Posted by Raza Rumi
A New York Times piece where I was quoted.
Posted by Raza Rumi
A New York Times piece where I was quoted.
Not too far from where I live, in Lahore, Pakistan, is a little shrine. It is not the mausoleum of a famous poet or a Sufi saint, but the resting place of two star-crossed lovers who were denied the sanctity of marriage by their society almost five hundred years ago.
And yet this tomb is treated with the same reverence and etiquette as the shrines of any of the great mystics that dot the landscape here. In fact, if the visitors’ emotions are anything to go by, this shrine seems to have unparalleled power, for on any given day, devotees can be seen sitting in corners of the marble mausoleum, sobbing softly as they contemplate the tragic story of the beautiful Heer and the devastated Ranjha. Continue reading
LAHORE: A number of devotees have thronged to the shrine of sufi saint Hazrat Shah Hussain, also known as Shah Hussain Lahori and Madhu Lal Hussain, to mark the three-day urs of the Festival of Lights. courtesy daily times Continue reading
The Mazar is the end to a busy and colorfull street full of shops selling religious literature, multimedia and prayer beads among other things
By Fatima Raza ‘Pakistan Times‘ Special Correspondent
LAHORE: The three-day ‘Urs’ of the great Sufi saint, religious scholar and spiritualist of the 11th century Hazrat Ali bin Usman Hajveri (RA) – popularly known as Data Ganj Bukhsh (RA) concluded at midnight Thursday with prayers for peace, progress and prosperity of Pakistan.
Hundreds of thousands of the faithful – who had arrived Lahore from all areas of Pakistan as well as from different parts of the world – also offered special prayers for the entire Muslim world as well as for emancipation of the Indian occupied part of the Himalayan State of Jammu & Kashmir and establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State – at the earliest.
The annual Urs ceremonies had commenced in the Punjab metropolis – Lahore on Tuesday.
It is generally thought that in his lifetime the great saint was called as Gang Bakhsh (RA) but afterwards he became too famous as Data Gang Bakhsh (RA).
Hazrat Ali Hajvery (RA) was a Persian Sufi and a scholar. The greatest saint for all times was born in Hajver, a town of Ghazni in Afghanistan in 1000 AD (400 H) and died in Lahore in 1063 or 1071 AD.
He voyaged physically to many countries, including Turkistan, Transoxania, Iran, Iraq, and Syria where he met innumerable Sufis and Sheikhs, many of those have been mentioned in his book ‘Kashf-ul-Mahjoob’. Continue reading
Posted in culture, Lahore, Walled City
Tagged Data Saheb, Mystic, Saint, Sufi, Urs, Usman Hajveri