hazratbal Shrine contains a relic, the Moi-e-Muqqadas, believed by many Muslims of Kashmir to be a hair of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad (PBUH).
According to legend, the relic was first brought to Kashmir by Syed Abdullah, a purported descendant of Muhammad who left Medina and settled in Bijapur, near Hyderabad in 1635.
When Syed Abdullah died, his son, Syed Hamid, inherited the relic. Following the Mughal conquest of the region, Syed Hamid was stripped of his family estates. Finding himself unable to care for the relic, he sold it to a wealthy Kashmiri businessman, Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai.
However, when the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb came to know of what had transpired, he had the relic seized and sent to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, and had Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai imprisoned in Delhi for possessing the relic. Later, realizing his mistake, Aurangzeb decided to restore the relic to Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai and to allow him to take it to Kashmir. However, Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai had already died in imprisonment. In 1700, the relic finally reached Kashmir, along with the body of Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai. There, Inayat Begum, daughter of Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai, became a custodian of the relic and established the shrine. Since then, her male descendants have been caretakers of the relic.
Also known by different names like Assar-e-Sharief, Dargah Sharif and Madinat-us-Sani, this mosque is an epitome of love and devotion of Muslims for the Prophet. The construction of this shrine started in 1968, under the supervision of Muslim Auqaf Trust’s Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The construction of this white marble edifice with a domed structure was completed in the year 1979.
The mosque has a deep-rooted history that dates back to the 17th century. The place where the mosque stands today was originally the site of Ishrat Mahal and a garden, which were built in 1623 by Shah Jahan’s subedar Sadiq Khan. Upon his arrival in 1634, Shah Jahan ordered to convert the palace into a place for offering prayers. When Moi-e-Muqqadas arrived in Kashmir in 1699, it was kept in the Naqashbad Sahib for some time, before becoming a part of the Hazratbal. Although this shrine is frequented by locals on Fridays for mass prayers, it experiences an influx of visitors on special occasions, when holy relics are displayed.
The relic was reported to have disappeared on 26 December 1963. There were mass protests all over the state on the disappearance of the Moi-e-Muqaddas (the Hair of the Prophet) with hundreds of thousands out in the streets. The Awami Action Committee was formed to recover the relic. On 31 December, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a broadcast to the nation on the disappearance of the sacred relic.
The relic was recovered on 4 January 1964.
