Daily Ceremonies At Dargah

Fresh Flower Offerings


Sama Qawwali

Every day a number of activities are performed by the Khuddam of Hazrat Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaj at the Dargah. These include Khidmat, Langer, Sama Qawwali and Quran recital.
Khidmat
This ceremony is performed twice, once early in the morning about at 4.00 a.m. and other at 3.00 p.m. with a slight difference. In the morning it is performed for about an hour before the Fajar prayer. At this time, the main entrance of the Tomb is opened, by calling Azan. At this point only Khadims are allowed to enter to perform khidmat. In affect, khidmat means cleaning the Holy Mazar and offering fresh flowers.The second khidmat takes place at 3.00 p.m. At this time, all pilgrims are permitted inside the Tomb except ladies. Now apart from offering flowers, khadims recite Fateha and offer sandalwood which is also distributed among the pilgrims.
Lighting (Roshnee)
Fifteen minutes before evening prayer the ritual of Roshnee (lighting) takes place. It starts with khudam bringing candles inside the Tomb with drums beating in the background. Once inside, khadims place these candles in lamps and recite some Persian verse. Finally the lamps are placed in the four corners of the Holy Tomb and are lighted.
Karka (Closing ceremony)
Karka is the closing ceremony of the Tomb which takes place after an hour of Isha prayer. According to old custom, about 20 minutes before closing the door, when fifth part of the night passes, a person calls to ring five, the clock sounds five times, the devotees present inside the Tomb are requested to go out of the Shrine. Then three khadims clean and sweep the Tomb. After that they come out of the Tomb and the bell rings six times. Immediately after that Qawwals sing a special song called `Karka’. After the song is over, the entrance of the Tomb is closed.
Langer
Dargah’s daily ceremony includes Langer (free distribution of food) where they serve wheat porridge which is cooked in a special grass. This particular porridge is significant because this is the same porridge that Khawaja Baba used to consume. It is said that when Emperor Akbar visited Khawaja Baba’s Mazar, he used to stand in queue and take the Langer like any other ordinary man. The Langer takes place after Isha prayer (namaz).
Sama (Qawwali)
Every day in front of the main shrine (mazar), after fazar namaz, magrib namaz and Isha namaz, there’s amehfil-e-sama where devotional songs on Allah is sung by special Qawwals (devotional singer).
Milad & Quran Recital
It’s a complete recital of the Holy Quran which takes place every day at Jama Masjid and Alamgir Masjid.