After reading Shamsur Rahman Farooqi’s ‘Mirror of Beauty’, I was very intrigued by a description in it of a very popular and revered shrine called Qadam Sharif. Having spent a lot of time in Delhi, I was surprised because I never heard of this shrine and was determined to locate it myself.
In Farooqi’s book when misfortune strikes Shamsuddin Khan of Loharu, Wazir Khanum makes a trip to the shrine. The author describes it as a very beautiful and busy place with supplicants and mendicants both going about their business. In fact the impression I got was of a fair the kind one sees on urs days in the dargahs.
In Qadam Sharif, the annual urs is held on Barawafaat, which is the Holy Prophet’s [PBUH] birthday. On that day the slab with the imprint of his foot is immersed in water and that water is offered as ‘tabarruk’ (religious offering of food) to devotees. The slab was acquired by Feroz Shah Tughlaq. Continue reading “Qadam Sharif in Delhi lies neglected and forgotten”