THE SHRINE OF HAZRAT SHAH JALALThe Shrine of Shah Jalal ad-Din al-Mujarrad al Naqshbandi, popularly known as Hazrat Shah Jalal (1271 – 1346) and a much loved Sufi saint, is situated in Sylhet, Bangladesh.
More than several hundreds of years after his death, the shrine is visited by innumerable devotees of every caste and creed, who make the journey from faraway places.
Shah Jalal was a spiritual disciple of Saiyid Ahmad Yasawi, one of the founders of the Central Asian Sufi tradition. According to legend his uncle gave him a handful of soil and told him to travel to India, seeking a place to begin the introduction of Islam where the soil was of the same colour. Shah Jalal journeyed eastward, meeting different Sufi scholars along the way, and arrived at Sylhet (in modern day Bangladesh) in 1303. During the following years, Shah Jalal devoted himself to propagating Islam and became so renowned that the famous traveller Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) came to meet him in 1345. Writing of Shah Jalal in his travelogue, the Rihla (The Journey) Ibn Battuta says:
‘he was numbered among the principal saints, and was one of the most singular of men. He had done many noteworthy acts, and wrought many celebrated miracles. He used to remain standing (in prayer) all night. The inhabitants of these mountains received Islam from his hands, and it was for this reason that he stayed among them.’
Acknowledgement and further reading:
https://sacredsites.com/asia/bangladesh/hazrat_shah_jalal_sylhet.html
https://www.bangladoot-paris.org/index.php/2013-06-03-11-28-34/tourism/islamic-heritage-sites.html
https://www.bangladesh.com/blog/shrine-of-hazrat-shah-jalal/