Bhopal, Jan. 3: The stabbing of an imam yesterday sparked unprecedented violence between the Barelvi and Deobandi sects in a Madhya Pradesh town linked to one of history’s highest-profile love stories.

Some 150 people have been booked in Burhanpur — where Empress Mumtaz Mahal of Taj Mahal fame died four centuries ago — after attacks on homes and shops injured three dozen people and shocked Muslim community leaders.

The Barelvi imam of Lalbagh mosque, Mohammad Amin, 38, was attacked on a busy street by three young men who punched him, tried to crush him with a stone and stabbed him. He is battling for life in hospital.

Police said attackers Babbar, Saleem and Irshad, who are in custody, were from the Deobandi group Tabliqui Jamaat, a radical movement for the reawakening of faith. More than half the three lakh residents of Burhanpur, located near the Maharashtra border 350km south of Bhopal, are Muslims.

Emperor Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal had spent her last years in the town, and her remains had stayed there for 23 years before being shifted to the Taj Mahal after the monument’s completion.

The ideological divide between the Barelvis and Deobandis on the subcontinent dates back to over 130 years, but has never before triggered such large-scale violence.

Like other Muslims, Barelvis — who make up about two-thirds of the country’s Muslim population — base their beliefs on the Quran and Sunnah and accept monotheism and the prophet-hood of Muhammad.

But they have been at odds with those who believe in a stricter interpretation of Islam, particularly the Deobandi sect and Wahhabism, a conservative school that originated in Saudi Arabia.

In Burhanpur, the Barelvis and Deobandis have had differences over the control of 150-odd mosques.

Mohammad Irfan, a local BSNL employee, said: “The imam had been making provocative speeches during Friday sermons. He has been saying nasty things about the Tabliqui people, asking Muslims not to listen to them.”

Irfan said the three attackers had dubbed the imam “Maulana Laddoo” — a reference to the Barelvi practice of distributing dried fruits as tabarruk after religious gatherings. One version says the imam’s supporters had beaten up the trio but local Barelvi leaders deny this.

The Deobandis object to the Barelvi belief that Prophet Muhammad is made of noor (light) and is present at all places at all times. The Barelvis also believe that Muslim saints such as Sufis and Aulias can intercede with Allah on behalf of the living.

The Deobandis forbid special reverence for Sufi saints and praying before Prophet Muhammad, fearing this could lead to shirk (polytheism).