When you go for a trip of sightseeing in Srinagar, then after visiting the Dal Lake in Srinagar and Nishat Bagh in Srinagar, the third place that you should visit in the vicinity is the Hazratbal in Srinagar. This famous Muslim pilgrimage is located just opposite the Nishat Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake, reflecting its glory and holiness on the pristine water. The surrounding around the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar also known by the names Assar-e-Sharif, Madinat-Us-Sani and Dargah Sharief is not only tranquil but also has breathtaking beauty.
When you go through the history of the Hazratbal in Srinagar, then you come to know that the building which is known as shrine today was actually built as a pleasure house by Sadiq Khan, subedar of Shah Jahan in 1623. When Shah Jahan came to Kashmir in 1634, he asked that the Ishrat Mahal or the pleasure house should be converted to a house of prayer. This was the story of this building lying about 25 kilometers from the Badgam district, becoming a shrine.
The fame of the Hazratbal in Srinagar lies in its association with a strand of Prophet Mohammad’s hair known as Moi-e-Muqqadus. This story is also equally interesting. When the hair came to Kashmir during the rule of Aurangzeb in 1699, then at first it was preserved at shrine of Naqshband Sahib. But the shrine was small and therefore not capable of every day handling of the huge crowd that thronged to visit the Prophet’s hair. Therefore, Aurangzeb ordered the strand of hair to be preserved at the Hazratbal shrine at Srinagar.
The marble shrine that you can see now was started in the year 1968 by the Muslim Auqaf Trust and completed in 1979. Its architecture has the unique blend of both Mughal and traditional Kashmiri styles. Here you will find a three-tiered roof and the walls and the porticos are made of brick and are constructed over a base of stone. If you want to see the Moi-e-Muqqadus then, however, you have to visit in a festival day. Only during these special occasions, the Moin-e-Muqqadus placed in a glass casket is open for public display. Every year various fairs are held at the Hazratbal of Srinagar. The important and the popular ones are the Shab-e-Meraj and the Watul mela.
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