Shah Shahabuddin Nehra Shrine Lahore

Reference of Article Majid Sheikh (Dawn Newspaper)

07-10-2018

Nehra, son of Hazrat Mauj Darya Bukhari, was a pious man with views as orthodox can be. The word Nehra, in Hindi, means a lion, and it was one of the miracles of Shahabuddin performed in the Lahore Fort before Emperor Akbar that earned him this name. Two holy men, so very different from one another, yet in death near one another, not that it was their choice. Shahyum was buried far away from the city so that his followers did not influence the simple folk of Lahore.

Shahabuddin Nehra. His father Hazrat Mauj Darya Bukhari was a leading seer of his times, and it was to him that Emperor Akbar turned when he repeatedly failed to conquer the huge fort of Chattisgarh from the fierce Rajputs. In those days it was normal for rulers to seek the assistance of ‘holy men when they faced problems. One assumes it was a last resort measure, and it was to Hazrat Mauj Darya Bukhari that Akbar turned. He was summoned and the holy man refused royal horses and said he would be there before the horses, which is what exactly happened. How is it not for me to dwell on?

The holy man told the emperor to forget past failures and attack the fort before the sun rises the next day, and to keep attacking no matter what the cost. Exactly at noon, he would win. Exactly as predicted, down to the last detail, Akbar was able to conquer the fort, and it was this event that helped him to consolidate his empire. Back in Lahore Fort the emperor summoned the holy man, and a few courtiers, jealous of the new standing of Mauj Darya, shut the gates to his son Shahabuddin. In a rage, Shahabuddin roared and as several accounts tell us, he morphed into an angry lion. One push at the gates and it yielded with the guards fleeing.

The lion ran to where the emperor was, and as legend has it, he held forth his huge paw. The emperor hid behind Mauj Darya Bukhari and the lion withdrew and lay down. Mauj Darya scolded him for losing his temper and said that ‘court intrigues are part of life. The emperor understood what Mauj Darya meant and soon, as legend tells us, the lion returned to human form. The emperor named him ‘Nehra’, a name that remains with him till today.

Out of reverence for Mauj Darya Bukhari, the emperor built the tomb of his ‘peer’ even before he died. It is located at the western corner of Turner Road and east of Old Anarkali. The tomb of Syed Shahabuddin Nehra was built in the Mughal gardens just near Mughalpura. After the death of his father, Shahabuddin Nehra excelled in his understanding of the Quran and the Hadith. His ‘miracles’ were well-known and he avoided the Mughal court and its intrigues, but his advice was sought in moments of crisis. One account tells of him walking in a Lahore bazaar and people, out of fear, running away.