Data Darbar
Shrine Of The Eleventh Century Sufi Saint Ali Hujwiri, Data Ganj Bakhsh, Patron Saint Of Lahore; Administered By The Punjab Auqaf Department · Lahore, Punjab
Data Darbar is the shrine of Ali Hujwiri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, the Giver of Treasures, an eleventh-century Persian mystic who settled in Lahore and wrote Kashf al-Mahjub, the oldest treatise on Sufism in Persian. He is Lahore's patron saint, and his shrine is among the most visited in South Asia: day and night people come from across Pakistan to pray, make vows, give thanks and listen to qawwali, and the shrine's kitchens feed thousands for free every day. The complex was rebuilt and greatly enlarged in the late twentieth century, so its white marble courtyards and gold-topped dome are modern; the devotion is not. Thursday nights are the most intense, with music and crowds, and the annual urs brings enormous numbers. In July 2010 suicide bombers attacked the shrine, killing dozens of worshippers, and security is now tight at every gate. It is less a monument than a living heart of Lahore's faith, and it stands just outside Bhati Gate, a short walk from the Walled City.
Outside Bhati Gate, Walled City, Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Open day and night, with free entry and security screening at every gate; men and women use separate entrances and areas. Thursday evenings and the annual urs are busiest. Shoes are left at the entrance. The shrine is in central Lahore, easily reached by rickshaw or the Orange Line metro.