November 26, 2017
Detail Taken from Article of Iqbal Alam
A unique Mausoleum designed by architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz for two modern Gnostics from Lahore. Hafiz Iqbal and his mentor Baba Hassan Din lived on the site of their mausoleum for a significant part of their lives and now their resting places lay under two identical domes around cloisters modelled on shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf.
It is said that Baba Din was an Englishman working for railways in Birmingham who arrived in Lahore in early 50s of last century to become a Sufi ascetic.
Din adopted a poor local boy, Hafiz Iqbal and educated him to high university standards but Iqbal decided to become a street sweeper under an assumed Christian name to experience life almost as an outcast.
The work on Mausoleum started soon after the death of Hafiz Iqbal, using only natural materials. The whole structure is built of local clay bricks and lime mortar prepared and mixed on site. The craftsmen use traditional tools and techniques, some revived especially for task. Some of the decorations are copied from the walls of Red Fort in Delhi. The false burial chambers are decorated with Organic verses chosen by Hafiz Iqbal, inscribed in ink made from burned mustard oil in the style of calligraphy taken from Taj Mahal.
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