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Hazratbal Shrine
The most important muslim
shrine of Kashmir, that commands the reverence of the people beyond measure,is
undoubetedly the Hazratbal Shrine, which is situated on the left bank of
the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar This unmatched reverence is anchored in
the love and respect for the Prophet. Mohammad (peace be upon him), whose
Moi-e-Muqqadus, (the sacred hair) is preserves here. The shrine is known
by many names including Hazratbal, Assar-e-Sharief, Madinat-us-Sani, Dargah
Sharief & Dargah.
The history of the shrine
goes back to the early seventeenth century when the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan's
Subedar, Sadiq Khan, laid out a garden here & constructed a palacial
building, Ishrat Mahal or Pleasure House in 1623. However, the Emperor,
during his visit in 1634, ordered the building to be converted into a prayer
House with some additions & alterations. During the time of Aurangzeb,
when MOI-e-Muqqadus arrived in Kashmir in 1699, it was first kept in the
shrine of Naqashbad Sahib in the heart of the city. Since the place was
found to be insufficient in view of the unprecedented rush of people who
thronged the place to have a glimpse of the Moi-e-Muqqades, it was decided
to shift the it to Hazratbal, then known as Sadiqabad. The construction
of the present marble structure was started by the Muslim Auqaf Trust headed
by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1968 and completed in 1979. The Moi-e-Muqqadas
is displayed on Various occassions related with the life of Prophet &
his four holy companions.
How to Reach ?
Hazratbal lies in Srinagar
District and the nearest Airport is approx. 25 Kms away in Badgam Distt.
This Airport is connected with major cities of India. The nearest Rail
Head is at Jammu which is 300 Kms away and from there National Highway
NH1A connects the Kashmir valley with India. Every sort of transport to
suit every budget from Buses to Taxis ply on this Highway. It Takes around
10 to 12 hours to cross this mountaineous road which crosses some beautiful
spots and the famous Jawahar Tunnel linking Kashmir Valley with India.
Regular transport is available from various points in the Srinagar city
with
nominal charges. Route from
Dal Lake can also be undertaken.
According to legend, the relic
was first brought to India by Syed Abdullah, a descendant of the Prophet
Mohammed who left Medina and settled in Bijapur, near Hyderabad in 1635.
When Syed Abdullah died, his son, Syed Hamid, inherited the relic. Following
the Mughal conquest of the region, Syed Hamid was stripped of his family
estates. Finding himself unable to care for the relic, he sold it to a
wealthy Kashmiri businessman, Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Ishbari. However, when
the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb came to know of what had transpired, he had
the relic seized and sent to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at
Ajmer, and had Khwaja Nur-ud-Din imprisoned in Lahore for possessing the
relic. Later, realizing his mistake, Aurangzeb decided to restore the relic
to Khwaja Nur-ud-Din and allow him to take it to Kashmir, but by that point,
Khwaja Nur-ud-Din had already died in imprisonment. In the year 1700, the
relic finally reached Kashmir, along with the body of Khwaja Nur-ud-Din.
There, Inayat Begum, daughter of Khwaja Nur-ud-Din, became the custodian
of the relic and established the shrine. Inayat Begum was married into
the prominent Banday family in Kashmir, and since then, her descendants
from the Banday family have been the keepers of the relic, known as Nishaandehs
(literally: givers of the sign).
The current Nishaandeh of
the shrine is Khwaja Ghulam Hasan Banday.
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