shahi Imam is a title which was given to the first Imam of Jama Masjid (Hazrat Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari, Shahi Imam) by the Emperor Shah Jahan and he also stated that the Imamat of the said Jama Masjid will continue in his family only. “As this is a custom and tradition and not in conflict with any law from centuries, so no one should be restrained from using the title/honour of Shahi Imam for the Imam of Jama Masjid,” he said in an affidavit filed before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar.

Bukhari, who is the 13th Imam in the line of descent, was responding to the PILs filed by Suhail Ahmed Khan, Ajay Gautam and advocate V.K. Anand in which they had said Jama Masjid was a property of Delhi Wakf Board and Bukhari cannot appoint his son as Naib Imam.