The mystique of the Jews of Rawalpindi that persists even today

There is a three-storied building in the Babu neighborhood of Sadar, Rawalpindi, now Ur Rehman It is called Manzil and there are several videos about it on social media, which claim that it was a Jewish place of worship before the creation of Pakistan.

The biggest argument in favor of this argument is that on both sides of it, the holy symbol of the Jews, ‘Star of David’ is made.

But none of the residents of this building know its history and whether it was ever a Jewish synagogue.

This building in Rawalpindi Saddar Ki Street is in good condition in Nishtar Street, which now houses shops and warehouses. Before the creation of Pakistan, this street was called Leyton Street.

A 100-year-old map of Rawalpindi shows places of worship, but Leyton Street shows no sign of a Jewish religious place of worship.

The story of the Jews of Rawalpindi is connected to Mashhad

85 thousand Jews who settled in Israel are those who emigrated from India.

The earliest evidence of Jewish population in India is found in the port of Cochin in 562 BC, where they came for trade, but the arrival of Jews in Rawalpindi was during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

To know its background, we have to go to the city of Mashhad in Iran.

Dr. Yvette Altmiller, a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a lecturer at Northwestern University, London, has written about the Jews of Rawalpindi in an article about how they fled Mashhad. Kar took refuge in Rawalpindi during Ranjit Singh’s reign.

Nadir Shah, the king of Iran who conquered Delhi in March 1739 and the treasure he looted from here, has a current value of more than 30 billion dollars, including the Koh Noor diamond.

Nadir Shah’s throne was in Mashhad, where the majority were Shias, but Nadir Shah himself was of Sunni faith, so he was afraid of the Shias that they might rebel against him at the opportunity and lose the throne and crown. can do

To protect himself and his booty, he looked to the Jews living in Iran.

Because of the religious sanctity of Mashhad, Jews could not settle there, but Nadir Shah did not take this restriction into account. He built separate quarters for the Jews in Mashhad, which were called ‘Eid Gah’.

Jews have had the status of dhimmis in Muslim states, they could live in peace by paying jizya, but they did not have the same rights as Muslims.

Jews flourished in Mashhad for 90 years. Here they also had a main synagogue, schools and cultural institutions. Many Jews were involved in trade and their businesses spread throughout Iran.

The Shia community of Mashhad viewed the presence of Jews in the city with suspicion. During this time, an incident happened which forced them to leave Mashhad.

It was the day of March 27, 1839 when the massacre of Jews took place in Mashhad. It was on the days of Ashura when a Jewish woman suffering from Jazam disease went to Hakim for treatment.

Hakeem told a very strange treatment that he applied the dog’s blood on his face and body. When the woman did so, a nearby Muslim child made it known that the Jewish woman had a dog named Naudzballah after a blessed religious figure.

What happened next was horrific and is still commemorated today with special paintings at the Jewish Museum in Tel Aviv.

Believing the words of the child, the scholars from the mosques started preaching about how a Dhimmi woman had acted insolently.

After coming out of the mosques, the Muslims rushed to the Jewish settlements and then the Jews they found could not be saved.

Jewish women were raped, children were kidnapped, and more than 30 Jews were killed in the riots. Jewish synagogues were set on fire and their homes looted.

The option then presented to the Jews was to convert to Islam and if they did not, the Jewish children in Muslim custody would be killed.

Thus, 300 Jews of Mashhad became Muslims out of fear of their lives. This process is still remembered in Mashhad as ‘Allah Dad’. For many generations after this event, Jews continued to worship in secret ways.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Jews fled to Punjab because they already had trade connections with Punjab.

Rawalpindi was an important station for trade between China and Iran. Silk and pottery came from China and carpets and saffron went to China from Iran.

All this trade was done through Rawalpindi. The Jews of Iran also used to come and go to Rawalpindi, so when they faced difficulties, they considered it appropriate to come to Rawalpindi.

Why is there no mention of Jews in the history of Rawalpindi?

The Jews who fled to Punjab were sheltered in Rawalpindi during the reign of Ranjit Singh, who took up residence in the Babu Mahal of Rawalpindi and became involved in the trade.

They had full religious freedom under the Sikh government, they built a beautiful synagogue and community center here. Ranjit Singh though died in the same year that the Jews came here.

Even after the end of Sikh rule in Punjab in 1849, they continued to live peacefully in Rawalpindi, but due to riots at the time of partition, many Jews of Rawalpindi migrated to the Indian city of Bombay.

The Ikka Dukka Jews who remained in Rawalpindi also migrated to Israel through India until 1960, where the elders of the generation born in Rawalpindi are still present.

The question is, if Jews were present in Rawalpindi and had a synagogue and a community center, then why is there no evidence of Jews in the part of Rawalpindi’s history that deals with the colonial period?

If they were involved in trade, there is no mention of any prominent Jewish merchant in the city.

‘Rawal Des’, written by veteran writer Aziz Malik, gives a glimpse of pre-Partition Pandi. It mentions prominent Hindus, Sikhs and Parsis, but does not mention any Jews at all.

Muhammad Arif Raja, a veteran activist of Tehreek-e-Pakistan, wrote in his book ‘Tarikh Rawalpindi wa Tarikh-e-Pakistan’ that the office of the Jewish organization Freemasons in Rawalpindi was the place of the Council of Arts in Sadar, which was very mysterious, its workers the darkness of the night. I would come and go.

Apart from this one reference, no other reference has been found yet.

There could be two reasons for this, one is that the Jews were a relatively isolated and self-hidden community and the other is that they were either considered Christians or Anglo-Indians.

Star of Dawoodi is present on many buildings of Rawalpindi

The number of Jews in Rawalpindi was not shown separately in any pre-Partition census.

Colonel Zahid Mumtaz, a resident of Rawalpindi Sadar, who is interested in the history of Rawalpindi, told Independent Urdu that there was a Star of David on a building in front of the coal center in Sadar, which was probably his place of worship or community center.

Ali Khan, the author of Rawalpindi from the Raj Years, a book on the neo-demographic period of Rawalpindi, told Independent Urdu that Jews used to live in Rawalpindi, but apart from the Freemason Centre, there are no traces of them. The presence of the Star of David on buildings was probably an architectural fashion of the period, as the symbol was also present in his own ancestral home.

Is the presence of the Star of David on the present Ur Rehman Building in Sadar enough to prove that it was once a Jewish religious place of worship? This sign is built on top of many ancient buildings of the city.

One such old haveli is also in Lal Kadti. Almas Bobi, who works for transgender rights in Pakistan, once owned the mansion but later sold it.

When he was asked about the history of the mansion, whether it had been owned by a Jewish family, he replied that ‘This mansion was built by a Hindu businessman Suraj Bhan just seven years before the creation of Pakistan.

‘He was killed in Lal Karti in the partition riots. He had only one daughter who went to India, so the presence of the Star of Dawoodi on the building can only add to its beauty.’

He further said that ‘maybe even the masons of this era do not know that the mark they make is the holy religious mark of the Jews. It is just like how people decorate the Dharma Chakra and keep it in their drawing rooms, but they do not know that it is the sacred symbol of the Hindus.’

Khurram Butt, who has photographed the ancient buildings of Rawalpindi, also says that the Star of David symbol can be seen on several ancient mansions in the city, which were clearly owned by Hindus, including MM Alam. Road and havelis located on Jamia Masjid Road are also included.

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