Muslim bricklayer carves shrines for dead Hindus in Bangladesh | New Religions

A Muslim artisan has channeled his gifts among the Hindu minority in Bangladesh to the pastoralists on a peaceful journey to the next life.

Taher Ali Khan has built thousands of shrines for missing loved ones in Barisal Mahashashan, a quiet area around the country’s largest Hindu crematorium.

The bricklayer prays five times a day and obeys all the precepts of the Islamic faith, but often ignores harsh criticism that calls into question his call.

“My prophet said with honest work to find bread. And he advised us not to steal, hurt or commit any crime, ”Khan, 60, told AFP news agency.

“I work here building graves,” he added. “I don’t see anything that would endanger my religion.”

About 10 percent of the Muslim nation’s majority of 169 million are Hindus, and they are well represented in politics, business, and the civil service.

But their numbers fell by about a quarter of the population in 1947, when millions fled the newly independent India after splitting into two separate religious nations.

Another massive exodus coincided with the savage nine-month independence war in Bangladesh in 1971, when Pakistani military commanders punished attacks that killed tens of thousands of Hindu civilians.

The occasional flashes of deadly religious strife continue to this day, with at least six people killed last month in riots that have also suffered attacks on temples across the nation.

The news of the latest violence angered Khan, who in the following days called on Hindu friends to ask about their safety.

“I consider Hindus to be my siblings,” he says.

“They love me for my work. I pour out my heart to build graves because everyone wants to build something beautiful for their dead. ”

Taher Ali Khan, right, Barisal Mahashashan working in a tomb on the ground of a Hindu crematorium [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

Khan spends most of his time in the crematorium, working in the decorated samadhi shrines that run across the lands around the funeral pyre.

The humblest monuments are small, simple concrete slabs, in the style of Western tombstones, and the ashes of the dead are buried beneath them.

The largest are elaborate buildings with colorful towers on top of a small man-made pond that greets visitors at the entrance to the cemetery, and can be sold for 250,000 taka ($ 3,000).

“If I build a beautiful Samadhi for the dead, it gives me tremendous joy,” he says. “I feel like I’ve done something to help them feel good and make their dead cry well.”

Khan learned his trade 35 years ago and has estimated that he has built more than 10,000 samadhis since then; Most of the area around the Barisal crematorium is its handicrafts.

“Look at this beautiful,” he says, gesturing to one of the shrines on a tour of the cemetery.

“The family wanted something beautiful for their young boy, who died suddenly. I did it with all my love and care. ”

Khan spends most of his time in the crematorium, working in the decorated holy samadhi [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

His work is in high demand by the Hindu communities living in Barisal and the remote farming communities around the southern river port.

“It doesn’t matter if he is a Muslim, he does a solid job,” said Gouranga Das, who came to the area to cremate his mother and seek Khan’s services again.

“She made my grandfather’s grave and it was very pretty.”

Every year at the Bhoot Chaturdashi festival, when Hindu worshipers honor their dead by decorating samadhis with candles, he receives dozens of invitations to remember his loved ones.

After spending more than half his life working for Barisal Mahashashan, the local owners also take over the family, although he still works as a freelancer.

“People come to him to build tombstones for his relatives, because he is the best,” said Tamal Malakar, the incinerator’s secretary general.

“We love him and his work.”