Down To Earth speaks to Sarah Ansari, professor of history at Royal Holloway, University of London, about the patron saint of Karachi believed to protect it from cyclones
A devotee kisses the 'chadar' at the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi. Photo: iStock
Cyclone Biporjoy is expected to make landfall between Karachi in Pakistan and Mandvi in Kutch at noon on June 15, 2023. The Arabian Sea cyclone is also expected to cause heavy damage across the area as it has already intensified twice.
The cyclone is part of the growing number of such systems that will increase in frequency in the years to come as the once-calm Arabian Sea warms due to climate change.
For over a millenium, the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, a Sufi mystic, has stood sentinel over the city of Karachi. The shrine, located in the tony Clifton area of the city, houses the mausoleum of the saint.
The followers of Abdullah Shah Ghazi believe that the saint has always protected the city — which became a megapolis after the Partition of the Indian subcontinent due to the influx of migrants from what became the Dominion of India (Muhajirs) — from cyclones of the Arabian Sea.
Now, with the Arabian Sea warming, will believers increasingly turn to Shah Ghazi for protection? Down To Earth spoke to Sarah Ansari, professor of history at Royal Holloway, University of London. Ansari, the author of Sufi Saints and State Power: the Pirs of Sind, 1843-1947, talked about Shah Ghazi in the light of a warming world. Edited excerpts:
Rajat Ghai (RG): What are the theories regarding Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s life in Sindh and why are there so many? Does it point to a paucity of information?
Sarah Ansari (SA): As with many such individuals who lived in much earlier times (in this case we are most likely talking about the 8th century Common Era), it is a challenge to pin down who exactly Abdullah Shah Ghazi was — common explanations range from him being an early Arab merchant to a soldier who accompanied (Umayyad conqueror of Sindh) Muhammad bin Qasim.
Under these circumstances, it is often the case that theories (or myths?) develop over the centuries, with such saintly figures providing a recurrent source of strength and comfort for people as they navigate the uncertainties of life.
RG: Why is Abudllah Shah Ghazi associated with providing protection to Karachi from the sea?
SA: Coastal people often possess an ambiguous relationship with the sea — its waters offer them all sorts of opportunities from fishing to trade, but its uncertainties and the dangers that these pose mean that they need to respect it.
And one way of showing respect can be to venerate saintly ‘go-betweens’ and trust in their intercession as a means of protection.
It is also worth noting that in the case of Sindh, historically much of the coastline (a huge delta) was unstable, and likewise the course of the Indus river could shift dramatically over time.
So local people no doubt became very attuned to the power of water to shape and destabilise their lives.
I can’t help thinking also about Khwaja Khizr / Darya Shah Zinda Pir in the context of Sindh in earlier times. “The divinity of Khwaja Khizr or Zinda Pir appears to have achieved a two-fold aim of meeting the spiritual needs of the sailors and traders engaged in the Indus river and sea trade and also confirming the sanctity of the river by the indigenous population,” notes ML Bhatia in Khwaja Khizr and River Cult in Medieval Sindh.
RG: How different is Abdullah Shah Ghazi from other Sindhi Sufis such as Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan?
SA: Considerably more is known about these other Sindhi saints who were more obviously integrated into wider Sufi and other networks. After all, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is supposed to have lived some 500 years later than Ghazi, while Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai operated nearly 1,000 years later.
Both left much clearer traces, especially Bhitai in terms of his poetry that is world famous. But like Ghazi, myths have grown up around their lives and what they represent.
One thing that connects all three, however, is the ways in which their shrines have attracted people belonging to different religions, sects, ethnicities and sections of society, in the past at least. Devotional music has been very much part of these spiritual places.
RG: With the Arabian Sea being predicted to produce more cyclones now due to global warming, do you see an increase in Abdullah Shah Ghazi's following?
SA: This is a very interesting possibility. After all, ‘precarity’ or persistent insecurity is what — historically at least — has often drawn followers to trust in saintly intermediaries such as Abdullah Shah Ghazi.
If there does turn out to be an increase in his following, this may be a kind of insurance policy that people take out as a way of keeping their protective options open.
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