Hyderabad’s Bibi Ka Alam: A 200-Year-Old Muharram tradition

Every year during Muharram, thousands visit Alaw e Bibi in Dabeerpura to see the Bibi Ka Alam, a sacred standard with a relic of Bibi Fatima. This centuries-old tradition includes a jeweled alam and a special Ashura procession

Hyderabad: A somber atmosphere prevails at the Alaw e Bibi at Dabeerpura with thousands of people, mostly dressed in black attire, thronging the place to offer prayers at the Bibi ka Alam (standard of Bibi Fatima) installed here.

The Bibi Ka Alam is installed every year on the first day of the Muharram month at the historic Ashoorkhana (place for holding mourning sessions) for almost a century. A host of dignitaries, cutting across religious and political affiliation,s visit the place to make offerings to the alam.

The practice of installing the standards dates back to Qutb Shahi period when Muhammad Qutb Shah’s wife installed an alam in the memory of Bibi Fatima at Golconda. Later, during the Asaf Jahi era, the alam was moved over to Alaw e Bibi at Dabeerpura specially built for the purpose.

A plate affixed on the main door mentions the year of construction as the year 1784. The room in which the alam is installed is a strong room and the alam is kept in a safe made on the design of a sarcophagus.

Syed Hamed Hussain Jaffery of Telangana Shia Youth Conference explains that the alam contains a piece of the wooden plank on which Bibi Fatima was given her final ablution before burial. “The relic is believed to have reached Golconda all the way from Karbala in Iraq during the reign of Golconda king Abdullah Qutub Shah,” said Jaffery.

The ‘alam’ has six diamonds and other jewels donated by the builder of Azakhana-e-Madar-e-Deccan, Mir Osman Ali Khan. The jewellery is kept in six black pouches and tied to the standard, he explains. On the tenth day, the alam is carried on a caparisoned elephant on ‘Yaum-e-Ashura’, the 10th day of Muharram month.