Wajihuddin's Tomb or Hazrat Wajihuddin Dargah, is a tomb of

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

saint

Wajihuddin Alvi Shah Wajihuddin Alvi Gujarati (), also known the epithet Haider Ali Saani (), was an Islamic scholar and Sufi in the Shattari order. Life Wajihuddin Alvi Gujarati was born in Ahmedabad in 1504 into a family of Sufi scholars and jurists. In 1528 ...

in Khanpur area of

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

, India.

History and architecture

Wajīh al-Dīn ʿAlawī Gujarātī was born in Ahmedabad in 1504 into a family of Sufi scholars and jurists, who were patronised by the sultans of Gujarat. In 1528 he founded the ʿAlawī Madrasa which was Ahmedbad's most notable Islamic learning center for over a century and a half. In his youth he was a member of several Sufi orders, but most importantly he was initiated into the Shaṭṭāriyya order by Muhammad Ghawth Gwāliyārī. Despite being a Sunni and a proponent of Hadith, he professed the unity of God, man, and the universe and taught dhikr or repetition of God's names. When it came to Islamic sectarianism, he professed "total peace", and opposed discrimination against the

Mahdawi movement The Mahdavi movement, also called Mahdavia or Mahdavism, is an Islamic movement founded by Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri in India in the late 15th century. Syed Muhammad claimed to be Mahdi at the holy city of Mecca, in front of the Kaaba in 1496, and ...

. During the Mughal conquest of Gujarat in 1572-1573, he harboured the sons and supporters of the former sultan of Gujarat, Muẓaffar Shāh III. Due to this he was summoned by the Mughal emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

before being let go. He died in his madrasa in 1590. The tomb dedicated to him was built by his disciple Syed Murtuza Khan Bukhari, the eleventh (1606-1609) governor of Ahmedabad during reign of Jahangir. The central dome is much higher than several other domes surrounding it. The walls have perforated stone windows. There is an underground reservoir and a cistern said to have healing power and not to have been dry ever. The nearby mosque was built by Wajihuddin's grandson Shaikh Haidar, which was visited by Jahangir in 1608.

References

{{Ahmedabad topics, status=collapsed Tombs in Ahmedabad Mughal tombs Buildings and structures completed in the 1610s Sufi shrines in India