I thought Islam frowns on such practices, no?
Dargah always welcomes Pakistani leaders - Times Of India
Dargah always welcomes Pakistani leaders
Akhilesh Kumar Singh & Shoeb Khan, TNN Apr 6, 2012, 03.24AM IST
JAIPUR/AJMER: "Bismillah-ir-rehman-ir-rahim, allah khuddam ki khidmat qubul farmayen, Amen! Zia. (O Allah! Please accept the services of this servant). This was the message written by the then sadar zamhuria (head of the state) of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq, on February 22, 1987, in the diary of the Anjuman committee of Dargah Sharif during his visit to the shrine.
Zia was in Jaipur to watch the India-Pakistan match and had gone to the dargah for ‘ziyarat’ at the time when the bilateral relations were going through one of the worst phases. Nevertheless, Zia was given the customary welcome at the shrine as per centuries’ old tradition, intact since the Mughal period.
Preparations are afoot in the dargah to welcome the current Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The khadim community (priest) is busy preparing for the customary ceremonies meant for the nation heads. The shrine is being decked up for three major ceremonies that will be performed: gifting a sword, presenting ‘duanama’ and sending chaddars to be offered at shrines in Pakistan (as there are several shrines of Chishtiya silsila in Pakistan).
While the first two are being customarily performed for the state/nation heads since centuries, the third one is a recent addition thanks to the barriers post partition. As procuring visa to Pakistan became difficult, Khadims started sending chadars through nation heads to be offered at two Pakistan-based shrines of Chistiya Sufi order - Hazrat Khwaja Fariduddin Ganjshakar in Pak Pattan (near Lahore) and Hazarat Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore city (here Khwaja Gharib Nawaz had prayed for 40 days before coming to Hindustan).
As per tradition, the khadim community sends chaddars from Ajmer dargah to all major Sufi shrines in the Indian subcontinent during the annual Urs. “After partition it became difficult for khadims to send chaddars to shrines in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh so the khadims did it via state heads,” says Syed Wahid Hussain Angarahshah, secretary, Anjuman Syed Zadgan (a parent body of khadims).
The book ‘Shrine And Cult Of Muin-al-din Chishti’ of Ajmer by PM Currie says “Swords are given to nation heads during their visits as a token of respect. It began during the reign of Emperor Akbar. In the past 600 years, swords have been presented to Akbar, Aurangzeb and from Queen Victoria to President Pratibha Patil by Khadims during their visits.”
“We are in regular touch with the district administration and I have to reach a day in advance to monitor preparations,” said Mohammad Afzal, Nazim of the dargah committee. Sources said seven representatives of the hereditary khadim families, 21 members of the Anjuman, 15 members of the Syed Sheikh Zadgan, three members from the hereditary staff, one baridar (the person in-charge of the dargah logistics for the day) will be allowed to be on the dargah premises during the 30-minute stay of Zardari on April 8.
Zardari will be the third Pak president to pay obeisance at the shrine. Former presidents, Pervez Musharraf and General Zia-ul-Haq, have also been to the dargah. Zardari’s visit will be the first presidential visit in the last seven years. Musharraf was the last Pak president to visit India in April 2005.
However, Benazir Bhutto was a frequent visitor at the shrine and visited the here five times in her lifetime. “It was on April 1, 2005 that she last came to Ajmer,” said Khadim Syed Iqbal Kaptan. Despite leading a life of exile, Bhutto visited Ajmer thrice. In 2003, she visited Ajmer to pray for the release of her husband Asif Ali Zardari from prison. Her wish was fulfilled and her husband was released on November 21, 2004. Bhutto visited the shrine again, this time with Zardari from Dubai, to thank the Sufi saint. “I find great support coming to Ajmer Sharif and offering prayers,” Benazir wrote in the diary of the Anjuman during her visit in 2003.