A dargah (Persian: درگاهdargâh or درگهdargah, Turkish: dergâh, Hindustani: dargāh दरगाह درگاہ, Bengali: দরগাহdôrgah) is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish. Sufis often visit the shrine for ziyarat, a term associated with religious visitation and pilgrimages. Dargahs are often associated with Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels, called khanqah or hospices. They usually include a mosque, meeting rooms, Islamic religious schools (madrassas), residences for a teacher or caretaker, hospitals, and other buildings for community purposes.
The same structure, carrying the same social meanings and sites of the same kinds of ritual practices, is called maqam in the Arabic-speaking world.
Dargah today is considered to be place where saints prayed and mediated (their spiritual residence). Shrine is modern day building which encompasses of actual dargah as well but not always.
Dargah is derived from a Persian word which literally means "portal" or "threshold."[1] The Persian word is a composite of "dar (در)" meaning "door, gate" and "gah (گاه)" meaning "place". It may have a connection or connotation with the Arabic word "darajah (دَرَجَة)" meaning "stature, prestige, dignity, order, place" or may also mean "status, position, rank, echelon, class" Some Sufi and other Muslims believe that dargahs are portals by which they can invoke the deceased saint's intercession and blessing (as per tawassul, also known as dawat-e qaboor[2][Persian: da‘wat-i qabũrدعوتِ قبور, "invocations of the graves or tombs"] or ‘ilm-e dawat [Persian: ‘ilm-i da‘wat عِلمِ دعوت, "knowledge of invocations"]). Still others hold a less important view of dargahs, and simply visit as a means of paying their respects to deceased pious individuals or to pray at the sites for perceived spiritual benefits.
However, dargah is originally a core concept in Islamic Sufism and holds great importance for the followers of Sufisaints. Many Muslims believe their wishes are fulfilled after they offer prayer or service at a dargah of the saint they follow. Devotees tie threads of mannat (Persian: منّت, "grace, favour, praise") at dargahs and contribute for langar and pray at dargahs. Dargahs dotted the landscape of Punjab even before the partition of the Indian subcontinent.[3]
Over time, musical offerings of dervishes and sheikhs in the presence of the devout at these shrines, usually impromptu or on the occasion of Urs, gave rise to musical genres like Qawwali and Kafi, wherein Sufi poetry is accompanied by music and sung as an offering to a murshid, a type of Sufi spiritual instructor. Today they have become a popular form of music and entertainment throughout South Asia, with exponents like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen taking their music to various parts of the world.[4][5]
Throughout the non-Arab Muslim worldEdit
Sufi shrines are found in many Muslim communities throughout the world and are called by many names. The term dargah is common in the Persian-influenced Islamic world, notably in Iran, Turkey and South Asia.[6]
In South Africa, the term is used to describe shrines in the Durban area where there is a strong Indian presence, while the term keramat is more commonly used in Cape Town, where there is a strong Cape Malay culture.[7]
In South Asia, dargahs are often the site of festivals (milad) held in honor of the deceased saint on his passing away anniversary (urs). The shrine is illuminated with candles or strings of electric lights at this time.[8] Dargahs in South Asia, have historically been a place for all faiths since the medieval times; for example, the Ajmer Sharif Dargah was meeting place for Hindus and Muslims to pay respect and even to the revered Saint Mu'in al-Din Chishti.[9][10]
In China, the term gongbei is usually used for shrine complexes centered around a Sufi saint's tomb.[11]
WorldwideEdit
There are many active dargahs open to the public worldwide where aspirants may go for a retreat. The following is a list of dargahs open to the public.
Shrine of Aolade Rasun S. Hazrat gaosul azom maolana Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad, Iraq
Shrine of Aolade Rasul S. Hazrat Gaosul Azom maolana Syed kaza main uddin chesti in Azmir Sharif India
Shrine of Aolade Rasun S. Hazrat Gaosul azom maolana Syed Ahmed Ullah maizvandari in Chittagong, Fatikchari maizvandar sharif Bangladesh
Shrine of Aolade Rasul S. Hazrat Gaosul azom maolana Syed Golamur Rahman maizvandari in Chittagong, Fatikchari maizvandar sharif Bangladesh
Ernst, Carl W. The Spirituality of the Sufi Shrine – Chapter9, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality, 2022. pp. 165–179.
ReferencesEdit
^Delage, Remy; Boivin, Michel (2015). Devotional Islam in Contemporary South Asia: Shrines, Journeys and Wanderers. Routledge. ISBN978-1317380009.
^Bilgrami, Fatima Zehra (2005). History of the Qadiri Order in India. Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli. p. 291.
^Snehi, Yogesh (October 2013). "Replicating Memory, Creating Images: Pirs and Dargahs in Popular Art and Media of Contemporary East Punjab". Retrieved 2020-06-07.
^Kafi South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, by Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills. Taylor & Francis, 2003. ISBN0-415-93919-4. p. 317.
^Kafi Crossing boundaries, by Geeti Sen. Orient Blackswan, 1998. ISBN8125013415. p. 133.
^Alkazi, Feisal (2014). Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy. New Delhi: Roli Books. ISBN978-9351940517.
^Currim, Mumtaz; Michell, George (1 September 2004). Dargahs, Abodes of the Saints. Mumbai: Marg Publications. ISBN978-8185026657.
^Khan, Motiur Rahman (2010). "Akbar and the Dargah of Ajmer". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli. 71: 226–235. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44147489.
^"How Dargahs Unite People Of All Faiths". nayadaur.tv. 24 November 2020.
^"Sheikh Nazım Al Haqqani Al Qubrusi An Naqshibandi". Retrieved 6 April 2016.
^"Building Mosques or Placing Lights on Graves" (PDF). 21 March 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
^"Sahih Muslim 528a – The Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)".
^"Sahih al-Bukhari 3453, 3454 – Prophets – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)".
^"Sunan an-Nasa'i 2048 – The Book of Funerals – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com.
^"Sunan an-Nasa'i 2047 – The Book of Funerals – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com.
^ abOndrej, Beranek; Tupek, Pavel (July 2009). Naghmeh, Sohrabi (ed.). From Visiting Graves to Their Destruction: The Question of Ziyara through the Eyes of Salafis(PDF). Crown Paper (Crown Center for Middle East Studies/Brandeis University). Brandeis University. Crown Center for Middle East Studies. p. 19. (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2018. Relying mainly on hadiths and the Qur'an, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's most famous work, The Book of God's Unicity (Kitab al-tawhid), describes a variety of shirk practices, such as occultism, the cult of the righteous (salih), intercession, oaths calling on other than God himself, sacrifices or invocational prayers to other than God, and asking other than Him for help. Important things about graves are remarked on in a chapter entitled "About the Condemnation of One Who Worships Allah at the Grave of a Righteous Man, and What if He Worships [the Dead] Himself."72 Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab starts by quoting a hadith: "Umm Salama told the messenger of Allah about a church she had seen in Abyssinia in which there were pictures. The Prophet said: 'Those people, when a righteous member of their community or a pious slave dies, they build a mosque over his grave and paint images thereon; they are for God wicked people.' They combine two kinds of fitna: the fitna of graves and the fitna of images." He then continues with another hadith: "When the messenger of Allah was close to death, he ... said: 'May Allah curse the Jews and Christians who make the graves of their prophets into places of worship; do not imitate them.'" From this hadith Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab derives the prohibition of building places of worship over graves, because that would mean glorification of their inhabitants, which would amount to an act of worship to other than Allah.
^"The Book of Prayer – Funerals – Sahih Muslim". Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم). Retrieved 6 April 2016.
^"Shrine – Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Retrieved 2018-08-10. Many modern Islamic reformers criticize visits to shrines as mere superstition and a deviation from true Islam.
dargah, sufi, shrine, redirects, here, places, iran, iran, disambiguation, dargah, persian, درگاه, dargâh, درگه, dargah, turkish, dergâh, hindustani, dargāh, दरग, درگاہ, bengali, দরগ, dôrgah, shrine, tomb, built, over, grave, revered, religious, figure, often,. Sufi shrine redirects here For places in Iran see Dargah Iran disambiguation A dargah Persian درگاه dargah or درگه dargah Turkish dergah Hindustani dargah दरग ह درگاہ Bengali দরগ হ dorgah is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure often a Sufi saint or dervish Sufis often visit the shrine for ziyarat a term associated with religious visitation and pilgrimages Dargahs are often associated with Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels called khanqah or hospices They usually include a mosque meeting rooms Islamic religious schools madrassas residences for a teacher or caretaker hospitals and other buildings for community purposes The Tomb of Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri India was built in 1581 during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar A qawwali performance at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah at Ajmer India The dargah houses the grave of Moinuddin Chishti of the Chishti order Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan Pakistan Bahauddin Zakariya was a famous saint of the Suhrawardiyya order Sufi saint Shahul Hameed s tomb at Nagore Dargah in Nagapattinam Tamil NaduShrine of Pir Hadi Hassan Bux Shah Jilani at Duthro Sharif in Sanghar District PakistanThe same structure carrying the same social meanings and sites of the same kinds of ritual practices is called maqam in the Arabic speaking world Dargah today is considered to be place where saints prayed and mediated their spiritual residence Shrine is modern day building which encompasses of actual dargah as well but not always Contents 1 Etymology 2 Throughout the non Arab Muslim world 3 Worldwide 4 Opposition by other Sunni groups 5 See also 6 Bibliography 7 ReferencesEtymology EditDargah is derived from a Persian word which literally means portal or threshold 1 The Persian word is a composite of dar در meaning door gate and gah گاه meaning place It may have a connection or connotation with the Arabic word darajah د ر ج ة meaning stature prestige dignity order place or may also mean status position rank echelon class Some Sufi and other Muslims believe that dargahs are portals by which they can invoke the deceased saint s intercession and blessing as per tawassul also known as dawat e qaboor 2 Persian da wat i qabũrدعوت قبور invocations of the graves or tombs or ilm e dawat Persian ilm i da wat ع لم دعوت knowledge of invocations Still others hold a less important view of dargahs and simply visit as a means of paying their respects to deceased pious individuals or to pray at the sites for perceived spiritual benefits However dargah is originally a core concept in Islamic Sufism and holds great importance for the followers of Sufi saints Many Muslims believe their wishes are fulfilled after they offer prayer or service at a dargah of the saint they follow Devotees tie threads of mannat Persian من ت grace favour praise at dargahs and contribute for langar and pray at dargahs Dargahs dotted the landscape of Punjab even before the partition of the Indian subcontinent 3 Over time musical offerings of dervishes and sheikhs in the presence of the devout at these shrines usually impromptu or on the occasion of Urs gave rise to musical genres like Qawwali and Kafi wherein Sufi poetry is accompanied by music and sung as an offering to a murshid a type of Sufi spiritual instructor Today they have become a popular form of music and entertainment throughout South Asia with exponents like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen taking their music to various parts of the world 4 5 Throughout the non Arab Muslim world EditSufi shrines are found in many Muslim communities throughout the world and are called by many names The term dargah is common in the Persian influenced Islamic world notably in Iran Turkey and South Asia 6 In South Africa the term is used to describe shrines in the Durban area where there is a strong Indian presence while the term keramat is more commonly used in Cape Town where there is a strong Cape Malay culture 7 In South Asia dargahs are often the site of festivals milad held in honor of the deceased saint on his passing away anniversary urs The shrine is illuminated with candles or strings of electric lights at this time 8 Dargahs in South Asia have historically been a place for all faiths since the medieval times for example the Ajmer Sharif Dargah was meeting place for Hindus and Muslims to pay respect and even to the revered Saint Mu in al Din Chishti 9 10 In China the term gongbei is usually used for shrine complexes centered around a Sufi saint s tomb 11 Worldwide EditThere are many active dargahs open to the public worldwide where aspirants may go for a retreat The following is a list of dargahs open to the public Shrine of Aolade Rasun S Hazrat gaosul azom maolana Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani in Baghdad IraqShrine of Aolade Rasul S Hazrat Gaosul Azom maolana Syed kaza main uddin chesti in Azmir Sharif IndiaShrine of Aolade Rasun S Hazrat Gaosul azom maolana Syed Ahmed Ullah maizvandari in Chittagong Fatikchari maizvandar sharif BangladeshShrine of Aolade Rasul S Hazrat Gaosul azom maolana Syed Golamur Rahman maizvandari in Chittagong Fatikchari maizvandar sharif BangladeshShrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif Pakistan Shrine of Pir Hadi Hassan Bux Shah Jilani in Duthro Sharif Pakistan Shrine of Baba Bulleh Shah in Kasur Pakistan Piran Kaliyar Sharif in Kaliyar Sharif Roorke India Shrine of Murshid Nadir Ali Shah in Sehwan Sharif Pakistan Data Darbar in Lahore Pakistan Shah Jalal Dargah in Sylhet Bangladesh Ajmer Sharif Dargah of Moinuddin Chishti Ajmer Rajasthan India Shrine of Ashraf Jahangir Semnani at Ashrafpur Kichhauchha Uttar Pradesh India Dargah of Shah Ata in Gangarampur West Bengal India 12 Erwadi Tamil Nadu India Nagore Tamil Nadu India Thiruparankundram Dargah Tamil Nadu India Humaithara Egypt Madurai Hazrat Maqbara Madurai Tamil Nadu India 13 Sheikh Nazim Al Haqqani in Lefka Cyprus 14 Opposition by other Sunni groups EditThe Ahl i Hadith Deobandi Salafi and Wahhabi religious scholars argue against the practice of constructing shrines over graves and consider it as associating partners with God or shirk 15 The Islamic prophet Muhammad strongly condemned the practice of turning graves into places of worship and even cursed those who did so 16 17 The current Wahhabi rulers of Saudi Arabia have destroyed more than 1400 year old grave sites of companions and ahl al bayt including Othman Khadija and Aisha amongst numerous others 18 19 20 although visiting graves is encouraged in Islam to remember death and the Day of Judgment 20 21 22 See also Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dargahs Datuk Keramat Khanqah Maqam Maqbara Marabout Mazar ZiyaratBibliography EditErnst Carl W The Spirituality of the Sufi Shrine Chapter9 The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality 2022 pp 165 179 References Edit Delage Remy Boivin Michel 2015 Devotional Islam in Contemporary South Asia Shrines Journeys and Wanderers Routledge ISBN 978 1317380009 Bilgrami Fatima Zehra 2005 History of the Qadiri Order in India Idarah i Adabiyat i Delli p 291 Snehi Yogesh October 2013 Replicating Memory Creating Images Pirs and Dargahs in Popular Art and Media of Contemporary East Punjab Retrieved 2020 06 07 Kafi South Asian folklore an encyclopedia Afghanistan Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka by Peter J Claus Sarah Diamond Margaret Ann Mills Taylor amp Francis 2003 ISBN 0 415 93919 4 p 317 Kafi Crossing boundaries by Geeti Sen Orient Blackswan 1998 ISBN 8125013415 p 133 Alkazi Feisal 2014 Srinagar An Architectural Legacy New Delhi Roli Books ISBN 978 9351940517 Acri Andrea Ghani Kashshaf Jha Murari K Mukherjee Sraman 2019 Imagining Asia s Networks Actors Sites Singapore ISEAS ISBN 978 9814818858 Currim Mumtaz Michell George 1 September 2004 Dargahs Abodes of the Saints Mumbai Marg Publications ISBN 978 8185026657 Khan Motiur Rahman 2010 Akbar and the Dargah of Ajmer Proceedings of the Indian History Congress Idarah i Adabiyat i Delli 71 226 235 ISSN 2249 1937 JSTOR 44147489 How Dargahs Unite People Of All Faiths nayadaur tv 24 November 2020 Muslim Architecture China org Retrieved 2020 06 07 History of Dargah of Shah Ata Asikolkata in ASI Kolkata Circle Retrieved 2017 08 22 Maqbara com Madurai Hazraths Maqbara Sheikh Nazim Al Haqqani Al Qubrusi An Naqshibandi Retrieved 6 April 2016 Building Mosques or Placing Lights on Graves PDF 21 March 2008 Retrieved 11 July 2014 Sahih Muslim 528a The Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم Sahih al Bukhari 3453 3454 Prophets Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم Sunan an Nasa i 2048 The Book of Funerals Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم sunnah com Sunan an Nasa i 2047 The Book of Funerals Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم sunnah com a b Ondrej Beranek Tupek Pavel July 2009 Naghmeh Sohrabi ed From Visiting Graves to Their Destruction The Question of Ziyara through the Eyes of Salafis PDF Crown Paper Crown Center for Middle East Studies Brandeis University Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies p 19 Archived PDF from the original on 10 August 2018 Relying mainly on hadiths and the Qur an Ibn Abd al Wahhab s most famous work The Book of God s Unicity Kitab al tawhid describes a variety of shirk practices such as occultism the cult of the righteous salih intercession oaths calling on other than God himself sacrifices or invocational prayers to other than God and asking other than Him for help Important things about graves are remarked on in a chapter entitled About the Condemnation of One Who Worships Allah at the Grave of a Righteous Man and What if He Worships the Dead Himself 72 Ibn Abd al Wahhab starts by quoting a hadith Umm Salama told the messenger of Allah about a church she had seen in Abyssinia in which there were pictures The Prophet said Those people when a righteous member of their community or a pious slave dies they build a mosque over his grave and paint images thereon they are for God wicked people They combine two kinds of fitna the fitna of graves and the fitna of images He then continues with another hadith When the messenger of Allah was close to death he said May Allah curse the Jews and Christians who make the graves of their prophets into places of worship do not imitate them From this hadith Ibn Abd al Wahhab derives the prohibition of building places of worship over graves because that would mean glorification of their inhabitants which would amount to an act of worship to other than Allah The Book of Prayer Funerals Sahih Muslim Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم Retrieved 6 April 2016 Shrine Oxford Islamic Studies Online www oxfordislamicstudies com Retrieved 2018 08 10 Many modern Islamic reformers criticize visits to shrines as mere superstition and a deviation from true Islam Portals nbsp Religion nbsp Islam nbsp Education nbsp Psychology nbsp Art nbsp Architecture Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dargah amp oldid 1178939989, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
