Shrine culture suffers under Covid

As Karachi faces another set of closures amid the fourth wave of the coronavirus outbreak, its once vibrant shrine culture must also ready itself for yet another spell of bleakness.

The city’s dargahs that used to welcome thousands in footfall every day, have largely remained shut for the past year-and-half; experiencing only small bouts of normalcy between lockdowns. The collateral impact of which has weighed the heaviest on the network of businesses built around acts of spirituality that have since withered.

Many businesses including florists, candle sellers, cloth merchants, tea stall owners, perfumers, jaggery sellers and cleaners, who relied on visitors of the shrine to sustain their businesses, have all started turning elsewhere for alternate sources of income. The pandemic, they say, has now blanched the shrine culture, casting a cloud of misery not only on their source of income, but also on a heritage they had long endeavored to protect.

Karachi is home to over 28 shrines of Sufi saints, all registered with and managed by the endowment department. These also include more popular shrines like that of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Clifton, Ghaib Shah in Kemari, Noor Ali Shah Shaheed in Tin Hatti, Dulha Shah in Kharadar and Baba of Manghopir in Manghopir among others.

According to an unconfirmed estimate, there are over 14,000 people associated with businesses built around these shrines. Most of them are directly associated with supporting the tradition through sale of items and accessories significant to the spiritual practice.

Despite their high numbers however, these businesses have largely remained out of the government’s ambit of relief during Covid, leaving them little option but to slowly frizzle out amid extensive closures.

Haji Mohammad Shahid, a local florist, believes that his business has taken a steep fall ever since the government imposed its first lockdown in March of 2020. Prior to that, except for Shab-e-Barat, a majority of his regular clientele consisted of the shrine’s pilgrims, who’d regularly buy rose flowers for devotional rituals. “But with the shrines closed under coronavirus-induced restrictions, I have lost over 70 per cent of my business,” he claimed.

According to Yousuf Qadri, who works at a local shrine, Sufi dargahs are a place of spiritual healing where the believers come to offer their prayers and seek spiritual guidance in times of difficulty. “Even with the lockdown, the troubled still turn to the shrine every day for the same reason. But they can only offer their fateha [prayer] at the gates and we regretfully have to turn them away,” said the shrine worker. “We follow all virus related SOPs. The government should immediately open the shrines so that believers can once again connect with their beloved,” he added.

Speaking in this regard, Sindh Endowment Department Chief Administrator Sharif Sheikh said that the decision to close shrines was taken by the Sindh government due to the rise of the fourth wave of Covid-19. “It is understandable that the business community associated with shrines is worried. However, shrines will hopefully be allowed to reopen as soon as there is a fall in virus numbers,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2021.