Photo: King Eliot · CC BY-SA 4.0Events / 20 to 22 Dhul Hijjah (Islamic calendar)
Sindh
Urs of Abdullah Shah Ghazi
Karachi's own urs, on the hill above Clifton beach, for the 8th-century saint many Karachiites believe protects the city from the sea.
Abdullah Shah Ghazi, an 8th-century Muslim mystic believed to have come to Sindh with the first Arab arrivals, lies in a shrine on a hill in Clifton, under a green-and-white striped dome. His urs is held from 20 to 22 Dhul Hijjah each year, with qawwali, prayers and floral chadars, and the city government declares a local holiday in Karachi.
- Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine
- Clifton, Karachi
- Qawwali
- Langar
- When to plan
- 20 to 22 Dhul Hijjah, so the Gregorian date moves about eleven days earlier each year (in 2024 the Karachi holiday fell on 29 June, in 2025 on 19 June).
- Getting there
- The shrine is in Clifton, Karachi, on the hill behind the beach, reached by a long stairway.
The shrine
Until the early 20th century the tomb was a hut on a sandy hill. Syed Nadir Ali Shah, of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's Qalandari order, became its custodian and built the dome, the windowed ambulatory, the mosque and the langar kitchens. The saint lies in a crypt below a raised platform, and devotees touch the silver railing around it and hang garlands on it.
Where it is held
Sources
More in Sindh
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