In a curious turn of events recently reported from the Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh around 45 Muslim families, basically hailing from Islamabad and shifted to UP during partition, had switched over loyalties, left Islam and adopted Hinduism. Not only this, one of the persons who converted to Hinduism also cremated his grandfather according to the Hindu rituals, as it was his last wish. After four years of strong disagreements and disputes, Salman Khan and 45 other families, comprising of around 150 members have left Islam and adopt Sanatan Dharma.
Salman Khan has now changed his name to Sansar Singh. Along with this, he cremated his grandfather Shyamlal Singh as per Hindu customs at Brajghat. They call it ‘Ghar Wapsi’.
Sansar Singh, purified himself by taking a bath in the Ganga and adopted Sanatan Dharma as he was not aware of his Gotra, he adopted Gaurishankar Gotra in the name of Lord Shiva and completed the process. He says that now the rights of the Hindu society are protected in the country and he is happy to accept Sanatan Dharma at his own free will.
Sansar Singh said that his family was basically from Islamabad in Pakistan and his ancestors were Hindus. But due to the atrocities of the Mughals they were forced to adopt Islam. At the time of partition of India, his family came from Pakistan to India and settled in Delhi. Now there are more than 45 families who have followed the suit and converted. According to Sansar Singh, four years ago his family had resolved to leave Islam and adopt Sanatan Dharma. But due to some opposition the family members were entangled between Islam and Hinduism.
It was resolved that his grandfather’s last rites will be performed according to Hindu rituals at Brajghat and the family’s name was recorded recorded in the genealogy. As per his grandfather’s wish, Sansar Singh says it was the last wis of his grandfather.
Sansar Singh and other members of his family said that their ancestors had adopted Islam under pressure from the Mughals. But now all the members of his family are proud to have adopted Sanatan Dharma. He says that for a long time it was his dream that the family should return back to the religion they actually belonged to.
Sansar Singh also told that his grandfathers and great grandfathers had deep roots in Sanatan Dharma.
This is not the first case of converting back to Hinduism. In the last few years, several cases of conversions of Muslims back to Hinduism as been reported. In 2023 itself, around 1100 Muslims have returned to Sanatan Dharma under ‘ghar wapsi’ in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2020, around 250 members of 40 Muslim families from Bidhmira village in Haryana converted back to Hinduism.