At least eight people were killed, including two children, and more than 65 people were injured after two bombs exploded at the Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mazaar in Clifton on Thursday night when devotees had thronged the area.
According to witnesses, a suicide bomber approached the main gate at around 7 pm. He was carrying a bomb, which he set off as he approached the walkthrough security gate. The explosions were heard at least three kilometres away.
Saint Ghazi and his shrine
Shah Ghazi is to Karachi what Data Darbar is to Lahore
Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine is significant to Karachi as Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh’s shrine is to Lahore. And indeed, Thursday’s twin suicide attack in Clifton that bears similarities to the one in Lahore, further confirms this.
The shrine of Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA) – an eighth-century Sufi-saint known as the saviour and defender of Karachi – on a hillock near the coast is believed by many to have protected the metropolis from cyclones.
Despite forecasts and warnings by weather experts several times in the past that a cyclone in the Arabian Sea was moving towards Karachi and could hit the city any moment, Ghazi’s devotees say that it is because of the presence of the saint that cyclones either bypassed the city and moved towards Gujarat in India or its velocity reduced to naught without causing any damage to the city.
According to witnesses, a suicide bomber approached the main gate at around 7 pm. He was carrying a bomb, which he set off as he approached the walkthrough security gate. The explosions were heard at least three kilometres away.
Saint Ghazi and his shrine
Shah Ghazi is to Karachi what Data Darbar is to Lahore
Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine is significant to Karachi as Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh’s shrine is to Lahore. And indeed, Thursday’s twin suicide attack in Clifton that bears similarities to the one in Lahore, further confirms this.
The shrine of Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA) – an eighth-century Sufi-saint known as the saviour and defender of Karachi – on a hillock near the coast is believed by many to have protected the metropolis from cyclones.
Despite forecasts and warnings by weather experts several times in the past that a cyclone in the Arabian Sea was moving towards Karachi and could hit the city any moment, Ghazi’s devotees say that it is because of the presence of the saint that cyclones either bypassed the city and moved towards Gujarat in India or its velocity reduced to naught without causing any damage to the city.
According to one legend, Abdullah Shah possessed the power to control sea waters. Caretakers at the mazaar cite a common story of fishermen requesting him to order the sea to remain calm. With his special prayers, the fishermen were back to earning their livelihood within a few hours.
Similarly, the presence of this mazaar, say devotees, has protected Karachi from a number of tropical disasters, including the recent Cyclone Phet and the 2006 sea-storm heading from Gujarat, India.
The shrine has remained a centre of attraction for people belonging to different religions, sects, ethnicities and sections of society. Not only religious people but also many politicians, including the slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto, have visited the shrine at least once in their lifetime to pay homage to the saint and seek spiritual guidance.
Born in 109 Hijra, Abdullah Shah Ghazi, according to devotees, was a grandson of Hazrat Imam Hassan (AS). He migrated to Karachi in 138 Hijra during the Umayyad dynasty. Considering him a threat to their dynasty, the rulers hunted and martyred him with his many followers in 151 Hijra. His followers chose the hillock for his burial.
At that time, the hillock was surrounded by the sea and potable water was not available. Devotees believe that it was his miracle that a fountain of drinking water emerged from the bottom of the hill that continues to flow to this day.
Karachi — which has turned into a metropolitan city of 18 million people from a tiny village of fishermen — has in its fold resting places of some 200 saints besides that of Abdullah Shah Ghazi.
According to an ex-administrator of the Auqaf department, some of the shrines located on vintage points in different parts of the city are:
Syed Misri Shah in Clifton, Syed Ghalib Shah alias Qutbe Alam in Keamari, Syed Alam Shah Bokhari at Jamia Cloth Market, where three more saints (Baba Qatil Shah, Abdul Rehman Shaheed and Baba Ismail Shah Ghazi) had also their shrines, Mustan Shah Baba on MA Jinnah Road,Noorul Hasan alias Noori Baba in Teen Hatti, Syed Chuttan Shah Bokhari in Kharadar, Syed Jumman Shah near zoological gardens, Syed Wilayat Ali Shah on RCD Highway, Syed Qasim Ali Shah near Parco on Hub River Road, Syed Omar Shah Bokhari near Kalapul, Baba Kunda Shah Baloch near Korangi-4, Noorani Baba near Korangi-1, Baba Wilayat Shah in Jamia Millia, Malir, Doolah Shah Sabzwari in Kharadar, Mehmood Shah in F.B Area, Mir Azizullah Haqqani in Landhi, Syed Mehtab Shah in Soldier Bazaar, and Meera Bibi in Lea Market.
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