The annual celebrations.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The four-day Urs ceremony, or the death anniversary, of Delhi’s 14th century Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, starts on February 6.

Urs means ‘wedding’ in Arabic and it symbolizes the union of the lover with the beloved, who is God. Therefore, in Sufism, a saint’s death is not mourned, but celebrated.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was buried in the chamber where he meditated and died. His shrine is built around his tomb. A settlement of the same name – Nizamuddin Basti – came up around the dargah.

Select verses from the Quran will be read in the dargah’s courtyard on the first evening of the 711th Urs. Food will be served. The next four days include prayers, qawwalis and holy meals.

On February 9, special qawwalis will be offered from 11 pm to 2 am. Apart from the dargah’s own singers, there will be guest qawwals from the Sufi shrines of Rampur and Amroha.

“Everyone is free to visit Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah,” says Altamash Nizami, a direct descendent of the only sister of the great Sufi saint who himself never married. “Here your caste, religion or skin color does not matter.”

The ceremony will conclude on the evening of 10 February.

You may contact Mr Nizami at this number – 9899451820 — for more detail.

Where Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah, Nizamuddin Basti Nearest Metro Station Jangpura

The Sufi company

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2. (Altamash Nizami)

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