TRAVEL TO PAKPATTAN SHARIF

SHRINE OF HAZARAT BABA FARID UDDIN MASOOD GANJ SHAKAR(R.A) 

The Shrine of Baba Farid  is a 13th-century Sufi shrine located in Pakpattan, Pakistan, that is dedicated to the Sufi mystic Fariduddin Ganjshakar, popularly known as Baba Farid. The shrine is one of the most important in Pakistan, and was among the first Islamic holy sites in South Asia – providing the region's Muslims a local focus for devotion. The shrine is also revered by Sikhs, who include Baba Farid's poetry into the Guru Granth Sahib - regarded by Sikhs to be the eternal Guru.

The shrine played a central role in the conversion of local tribes to Islam over the course of several centuries.Chiefs of the highly revered shrine once controlled a politically autonomous state that was defended by soldiers drawn from local clans that pledged loyalty to the shrine and descendants of Baba Farid.Today the shrine is considered to be the most significant in Punjab,and attracts up to two million visitors to its annual urs festival.

VIDEO OF URS HAZARAT BABA FARID UDDIN MASOOD GANJ SHAKAR(R.A) 

PICTURE OF DARBAR BABA FARID (R.A)

LOCATION

 The shrine is located in the town of Pakpattan, in the Pakistani province of Punjab, near the right bank of the Sutlej River.

BAB-E JANNAT DOOR PICTURE & VIDEO

VIDEO

HISTORY

      ESTABLISHMENT

By the time of Baba Farid's death, the belief that the spiritual powers saints were attached to their burial sites was widespread in the Muslim world,and so following the death of Baba Farid in 1265, a shrine was built at the place of his burial near his convent. The shrine complex eventually grew to encompass not only the tomb itself, but also a mosque, a langar, and several other related building.

In 1281, Sheik Ala ad-Din Mauj Darya was appointed as spiritual successor of Baba Farid. Under his authority, the shrine's popularity grew spectacularly,and the countryside around the shrine began to revere the shrine.In 1315, the Sufi mystic Amir Khusrow noted in detail that the 50th anniversary of Baba Farid's death was celebrated by an urs festival which attracted devotees who heard recitations of the saints deeds, and were treated to entertainment by an ensemble of dervishes.

Various secondary shrines devoted to Baba Farid also began to be established around the 14th century that extended the shrine's spiritual territory, or wilayat,though the shrines were built by commoners, rather than royal patrons.The network of shrines defined tracts in Punjab as being areas belonging to the spiritual kingdom of Baba Farid, where spiritual powers of the saint could protect travelers.It was noted that beyond borders of Baba Farid's wilayat lay the wilayat belonging to the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan.

TUGHLUQ SULTANATE

The shrine's reputation continued to grow and had spread beyond the border of medieval Islamic India. The shrine was visited by the Arab explorer Ibn Battuta in 1334, who recounted that the Egyptian Shaikh Burhan-ud-dun al-Araj foretold in Alexandriathat Ibn Battuta would meet Baba Farid's descendants.Tamerlane seized Pakpattan in 1398, and prayed at the shrine for increased strength.He spared the town's inhabitants out of respect for the shrine.

During the era of the Tughluq dynasty between 1321 and 1398, the shrine received official patronage from the royal court in Delhi after the founder of the dynasty, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, became attracted to the "spiritual power" of Mauj Darya.

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was noted to have made frequent visits to the shrine when he was Governor of Punjab and ruled from nearby Dipalpur.The 14th century chronicler Shams-i Siraj 'Afif noted that the Governor, and future Sultan, brought his son and nephew, the future Sultans Muhammad bin Tughluq, and Firuz Shah Tughlaq to the shrine, where they participated in the turban-tying ceremony known as dastar bandi, which conferred symbolic authority in a way similar to a coronationceremony.

Tradition maintains that Muhammad bin Tughluq was a disciple of the shrine's second diwan, Mauj Darya, who had performed the dastar bandi ceremony for Muhammad bin Tughluq. Muhammad wished to construct a fine shrine for his spiritual master Mauj Darya, but the master refused to permit construction until he died. Following Sheik Ala ad-Din's death in 1335, Muhammad bin Tughluq ordered construction of a shrine for him that eventually became one of the finest works of Tughluq architecture,which dwarfed even the tomb of Baba Farid.

Firuz Tughluq undertook repairs at the shrine of Baba Farid in the 14th century, and began to grant robes to honour descendants of Baba Farid. Eventually, subsequent diwans of the shrine became closely associated with the Tughluq court in Delhi, and the shrine began to increasingly rely upon royal patronage.Tamerlane visited the shrine in 1398 during his invasion of northern India.

      MUGHAL

The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, visited the shrine in the early 1500s to collect compositions of Baba Farid's poetry from Sheikh Ibrahim, the 12th generation descendant of Baba Farid. Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1571 paid his respects at the shrine and implored Baba Farid. Shah Jahan in 1629 issued a royal decree declaring that revenues from the region around Pakpattan would be used for the shrine's upkeep,and that khadims, or "servants," of the shrine would also receive royal support.

      CHISTI STATE

After the fall of the Mughal Empire, descendants of Baba Farid known as Chisti, the shrine's caretakers, and other disciples of the shrine formed an autonomous state centred on the shrine. Local tribes would pledge allegiance to the shrine and its caretakers, and were reportedly able to raise an army of 10,000 men to defend the shrine and Chisti.

In 1757, the shrine's army attacked the Raja of Bikaner, and expanded the territory of shrine-state. The army of devotees was able defend the Chisti Emirate against Sikh attacks in 1776. The shrines cavalries were able to pursue retreating Sikh soldiers, killing several thousand more.The shrine and its independent state were conquered by the Sikhs in 1810.

      SIKH

Baba Farid's poetry became to be revered within Sikhism, and was incorporated into the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib - the shrine thus assumed importance as a place of Sikh devotion in addition to its function as a Muslim shrine. Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire captured the shrine in 1810. He later visited the shrine, and pledged an annual sum of 9,000 Ruppees towards its upkeep.The shrine began to be a centre of contention between the Sikh and Muslim community as a result of joint devotion to the shrine.

      BRITISH

British colonial rule over the shrine commenced following the defeat of the Sikh Empire in 1849. The British colonial regime maintained ties with shrine, and sought to employ it towards the goal of "indirect rule" over the region through political and social systems that predated their arrival.

      MODERN ERA

Following the Partition of British India in 1947, the shrine no longer served as a source of intercommunal conflict, and instead began to be identified exclusively as a Muslim shrine.The shrine assumed even greater importance within Pakistan, as Pakistani pilgrims often find it difficult to visit Chisti shrines in Delhi and Ajmer on account of poor relations between Pakistan and India. As a result, Baba Farid's shrine has emerged as the "unrivaled centre" of Chisti Sufism in Pakistan.Though Sikhs and Hindus in India are now largely cut-off from the shrine, commemorations of his annual urs are held in Amritsar.

In April 2001, 36 devotees were crushed at a stampede at the shrine as pilgrims rushed towards the Behishti Darwaza at the opening of the anuual urs festival.Following the September 11 attacks, caretakers of the shrine denounced extremist and exclusivist interpretations of Islam.On 25 October 2010, a bomb exploded outside the gates of the shrine, killing six people.In recent years, the founder and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, former cricketer Imran Khan, has regularly visited the shrine at night.