Hazratbal Shrine, Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir

Hazratbal Shrine, Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir (India)

The Hazratbal Shrine popularly called Dargah Sharif is a Muslim shrine located in Hazratbal Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir India. It contains a relic Moi-e-Muqqadas which is widely believed to be the hair of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is situated on the northern bank of the Dal Lake in Srinagar and is considered to be Kashmirs holiest Muslim shrine. The name of the shrine is a combination of the Persian word hazrat and the Kashmiri word bal. The shrine contains strands of what is believed by many Muslims to be the hair of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The relic was first brought to Kashmir by Syed Abdullah Madani a purported descendant of Muhammad who left Medina and settled in the South Indian city of Bijapur in 1635 at a time when the Islamic Mughal Empire was rapidly expanding across India.