Mumbai: The social evil of dowry in Hindu marriages is widely criticised and multiple initiatives are undertaken to eliminate this practice. Meanwhile, a Muslim Sufi organisation is working to eliminate the practice of dower from Islamic weddings by organising mass marriages of underprivileged couples. The Hazrat Shah Saqlain Academy of India has helped more than 1,000 couples get married in Mumbai and over 6,000 couples across the country.

Hazrat Shah Saqlain Academy of India is a charity organisation working under the aegis of Sufi Shaikh Shah Mohammed Saqlain Miyaan of Bareily, a renowned Sufi scholar. The organisation is known for running the Shah Saqlain Hospital in Bareily which provides all kind of medical treatment to the needy people at only Rs 5. Moreover, it also adopts underprivileged children to support their education and distributes warm clothes to the needy battling winters of North India.

On Sunday, the organisation hosted its 19th annual mass marriage at Y.M.C.A. Ground in Agripada, where 36 underprivileged couples tied knots in a grand fiesta. The NGO had also solemnised marriage for 10 couples earlier in January to fulfil their demands of early marriage.

The annual mass marriage events have collectively shouldered the responsibility of uniting and helping over 1,000 couples in Mumbai over the past 19 years and more than 6,000 couples across India to live a blissful family life.

While the mass marriage is completely self-funded by the individuals associated with the Hazrat Shah Saqlain Academy of India, it also aims to eliminate the tradition of mahr, a a financial gift that a husband gives to his wife in an Islamic marriage contract.

Apart from bearing the cost of the marriage rituals and serving feast and dinner to the family members, friends and relatives of each couple, it also provides the newly wed couples with every essential household items including gifts, furniture, kitchenwares and clothes.

“We try to fulfil our commitment of lessening the burden of deserving fathers who are constantly worried about marrying off their daughters, whilst struggling to make ends meet in their household. Our motto is ‘Serving Allah’s creations to seek Allah’s pleasure’. We are totally against the practice of mehr and therefore provide everything that a couple needs to start a new life,” said a spokesperson of the organisation.