Cheeta-Meharats: Indians that are Hindus as well as Muslims!

Here’s something very interesting from across the border (and I’m not referring to their semi-naked, near-nude actresses): there’s a community in India whose members are Muslims as well as Hindus. They’re known as the Cheeta-Meharats, and are mostly settled in Ajmer, Pali, Raj Samand, Bhilwara and Udaipur (I believe this area was known as C.P. once). Their population is a million and a half, and about 70 percent live below the poverty line (an improvement over the rest of India, where about eighty percent are perpetually hungry).

So what’s so interesting about them? Well, it seems they follow both the Islamic and Hindu ways of praying. They pray in mosques (like Muslims do) and t hey also pray in Hindu temples. They celebrate Eid and Diwaali, and they probably drink cow piss as well. There are just three rituals of Islam that the Cheeta-Meharats have to compulsorily follow – sunnat (circumcision), dafan (burial) and eating halal meat. They have traditional Hindu weddings (making seven rounds around the sacred fire), as well as marrying in the Islamic manner (“nikah”).

Both Muslims and Hindus have tried to convert the community to their religions, but without success. No one knows why, how or when they started following both religions, but their population indicates that they’ve been like this for at least two hundred years or so.

Source: Times Of India


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39 responses to “Cheeta-Meharats: Indians that are Hindus as well as Muslims!”

  1. Mohammad Yusha Avatar

    Hend: Are you calling belief in black magic superstition?

  2. Hend Avatar
    Hend

    Yusha

    I already explained by pasting the below.

    Here are the top two topics on Chowrangi.

    Black Magic – 79,518 Views
    How to break Black Magic – 56,237 Views

  3. Mohammad Yusha Avatar

    Hend: You see more Muslims that are superstitious? Please explain that one to me.

  4. Mohammad Yusha Avatar

    The Cheetan-Maharats should not be called half Muslims. They have nothing to do with Islam.

  5. Mohammad Yusha Avatar

    @Faky: Following hal of a religion is one thing, like common sense lacking wahhabis, but this is something totally different.

    @Kashif: It depends on whether SRK worships the idols in his home or not (maybe he has kept them only for his wife). However, his kids are messed up. They could certainly go in this category.

    @Shakir: SRK is not an athiest. He believes in Allah. However, whether he is a Muslim or not will depend on whether he believes only in Allah or not.

  6. Hend Avatar
    Hend

    SRK is a Muslim. Fact that he married a Hindu does not make him atheist. I don’t know about the superstitious nature of Hindus but I definitely see more Muslims who are superstitious and called ‘like Hindus’ by those who want to deny the reality.

    Here are the top two topics on Chowrangi.

    Black Magic – 79,518 Views
    How to break Black Magic – 56,237 Views

  7. Shakir Lakhani Avatar

    @ skunk: whenever a man (or a whole community) adopts a new religion, old beliefs and customs remain for a long time. I know Muslims who’re still terribly superstitious (like Hindua), as well as Khojas who keep statues of Swami Narayan (to whom a large temple complex is dedicated in Karachi) in their houses.
    @ Kashif: SRK is an atheist (at least this is what I’ve heard), so he can’t be put in this category.

  8. Kashif Aziz Avatar

    Can Shah Rukh Khan also be placed in this category? A Muslim, married to a Hindu with a Mandir at his home.

  9. skunk Avatar
    skunk

    That’s an interesting piece of information. I wonder if it’s a remnant of Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi.

  10. faky345 Avatar
    faky345

    Well they wont be called muslims in that case, they are like wahabis, mirzais i think who follow half of our religion.

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