On Sunday evening, Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at Delhi airport as he was preparing to board his flight to Lahore. He was caught leaving the country with over $124,000. Indian laws allow up to $5,000 in cash to be taken abroad. A nephew of qawwal maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat had performed at a wedding in a south Delhi farmhouse. His detention is a sad reflection on the decline of the great house of Nusrat.
But I wont depress your spirits further. Today is Wednesday and the evening will be very special for Delhis Sufi souls, including those who are passionate about Sufi music. It is the Urs or the death anniversary celebration of Delhis patron saint Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a 13th century mystic. His tomb near Qutub Minar in Meharuli, one of the citys oldest settlements, is Delhis oldest and quietest Sufi shrine. It is entered through a broad uncovered pathway. Last week, I went to the dargah and talked to the people there.
Outside an old red mosque, sit the dargah qawwals. Unlike in other Sufi spaces, the harmonium is never played in the inner courtyard. Its the wish of Huzoor, said qawwal Haji Idris Qutbi, referring to the saint, who is also called Khwaja Qutub. Haji Idris has been singing in the dargah since he was a child. Huzoors soul left his body when he was listening to a verse of poet Shaykh Ahmed Jam:
Those who are slain by the dagger of submission
A new life returns to them from the Unknown every moment
Presenting his visiting card, Haji Idris continued with the story. A few days after Khwajas burial, the qawwals were reciting the same verses next to Huzoors grave when his arm came out of the tomb. Huzoor asked the recitation to be stopped or else he would be again seized by ecstasy and his whole body would come out of the tomb, in violation of Islamic laws. Since then qawwalis are performed outside the walls the tomb.
Delhi will live on as long as this dargah stands, said Haji Idris, as his fellow qawwals nod. Almost all rulers of Delhi sought the blessings of Khwaja Qutub. Qutubuddin Aibak named the Qutub Minar after him. Iltutmish built the Gandhak ki Baoli step well for Khwaja and his followers. Alauddin Khilji, Mohammad Bin Tughlaq and Feroze Shah Tughlaq were regulars at his dargah. Timur, the invader who massacred thousands in Delhi, is said to have lowered his head at the shrine. Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, wished to be buried close to Khwaja Qutub and marked a tomb for himself nearby. He was exiled by the British to die a lonely death in the remote Rangoon.
If Zafar had been buried here, he would have still been lonely. Khwaja Qutubs shrine is not as popular as, say, Nizamuddins dargah, although he is known as the dada-pir, or grandfatherly spiritual master, of Hazrat Nizamuddin. (The baton of Chishti spirituality passed from Khwaja Qutub to his disciple Baba Farid who passed it to Hazrat Nizamuddin.) Not many beggars, pilgrims, tourists and intermediaries are seen in the shrine.
Each saint has a unique temperament, said Syed Salman Qutbi, a young khadim (traditional caretaker) of the dargah. Dressed in white shalwar kurta and Reebok cap, he explained the lack of crowd while taking a photograph of a weeping pilgrim on his iPhone. Huzoors nature was very calm. He preached, Eat less, talk less and sleep less. He disapproved of noise. And it is this aspect of his personality, which defines the mood of his shrine.
There is one more explanation that why Khwaja Qutubs shrine remains relatively empty. Syed Badar Rabbani Qutbi, 62, whose ancestral house is in the dargah complex, told me, We are far from Delhi. People dont know the bus routes. The nearest metro station is not close. Autowallas dont want to go beyond the Mehrauli bus stand.
Is Nizamuddin dargah so wildly popular because of its easier accessibility? Around it has sprung up a civilisation of residential colonies, neighbourhood markets and bus stops. The railway terminus is across the highway. In Mehrauli, which is at one end of south Delhi, Khwaja Qutubs tomb lies forlorn. The silence is absolute, save the drone of planes preparing to land at the airport.
The ascetic died in 1235. A Sufis death is a cause for celebration as he is finally united with God – the ultimate beloved. Khwaja Qutub’s Urs is celebrated over three days. The first evening, the tomb will be washed with rose water and brightened with sandalwood paste. The following evening, a chaadar will be presented at the shrine. The outer compound, the mehman khana, will come alive with qawwalis, which will continue throughout the night. The dargah will be decorated with marigold flowers and Chinese lamps, says khadim Syed Salman. It will get very crowded. On Friday mid-morning, the Urs celebrations will end with a special prayer, called Kul. By evening, the dargah would again be as quiet as it is now, khadim Salman said.
I hope by then Rahat too will be safely back in Lahore. I also pray that never again a Sufi shrine in Pakistan is hit by terror attacks.
Mayank Austen Soofi lives in a library. He has one website (The Delhi Walla) and four blogs. The website address: thedelhiwalla.com. The blogs: Pakistan Paindabad, Ruined By Reading, Reading Arundhati Roy and Mayank Austen Soofi Photos.