Golra Sharif

Situated near Margalla Hills, Islamabad, between latitude 33° and 37° east latitude; about 1707 feet above sea level, at a distance of 17 km from the ancient city of Taxila.

Golra Sharif is a shrine of the Sufi Saint Pir Meher Ali Shah in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Geographical importance

Prior to the arrival of Hazrat’s ancestors Golra Sharif was just a small village in the suburbs of Rawalpindi.

Golra Sharif also has fundamental importance geographically. The vast tracts of Margalla Hills and their adjoining plains have been witness to a vast panorama of chequered history. The area extending from Hasan Abdal to the neighbourhood of Taxila, a settlement traced back to 2000 years , is custodian of a rich cultural heritage of pre-Islamic period. Even today the archaeological remains dotting the area furnish evidence of the splendid cultural and religious traditions of Buddhist era. Eminent historians of the world agree that it was here that Greek wisdom and Indian civilization meshed together to bring about a synthesis which influenced cultures and art movements everywhere.

With the passage of time, it was overrun by many foreign invaders, such as Greeks, Persians, Afghans, White Huns, Mughals, Sikhs and the Britishers.

Political scenario

With his rule extending from 1747 to 1773, Ahmad Shah Abdali emerged as one of its last period rulers. After his death his son Taimur Shah ruled the area till 1793. he had to face tremendous pressure from the Marhattas and Sikhs, and by the British at river Sutlaj. when the Afghan ruler, Ahmed Shah Abdali, died and his subedar in Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh , took advantage of the power vacuum and proclaimed his autonomy, it became a part of Sikh Kingdom. From 1818 to 1849, the area remained under the Sikhs till it was annexed by the British.

This was the period of great political upheaval and instability. Some of the communities, known as marauding tribes, were addicted to violent crime and internecine warfare. They levied black-mail tax on the roads south of the Margalla Pass. Morality and virtue were on a rapid decline. Absence of values had created a social abyss – a spiritual “waste land”, and the government too was based on injustice and tyranny. In such a holocaust, God in His Divine Mercy deputed Muslim saints to guide the people and to show them the path of righteousness.

Golra Sharif is a region fully aware, since ancient times, of what it means to be sacred. It knows the majesty that goes with the sacredness.

ee also

*Islamabad
*Pakistan

External links

* [http://www.golrasharif.com The Shrine's official website]