Abdullah Shah Ghazi

Around the year 761 AD, Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyah sailed from Aden to Sind where they consulted with the governor, Umar ibn Hafs Hazarmard before returning to Kufah and Medina. His son Abdullah al-Ashtar, also known as Abdullah Shah Ghazi, married a woman from Sindh and had children by her. According to Tabari, Sindh was selected since its governor, Umar ibn Hafs, supported Muhammad's claim to the Imamate. Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Athir say that the governor had Shi'ite inclinations.[2] Once they decided enough support had been amassed to revolt successfully (762 AD), Muhammad went to Medina, and Abdullah al-Ashtar stayed in Sind. Abdullah al-Ashtar was accompanied by a number of troops belonging to the Shi'ite sect of Zaydiyah, who at the time were active supporters of Ahlulbayt, willing to take a militant stance in pursuit of the Imamate. Shortly thereafter, however, Umar received word from his wife in Basrah that Muhammad Nafs Al-Zakiyah had been killed in Medina (14 Ramadan 145/6 December 762). In consequence, Umar felt that their presence in the capital compromised his position as governor. Unwilling to take any definite action either for or against them, he summoned Abdullah al-Ashtar and suggested:

"I have an idea: one of the princes of Sindh has a mighty kingdom with numerous supporters. Despite his polytheism, he greatly honors [the family of] the Prophet. He is a reliable man. I will write him and conclude an agreement between the two of you. You can then go to him, stay there, and you will not desire anything better"[3].

Abdullah al-Ashtar went to that area spent Some years there, probably from 762 AD to 769 AD. Eventually hearing of their presence in Sindh, the caliph al-Mansur replaced Umar ibn Hafs with Hisham ibn Amr al-Taghlibi on the understanding that he seize Abdullah al-Ashtar, kill or otherwise disperse the Zaydiyah, and annex the non-Muslim region. When Hisham, after reaching Sind, also proved loath to undertake the task, his brother Sufayh (later a governor of Sindh) did it for him, killing Abdullah along with many of his companions.[4]

Old Shrine before renovation

Inside the shrine of the Abdullah Shah Ghazi

Sohail Lari suggests (in his book, A History of Sindh) that Shah Ghazi was an Arab merchant who had come to Sindh with the first wave of Muslim liberators. However, another noted historian, M. Daudpota, suggests that Ghazi arrived in the area from Iraq as a commander, who along with Muhammed Bin Qasim, fought Sindh's Hindu ruler, Raja Dahir, in the eighth century.[5] Abdullah Shah Ghazi was said to have been killed in a forest in the interior Sindh by his enemies. His devotees buried his body on top of a hill at the coastal area, where he had earlier arrived on an Arab ship. This area now lies in the vicinity of Clifton and Sea View in Karachi.[5]

The tomb is built on a high platform, though the body is kept in a subterranean crypt. The shrine is made of a high, square chamber and a green-and-white striped dome, decorated with Sindhi tilework, flags and buntings. Devotees to the shrine caress the silver railing around the burial place and drape it with garlands of flowers. The shrine is highly regarded and respected by people of all ethnicities and religions.[6][7]

Until the early twentieth century, the shrine was a small hut on top of a sandy hill in Clifton. The shrine was built and expanded by Syed Nadir Ali Shah, a Sufi saint of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's Qalandariyya Sufi Order and the then custodian of the shrine.[8][9][10] The iconic dome of the shrine, the windowed ambulatory, the Mosque, the free kitchens or Langar Khana, the Qawwali court and the pilgrim lodge in its premises as well as the long stairway leading to the shrine, were built under his supervision.[10][11] The shrine became a centre of attraction for people belonging to different sects, ethnicities and sections of society.[7] Free meals and the devotional poetry such as Qawwali were notable features of the shrine.[1] The shrine was always devotionally connected to Syed Nadir Ali Shah's dervish lodge, called Kafi in Sehwan Sharif and for a long time the arrangements of the shrine and langar continued under his supervision.[9][12] In 1962, the Auqāf department took its administrative control. The twice a day free meal started by Syed Nadir Ali Shah continued under the management of his disciples.[1][10] In 2011, the shrine was handed over to a Pakistani construction giant, Bahria Town, who renovated the exterior of the shrine.[13] This received a mixed response from the residents of Karachi.[14]

The Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine was attacked in 2010 by militants who detonated two suicide bombs at the shrine, killing 10 and injuring 50.[6]

• List of mausoleums and shrines in Pakistan
• Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, descendant of Imam Hasan ibn Ali
• Nadir Ali Shah
• Gazi Pir