Abdullah Shah Ghazi

Abdullah Shah Ghazi (Arabic: عبد الله شاه غازى‎) is an eighth century muslim mystic[1]

History

Inside the shrine of the Abdullah Shah Ghazi

According to historian Suhail Zaheer Lari, he was the son of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya.[2] He was born in Medina in 720 and arrived in Sindh in 760 as a merchant and brought with him a large number of horses purchased from Kufa, Iraq. He died in 773 near the sea while dressed in war attire. He was buried atop a hill in Karachi.

Shrine

The tomb is built on a very high platform with the grave being downstairs. It has a high, square chamber and a green-and-white striped dome, decorated with Sindhi tilework flags and buntings. The shrine attracts a steady stream of devotees who caress the silver railing around the burial place and drape it with garlands of flowers. Up till the early 1950s the shrine was a small hut on top of a sandy hill in Clifton. The shrine was built, expanded and beautified in the mid-1960s as it had begun to attract devotional attention. The shrine expansion and pilgrims attracted the festivities and music Qawwali. In 2005, Karachi municipal government started an extensive repair, cleaning up and renovation job on the shrine which was completed in 2007. Shah Ghazi shrine was attacked in 2010 by militants who detonated two suicide bombs at the shrine killing 10 and injuring 50.[3]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Asim Butt (August 11, 2005). "Pakistan's mystical Islam thrives". BBC News. Archived from the original on May 8, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
  2. ↑ Lari, Suhail Zaheer. A History of Sindh. Oxford University Press, USA. 1995. [and OUP Pakistan. 1996.]
  3. ↑ Abdullah Shah Ghazi: The saviour saint
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