Haji Ali Dargah , Mosque in Mumbai

Decks have been cleared for the restoration work of one of the city’s most famous landmarks in the Arabian Sea-the 400-year-old Haji Ali Dargah. The Bombay high court earlier this week declined to entertain a public interest litigation challenging the Rs 9-crore restoration work.

The PIL was filed by city-based advocate Sana Baugwala, who claimed various violations in law and sought a halt to the restoration work.

Baugwala alleged that no permission had been taken from the charity commissioner before commencing the work. The advocate said this was a violation of the Bombay Public Trust Act.

The petitioner also raised questions about the huge expenses to be incurred on the renovation work, which she said “could have been used for some good social cause”.

The state was represented by assistant government pleader Milind More who opposed the PIL.

According the restoration plans drawn up by the trust which manages the dargah, nearly 35,000 square feet of Makrana marble will be used-the same kind that was used in the construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra.

The Haji Ali Mosque is situated on an islet near the coast of Worli in Mumbai.
Despite the fact that this structure is a mosque and dargah, it is extremely famous amongst the Hindu population in Mumbai, Maharashtra and South Gujarat.

Haji Ali Dargah is one of the most popular religious places in Mumbai, visited by Hindus and Muslims alike. It is basically the tomb of Haji Ali, a wealthy merchant who renounced all the worldly possessions and became a saint, after he returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Along with the tomb, there is also a mosque at Haji Ali. There are two different accounts of how the tomb of Haji Ali came into being. As per one version, the saint drowned in the sea and his devotees built a tomb at the spot where he died.

Another version goes that Haji Ali died on his pilgrimage to Mecca and his body was put in a casket. The casket is said to have floated back to Bombay, stopping near the rock bed on the sea here. The place where his casket was found later served as the venue of his dargah (tomb), built by his devotees. Haji Ali Dargah is situated on an islet, in the middle of Worli Bay, located off the coast of Worli. It is visited by a large number of devotes every day. The rush particularly swells on Thursdays and Fridays.

It is a common belief among people that if one pray’s at this durgah, his/her wishes are fulfilled. This mosque is controlled by the Sunni Barelvi Movement of India. The mosque is spread over an area of 4,500 meters.

There is an 85 foot high tower. The tomb in the mosque has a red and green brocaded tomb cover sheet and an impressive silver frame. The main hall has some marble pillars that are decorated with yellow, green and blue mirror chips.

The new minaret in the shrine of Haji Ali is rising skyward, made entirely of pure marble with no iron or steel fortification. Drawing on techniques used to construct Rajabai Tower and the Maratha forts of Shivaji Maharaj, engineers and craftsmen are rebuilding the iconic monument that they claim will be earthquake-resistant and last a whole century.

Rajasthani artisans, whose roughened hands shape the finest monuments in the country, have brought with them white marble from their native Makrana. Neatly wrapped in bundles of hay, these are stacked beneath the emerging minaret.

Inside the minar rises a spiral staircase modelled along the one inside Rajabai Tower. It will eventually touch a height of 72 ft, approximating a seven-storey building. Each step is neatly interlocked with the previous one simply by brass pins and cement mortar.

Islam is derived from the root word salaam which means Peace. Islam was brought to  India in the 8th century by traders, Islam became a dominant religious force in the country during the Moghul Empire. Maharashtra has a large Muslim population and mosques or prayer halls can be found in almost every village and city of the state. There are several Masjids in Mumbai, big and small, simple and ornate. At the same time, there are several Dargahs (tombs) of revered Muslim saints that have become famous pilgrimages.

Most notable among the Dargahs in Mumbai is the tomb of the Muslim saint Pir Haji Ali Shah. A landmark on the Mumbai skyline, the whitewashed dargah stands tall in Mahalaxmi at the end of a narrow 500-yard causeway jutting into the Arabian Sea.