Shahi Imam successor: Guests gather for investiture ceremony at Jama Masjid

Guests began to gather in the courtyard of Delhi’s Jama Masjid on Sunday for a ‘dastarbandi (investiture)’ ceremony during which the grand mosque’s incumbent Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari will declare his son “as his successor”.

The ceremony, expected to last more than an hour, will begin shortly, an official said.

The Mughal-era mosque was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century.

Various ‘ulemas (Islamic scholars)’ are scheduled to attend the ceremony for which the mosque — a veritable symbol of old Delhi or Shahjehanabad and a celebrated landmark — has been decked up.

Some congratulatory posters bearing images of the Shahi Imam and his son have been put up along the street

running in front of the mosque, whose architecture draws awe from both locals and

foreign tourists.

The ceremony involves tying a ‘dastarbandi (turban)’ on the head, according to the old ‘riwaz (tradition)’ associated with the investiture, the official said.

Syed Shaban Bukhari (29) was anointed as the mosque’s Naib Imam in a ‘dastarbandi’ ceremony in November 2014, the official said.