After a halt at Sirhind, Bahadur Shah moved to Lahore. His stay here was marked by the one major controversy of his reign. Soon after his accession to the throne, he had given orders that the title wasi should be used after the name of Hazrat Ali in the Friday prayers. This usage, indicating that Ali was the testamentary successor to the Prophet, and considered by the Sunnis to be a Shia innovation, was bitterly resented. During his stay in Lahore Bahadur Shah tried to persuade the local ulama to accept the change, but without success. He then ordered his chief of artillery to have the new form of prayer recited from the pulpit of the Badshahi Masjid on April 22, 1711. When he found that a vast crowd, ready for violent resistance, had gathered in the streets of Lahore, he gave way and in the end the old form in use in the days of Aurangzeb was recited. Seven leading ulama of Lahore were sent, however, to the state prison in the Gwalior fort. The episode indicates the limitations imposed on the emperor by the ulama, but the punishment given the leaders shows that resistance, even if successful, could be dangerous.
