My Lahore Trip

My Lahore Trip 1 © Syed Shahrukh Kamal

MY LAHORE TRIP27-28 June 2011

My Lahore Trip 2 © Syed Shahrukh Kamal The city of Lahore does not need any introduc-tion to the people of sub-continent. Every child of Pa-kistan and India knows about Lahore. It is very hard to think of even a single exception. Lahore is called as the heart of Punjab. The only city that comes after Ka-rachi is Lahore. There is an oft-quoted proverb jinney Lahore nahi takya o jamya he nahi – the person who has not seen Lahore has not born yet. To Sufis, the place is famous for a lot of shrines including the famous mausoleum of Data Ganj Bakhsh (R.A). To ordinary Pakistanis, the place is famous for Minar-e-Pakistan – the place where Resolution of Pa-kistan was passed on 23rd March, 1940. To tourists, the place is famous for ancient remains of the Mughal Empire. To historians, the place is famous for more than five thousand years old culture and its remains in Lahore Museum. To Sikhs, the place is famous for the pilgrimage to the tomb of their Guru. Every kind of book, literature, electronics, automobiles, clothing, fashion, food, art, education, shop, office or bank could be found in Lahore. It is a different issue that I mostly do not get my books from any corner of Lahore. It’s very rare chance that I get what I desire; might be be-cause I search for very old books. Once I got a book from Karachi after an unsuccessful search in Lahore. The interesting thing about it was that the book was published from Lahore. It would take a long time if I’ll start on the relationship between Lahore and me. So, it’s better to drop that topic here. On 24th June, I received an e-mail. On learn-ing that one of my friends was going to YGA Camp for 4 days from 26th onwards, I also wanted to go out

just for a light enjoyment. I gave my last practical on 25th June and made a plan for Lahore trip (although alone). On 27th of June, we left home at 5:30 in the morning and reached Lahore at 7. There we (my driv-er and I) dropped my cousin (Syed Shah Hassan) to his college and headed to Khalifa Sahib’s house. After breakfast, at 9, we left, at 11:30, for visiting the mauso-leum of Data Ganj Bakhsh (R.A) and Pir Makki (R.A). Then we waited and then headed to Badshahi mosque, started in 1671 and completed in 1673. Although, I visited this mosque several times (and that’s why I didn’t attended my school trip to Badshahi mosque and fort, a long time ago) but I didn’t captured it nicely. Whenever I took the pictures of Badshahi mosque, it was before 2005 and then, I used to carry old and cheap cameras with rolls of 36 pictures. The whole trip was to be captured in one or two rolls. The pictures used to blur and we only get to know about the picture result a week or two after coming home. The roll was the thing to be protected more than camera; if it gets exposed to light, you lose everything you captured. After using digital cameras, as other people, my photographs and photography increased but I never took digital cameras to Lahore. If I took any time, I never captured a lot of pictures. I guess I used to think it as my home and there was nothing new in Lahore. One day, I was searching for my Lahore pic-tures and found three albums with poor quality pic-tures. On the June 2011 trip, my aim was to capture Lahore again. It is very hard to shrink the words. Sorry for that.

On left side is an example of Mughal Mina Kari on the walls of

Badshahi mosque.

Enamel working and decorating met-als with colorful and baked coats is one of the distinguished courses of art in Isfahan. Mina, is defined as some sort of glasslike colored coat which can be stabilized by heat on different metals particularly copper. Although this course is of abundant use indus-trially for producing metal and hy-gienic dishes, it has been paid high attention by painters, goldsmiths and metal engravers since long times ago.


If you are having any problem in reading this text, please zoom in.If you don’t know how to read Urdu, zoom in will never help.

Badshahi mosque


The main gate of the mosque



First picture is also an example of Mina Kari of Mughals.This detailed work is also found in other pictures at the roof of the mosque

On left side is an echo system.It is just a hole that worked like

a loudspeaker

It was the non-electronic sound system. The muezzin used to call azan at one corner and it was sounded everywhere like a loudspeaker. The sound used to travel under the floor. Later, when the floor was replaced, the sound system get de-stroyed but still it works a little. Most of the visi-tors and tourists don’t know about this. I knew it because I was told about it (by a guide) when I visited the mosque in my childhood (I think near 2000). The misfortune of Pakistan is that non-Muslim rulers (before partition) – especially Sikhs who ruled this area – had destroyed a lot of things that where connected to Muslims in any way. In the Sikh rule, this mosque, a place of worship, was used as a stable for horses.




The perfect symmetry


At this place children used to practice Quran-recitation. It lets a child listen his own voice so he can know where he was making error. And, the beauty of this echo system is that there is only one spe-cific point where, when you stand and speak, you can listen your echo, and only the speaker can listen the echo (no one around him can be disturbed by the echo).

On left side is the Minar-e-Pakistan from the window of

Badshahi mosque


Before going to Quran Gallery, we went to see the sacred things placed in that mosque. Those Holy things were collected by Muslim kings and, some-times, presented to each other. When-ever I go to Lahore, I want to see those things. The pictures are not allowed there. Fortunately, I am very lucky that I get special permissions because of a few very dear persons (who are govern-ment officials). I am always thankful to Allah that he provided me such beauti-ful opportunities that an ordinary per-son cannot avail easily, although I am nothing more than an ordinary Paki-stani. On 27th June, the Qila (fort) and the mosque were closed due to the se-curity for the annual Sikh function (as there is a tomb of one of their Guru). Not allowing Muslims to enter the mosque, only due to a Sikh function, in a Muslim-majority country was not as bad as, in the same conditions, al-lowing a non-Muslim foreigner to visit the mosque. What is the explanation? Pakistan already do not have a good image in foreign and if we stop them from visiting sites, they’ll have a bad image of Pakistan. O Allah! Help us to be just with our own people. How can anyone justify this situation? Either al-low both, Muslims and non-Muslims, or stop both. And I am very ashamed

to see that the foreigner was visiting the mosque with bare knees. Was that a place of worship or a beech where he was standing? And then we say that Allah do not love us as He had loved our ancestors! Well, I went to see the Holy and Sacred Things and I took only two pictures. Although I had the per-mission to take the pictures but I was reluctant just because they were sacred. I have deleted those two pictures from my mobile because I have transferred them to my computer. In my opinion, these things should not be photographed when every ordinary person have the chance to see them personally. For the same reason, I am not going to upload those two pictures. The sacred things should never be treated like ordinary things. After that, we went to see the Qur’an Gallery in the mosque. It was closed (as there was no public in the mosque other than a few workers) but we managed to get it opened and visit it with a former guide, Liaquat Ali Shah Sahib. That was the first time I came to know the history of that Gallery. Before that, I only knew that there were 30 Chapters, written with gold, in the form of 30 books. Liaquat Ali Shah Sahib told us that the artist lost his family in a fire accident. To get mental peace, he started writing Qur’an with gold (on cloth). Later, in the time of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, this was displayed in Badshahi mosque.

The Gold Qur’an Gallery



His small in size but great mau-soleum is outside Badshahi mosque, containing a grave and a little place to stand be-side. His tombstone was gifted by the people of Afghanistan. Couplets and Quranic verses were selected, calligraphed and inscribed in Afghanistan. What I have seen during the visit was really amazing for me and I want to share it with you. When Liaquat Ali Shah Sahib lit the matchstick behind almost 4 inch thick stone, it glowed and the light was visible from the other side.

Allama Iqbal Mausoleum Allama Iqbal was the famous poet of sub-continent. He was titled as The Poet of East. He had a good command on Urdu, Persian, Arabic and German language. Although his original poetry is in Urdu and Persian language, the translations could be found in many languages including Turkish, English, and Italian etc. His poetry is dedicated to the Muslims of the world, es-pecially the Muslims of sub-continent. He is also considered as a Sufi. He was born in Sialkot and studied there. Later, he went to England for Ph.D. in Philosophy. He also acquired a lot of knowledge from the soil of Ger-many. He dedicated his rest of the life for his nation and is buried in Lahore. Two of Iqbal’s Persian stanzas are inscribed at the window of the mausoleum.


Two Persian stanzas are inscribed on the front side of the tombstone.


The word “Muhammad” is in the center, surrounded by four “Iqbal”s

at four edges.


Minar-e-PakistanAfter Badshahi mosque, we went to Minar-e-Pakistan. This is a 175 feet tall minaret (if I am recalling cor-rectly what I was told in year 2004 or 2005, when I visited it). It was constructed in the memory of the Lahore Resolution (passed on 23rd March 1940). Liaquat Ali Shah Sahib told me that the workers used to con-struct it with ablution and his father was also the one among those work-ers. He further added that 2 workers died, by falling down, while putting the cap of this minaret.

The flower at the foot of the minaret.

This minaret is closed since 2007 due to the suicide attempts. I was in Lahore in 2007 when the minaret was closed. I wanted to visit it. It was again opened a day later. Shortly it was closed again and till now it is closed. You can see that there is no one near the minaret. We are thank-ful to Mr. Shafique Raza for giving us the permission to visit the minaret and sending two security guards to guide us.


On one side is the Lahore city and on the other side were the the mausoleums of Daata Sahib Pir Makki and Allama Iqbal, Badshahi mosque, the Sikhs’ Marrhi and the Lahore Fort.


There are two crescent around the minaret, each surrounding one half. This gives a very beau-tiful scene when it is filled with water and lights are switched on. The minaret is built on a star. Two crescents and one star makes the Pakistan’s flag from both sides.



It is the place where the conference of March 1940 was held. Here was the stage where our leaders mentioned the name of Pakistan for the first time in history. The Lahore Resolution was passed on 23rd March 1940. Then, it was called Minto Park. Now, it is called Allama Iqbal Park. That day is celebrated as Pakistan Day.


Iqbal MuseumOn the morning of 28th June, 2011, Tuesday, we went to Javed Manzil, first. Javed Manzil was later made as Iqbal Museum by Government of Pakistan. It is situated at Garhi Shaho, Lahore. You can read the description in Urdu as well as in English (if you are not an Urdu reader) that’ll tell you how this building was made, how much amount of money was spent, and how it was used in the history.



Above is the praying carpet (Musalla/Ja-e-Namaz) and Takht Posh of Allama Iqbal where he used to offer his five times prayer. It is Gallery # 1. The prayer written there is the one he wrote in Masjid-e-Qurtaba.

Below are some manuscripts of Allama Iqbal’s published and unpublished works, placed in Galleries # 2 and 3.

My Lahore Trip 24 © Syed Shahrukh KamalGallery # 4

Far above are the pictures of his house in Sialkot.Above are the pictures of his school, Scotch Mission High School (now called Murrey College).

Below is the picture of his house in Lahore.

Gallery # 5 contained his belongings like

suits, coats, collars (in old days, collars were also used separately),

cufflinks, ties, etc.


Gallery # 7. His bed room where he breathed his last, on Thursday, 21st April, 1938.His bed, boots, books, medicines etc. are still preserved in the same manner as they were.The clock, below, is stopped and indicates the time of Allama Iqbal’s death.The Calendar, below, dates the death of Allama Iqbal. It was never changed ever since then.


Queen Noor Jehan was the wife of Mughal Em-peror, King Jahangir, and the mother of Mughal Em-peror, King Shah Jehan. Today, we are going to learn a lesson from history. It is said that history is a best teacher. Before going to the pictures and trip, I would like to tell my readers that when we were young, we were told the stories of Mughal Emperors (in History classes) and we were very proud that Mughal Emper-ors were Muslims and ruled India when India was the whole sub-continent that also had a part of Afghani-stan. Unfortunately, we didn’t knew that how far were the Mughal Emperors from Islam and its teachings. One example is that drinking was common in them. And today, I feel ashamed instead of being proud when I think that Mughal Emperors were Muslims. It is very hard for me to think that the ancestors of Mughals and Ottomans were same Mongols. Today, their remains are preserved as a sign of culture. People go to such places just for praising their makers and forget their own Maker who has destroyed these things. Today, we do not learn any lesson from history. Today, we do not think that if such great kings and queens have been perished in the muddy wind of history, we would also be perished. Anwar Masood said about Harappa,

ujra sa wo nigar keh Harappa hai jis ka naamus qarya-e-shikasta o shehr-e-kharaab sey

ibrat ki ik chataank muyassir na ho sakiCulture nikal para hai manon key hisab sey

The summary of the above couplets is that from the destroyed Harappa, we have not taken any IBRAT (lesson) but we have taken out a lot of culture from it. Today, when we listen the story of Anarkali and Salem (King Jehangir) we feel very sad for him and think that his father King Akbar has done very bad by not letting the two lovers to unite. How cruel he was! But wait! let’s see all the facts. Salem was a Prince and Anarkali might not knew that the nature of Prince is to not be loyal to one girl. However, Prince Saleem married later with Mehr-un-Nisa (Queen Noor Jehan). Whatever it was, it was his personal life and we do not have an-ything to do with it. We are not against him for this reason. We are against him for drinking and making himself a god. Sheikh Ahmad Sirhandi Mujaddid Alf Sani (May Allah have Mercy on him) refused to do the prostration of respect at Jahangir’s court and eradicat-ed the wrong practices of his time.

If we just see towards the works of Mughal Emperors, what have they done for Islam? Nothing. And what have they done for themselves? Jahangir built a huge minaret just in the memory of his deer. The Badshahi mosque was built by King Aurangzeb and it was because he was more towards Islam than his fathers and grandfathers. Even after that, the area of that mosque is far lesser than the area of the tombs of Mughal Emperors. And the mosques that were built by his fathers and grandfathers are just like the mosques an ordinary person makes nowadays. After watching those mosques, a person questions himself that whether it was built by an Emperor or some poor person. I have already said a lot and I will not go fur-ther on this topic. Now, I am just going to paste the pictures below that will tell you that it is the result of that proud. Furthermore, it will also tell you that what cruelties were shown by Sikh rulers to Muslims and their properties when they ruled India for a very short duration.

Empress Noor Jehan’s Tomb

Above are the details of Empress Noor Jehan’s tomb in English





My Lahore Trip 31 © Syed Shahrukh Kamal Even after the destruction, it is beautiful. Think how beautiful it’d be before destruction. And after that, try to think that whose land would be that and whose money would be that. Can you hear the screams of poor people in these pictures and can you see the blood of poor people on these walls? On one hand, it is the destruction that tells us that nothing lasts forever. So, we should never invest in this world. On the other hand, it gives us the look on the cruelties on the Muslims of India. Sikhs rulers used to tie their horses in mosques and Muslims were not allowed to pray there. Have you seen what people (or so-called lov-ers) has done with the tombstone of THE QUEEN OF SUB-CONTINENT? These are the graves of A QUEEN and her daughter. These are the graves of marbles. In fact, these are only the marbles to tell that the grave is here. The corpses were in the basement. Today, Peo-ple use to sleep on these marble graves. On the other hand, the Saints of Allah do not have any property in this world but has nicer graves with people respecting them. It is not that the government has neglected these ruins but it is what Sikh rulers had done. This tomb was very beautiful when it was cre-ated. You can imagine this from these pictures.


Stairs to the grave underground

The speciality of these walls is that they are cold in summers and hot in winters.

As there was no system of heaters and air conditioners, this technique is mostly found in historical buildings.


The tunnels that used to lead to Delhi (India) and Kabul (Afghanistan), in the times of Mughals.After the partition of Pakistan and India, these tunnels were closed.

How much money did the kings used to spend on themselves! And, we have to see, after this, that how less money they had spent on poor people.

It is the place right under the tombstones of Noor Jehan and her daughter.


The graves of Queen Noor Jehan and her daughter, right under the tombstone.

Today, the grave of the Emperess Noor Jehan and her daughter is lying in the chest of the earth. It was the place they didn’t liked to burry their bodies in their era but today fate has taken them to their destinies. The graves of the Emperess and her daughter is not something extra-ordinary anymore. If the Royal Mughal Fam-ily had spent that money on poor people, it would have given them more fame, more reward and more place in heaven. Today, neither they have any child to visit their graves nor any lover to recite Quran on their graves. Today, the graves of those who were not in the lusts of material world are filled with people to pray for them. Even after knowing the deeds of Mughal Royal Family and watching the justice of history, I prayed for the Emperess and her daughter. We should pray for them that may Allah forgive them. At least, they were Mus-lims and, thus, were our brothers and sisters. We should pray for them not because they were bad but because we should become good and they might have done, at least, a single good thing that Allah might liked. Hence, I request all of the readers to please pray for their forgiveness and the forgiveness of other Muslimeen.

The boxes, containing the corpses, used to hang with the roof of thebasement. Jewels and ornaments were hung on every side of the box. We can clearly imagine the lust of money in the emperors from this fact of history. People use to forget that it is only this world where they can distinguish themselves from others but not in front of Allah, the Almighty. Now, where are those jewels? When Sikhs came, they took all of the jewels with them and delivered the poor Emperess to its real owner, the earth. Why the emperors didn’t gave those jewels to poor? On the other hand, see the cruelty of Sikh rulers. It was very hard for Muslims to live in India under the rule of non-Muslims. The peace was impossible without partition as Muslims do sacrifice cow while Hindus regard cow as their god.


There is no light in the basement. The reason is told that it was Noor Jehan’s wish as said in her Persian stanza:It means, on the grave of we poor people, there is neither candle nor flower;

neither is any moth to burn zealously nor is any sound of nightingale. But this interpretation has two problems with it. Firstly, the poet of the above mentioned stanza is un-known but, most of the times, is mistakenly attributed to Queen Noor Jehan. Secondly, the reason why there was no electric candle hung when it was made is that, at that time, there was no electricity. If Noor Jehan willed to had her grave in darkness, then why there are two windows (that will be mentioned below)? Are we more aware of Noor Jehan’s wish or she herself who built this tomb (with windows) in her own life.

The window from where the first ray of the sun enters the room, at morning.

For all of this and the stanza mentioned above, I wrote in my booklet, In the memory of Nawab Sahib: “Many magnificent kings of their time have been devoured by death and their mausoleums are seen wrapped in desolation. Time has turned their mausoleums into objects of fear. Useless is such reputation and dignity that is never remember by the people nor somebody is seen reciting Fateha on these tombs. Ravages of time deteriorate these tombs and push them into dreary oblivion. Magnificent death is of those whose funer-als are performed with grandeur and veneration in spite of having no family relationship. A grave of soil laden with rose petals is better than the tombs of marble having no rose, no candle nor a moth to burn zealously or a nightingale singing over there. It is historic fact that dignified aura of these kings is demolished as soon as their bodies slip into the clutches of death. But Auliya Allah (friends of God) never depend upon this body, composed of clay, nor they are affected by the decline and decay that is obvious destiny of mortal body.”


The window from where the last ray of sun departs the room, at evening.



Emperor Jehangir’s Tomb Jehangir was the son of Akbar, the husband of Mehr-un-Nisa Noor Jehan and the father of Shah Jehan. The tomb of his wife was constructed in her life on her own orders,. The tombs of Jehangir and his brother-in-law were constructed by his son, Shah Jehan, later. The only tomb that is still much beautiful among these three is the tomb of Jehangir. It is very strange to see this difference in his and his wife’s tomb. Might be the reason is that her wife was more indulged in the love of money and material world and Allah has shown us that the more you love money and material world, the more you will not be perished. Let’s move to the pictures.

Above is the main gate of the tomb.It was raining the previous night, as seen in the

top left pictures.On left is the back wall of the tomb of King Je-

hangir and his brother-in-law.


Akbari Sarai

Sara-i-Akbari are 180 guest rooms on the boundaries of the tomb.Below right, there is a small mosque between the Sara-i-Akbari.

Extreme below right, there is a gate that leads to Jehangir’s tomb.Extreme below left is another gate of the tomb.




The beautiful minaret of the tomb could be seen in the picture at left.

In the picture below, the two doors leads to the roof through stairs.

The Mughal Art could be seen in the bottom right picture.




Tombstone of Jehangir’s grave. It is called ‘taweez’ in Urdu.The right picture has the 3rd last verse of Surah al-Hashr of Qur’an engraved on it.

The tombstone is beautifully engraved with 99 names of Allah on both sides and Ayat al-Kursi

on top of the tombstone.


The picture just below were the guest rooms

as we saw Akbari Sarai. However, these guest rooms are not called Akbari Sarai. Nowadays, these guest rooms just

serve as store rooms. This could be seen in the picture at the bot-

tom of the page.

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Tomb of Asif Khan


When Sikh took the rule of India for a short time, they destroyed most of the buildings of Muslims. They took all the jewels and gems and even the floor of the tomb and just spared the tombstone.


A small mosque could be seen in the picture on the right side, just above. Mughals used to build a mosque with their buildings. However, the money spent on mosques was negligible in front of the money spend on their buildings. The back door of the tomb could be seen in other three pictures.

Documents

My Lahore Trip