I am in love with every church
And mosque
And Temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
The people say the different names
Of the One God
Hafez
I last visited the Moula Ali shrine in nineties. A twenty minutes fairly even drive from where I stay. To reach the Dargah, then I had climbed over 450 steps, thankfully now that the car park is nearly midway, the climb was substantially reduced. Did not feel tired or breathless thanks to the fine weather, friendly sun’s rays and soothing breeze. This trip was special as I was accompanying my younger sister Naheed, who had come from Lucknow; where the Dargah culture is very predominanty practised.
We halted short of the shrine and paid our obeisance at the shrine of Hazrat Abbas, the warrior son of Hazrat Ali.
A view of the climb from top.
We reach the door steps of the shrine.
Every shrine revered by its followers has a narrative, which may not fall in the realm of facts and may not stand to evidence; however, who am I to judge, “faith moves the mountain” and so be it. Please do listen to this faithful who is a regular visitor of the shrine. My questions to him are exploratory in nature and do not reflect my own belief
Tired but happy and satisfied!
“I wish the people would love every body else the way they love me. It would be a better world”
Hazrat Ali Alaihas Salam
Where does the word Ziarat and its import come from friend?
The variety and immensity of thought and beliefs of us humans is truly infinite.All our attempts to know the unknowable.
The young man’s idea of intermediary is interesting.
Thanks and Regards
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Thank you Madan.
Ziyarat comes from Arabic, romanized: zār “to visit”. In Islam it refers to pious visitation, pilgrimage to a holy place, tomb or shrine. Iranian and South Asian Muslims use the word ziyarat for both the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as well as for pilgrimages to other sites such as visiting a holy place.
Yes we all have immensely progressed in most fields of our lives, however spritually the search remains! It is never ending and apocalyptic!
The “intermediary ” remains the source of bad blood between various sects in Islam! For me I believe in what my heart and mind pronounce!
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Very nice & descriptive blog of this great Shrine of Moula Ali. Have very beautiful memories of this site right from age as a 4 year old visiting with my Mother & Father. Of all the great memories have very nostalgic ones of people from other faiths visiting this shrine which outnumber. People come for various Mannats and all get rewarded. Appreciate Brig Shamim for his creative work.
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Thank you Nasser.
Faith has no barriers for the devotees. Those who seek blessings for themselves will find their Almighty!
All my relatives who come from other parts of the country and abroad to meet me here, for them the Ziarat of the Dargah is a must!
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