The Shrine of

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai ( sd, شاھ عبداللطيف ڀٽائي, ur, ; 1689/1690 – 21 December 1752), commonly known by the honorifics ''Lakhino Latif'', ''Latif Ghot'', ''Bhittai'', and ''Bhit Jo Shah'', was a Sindhi Sufi mystic, an ...

( ur, ; sd, شاهہ عبداللطيف ڀٽائي جي مزار) is an 18th-century

Sufi shrine A dargah ( fa, درگاه ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargah'' दरगाह درگاہ, bn, দরগাহ ''dorgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often ...

located in the town of

Bhit Bhit or Bhit Shah ( sd, ڀٽ شاهه) is a small town located in Matiari District, Sindh, Pakistan. The town is best known as the location of the shrine to the Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, who gave his name to the town (Bhttai s ...

Shah, in the Pakistani province of

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

. The shrine is considered to be one of the most important in Sindh, and its annual ''

urs Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or ''Urus'' (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. t ...

'' festival attracts up to 500,000 visitors.

Background

The shrine was built for

, a noted Sindhi

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

scholar, mystic, saint, and poet who is widely considered to be the greatest Muslim poet of the

Sindhi language Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India ...

. His collected poems were assembled in the compilation ''

Shah Jo Risalo ''Shah Jo Risalo'' ( sd, شاھ جو رسالو) is a poetic compendium of famous Sindhi Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. In fact, it is many compendia, for Shah Abdul Latif's poetry in various forms of bayt and wai was compiled by many of h ...

''. The shrine is 125 kilometres from the popular

Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar The Shrine of Lal Shabaz Qalandar ( ur, ; sd, لال شهباز قلندر جي مزار) is a shrine and mausoleum dedicated to the 13th century Muslim and Sufi saint, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The shrine is located in Sehwan Sharif, in the Pakista ...

Sehwan Sharif Sehwan ( sd, سيوهڻ شريف, ur, ; also commonly referred to as Sehwan Sharif or ''Noble Sehwan'') is a historic city located in Jamshoro District of Sindh province in Pakistan and on the west bank of the Indus River, Indus north-west of H ...

. Former Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

visited the shrine in 2009. Women serve as caretakers of tombs within the shrine complex. Male singers at the shrine mimic female voices by singing in

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

to mimic heroines in Shah Abdul Latif's poetry. The Hindu ''Bhil'' and ''Kolhi'' communities revere the shrine, as Shah Abdul Latif's poetry is considered to be tolerant of other beliefs.

Building complex

Mausoleum_of_Shah_Abdul_Latif_Bhittai_05

The shrine complex was built in 1772 by

Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro (died 1772) sd, ميان غلام شاه ڪلهوڙو ) was the ruler of the Kalhora Dynasty from 1758 when he was appointed ruler of Sindh by tribal Chiefs of Kalhora replacing his brother Mian Muradyab Kalhoro. He was r ...

to house the tomb of the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. The shrine complex includes a mosque and a mausoleum that open onto a large courtyard encircled by domed arcades by means of a large gateway. The complex is notable for being elaborately decorated with Sindhi tile work featuring blue and white floral themes.

's Surs are performed nightly at the shrine after evening prayers.

Annual festival

The shrine is site of an annual ''

'' festival that attracts up to 500,000 visitors over the course of three days, beginning on the 13th day of the

Islamic month The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...

Safar Ṣafar ( ar, صَفَر) also spelt as Safer in Turkish, is the second month of the lunar Islamic calendar. The Arabic word ''ṣafar'' means "travel, migration", corresponding to the pre-Islamic Arabian time period when muslims flee the oppr ...

. The festival commemorates Shah Abdul Latif's death by means of celebration, as his death is regarded to be a union with God.

References

{{Cultural heritage sites in Sindh , state=open Matiari District Mausoleums in Sindh Religious buildings and structures in Sindh Sufi shrines in Pakistan Tourist attractions in Sindh Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai

Background

Building complex

Annual festival

See also

References