History

Dargah Shah-e-Mardan is the oldest and holiest Shiite's (Shia Asna Asha'ri) shrine in India. It is probably 700 years old ‘Dargah', although the detail of its construction is unknown. Like such shrines all over the world, this is not an actual dargah. Instead it symbolically commemorates the Caliph Ali and his wife Fatima, the son in law and daughter of Prophet Muhammed, respectively.

This village was called 'Aliganj' on account of Imam Ali (as) ibn Abu Talib (as). The name Dargah Shah-e-Mardan is also derived from the same name. 'Dargah' means a court and 'Shah-e-Mardan' means the 'king of Heroes', a title of Maula Ali (as). Dargah Shah-e-Mardan means the 'court of the king of Heroes'. A sacred white marble stone having a clear footprint of Maula Ali(as) ibn Abu Talib(as) known as 'Qadam-e-Mubarak' or Qadam Shareef, is also placed inside Dargah Shah-e-Mardan.

In the 15th or 16th century ( no exact dates are available for this) Arif Shah, a Shia muslim, was running from persecution . He was followed by the army. Tired from running he stopped to rest in Aliganj on the exact spot that his dargah is made and started invoking Ali.

Ya Ali madad.

Very soon he saw a gentleman who put his hand on his head and kept pressing it down till he became as small as a 2 year old child. The army very soon caught up with him but to their surprise they saw only a small child and they moved on. Arif Shah soon came back to his normal size and saw that the spot on which his savior Maula Ali had stood was a footmark. The dargah of Hazrat Arif Shah was built on this place. His urs is in the month of sawan.

Originally the enclosure of Dargah Shah-e-Mardan was developed and secured by Qudsiya Begum Zamani, the mother of Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahahdur and the grandmother of last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Enclosure of Dargah Shah-e Mardan includes Qadam Shareef, Bibi ka Rauza or Bibi ki Chakki, Kazmain, Imam Bara also known as Baradari, Nawab Qudsia Mosque, Majlis Khana, Red Mosque and Dargah Arif Ali shah. Its surrounding waqf land includes Naqqar Khana, Zeenat ki Masjid, Baoli, Qanati Masjid, Karbala and Chotti Karbala.

It is also said that Enclosure of Dargah Shah-e-Mardan was founded by Nawab Qudsiya Begum. Mahabat Khan, a prominent Mughal general and statesman, who died in 'Deccan' (Hydrabad) in 1634 A.D. (1144 A.H.), has expressed a desire to be buried close to the Qadam Shareef in Dargah Shah-e-Mardan. Upon his death his corpse was brought to Delhi from 'Deccan' and was buried close to Qadam Shareef.

Timur Lang, a 'Mongol' conqueror had made the world's first 'Tazia' (replica of Shrine of Imam Hussain (as) and buried it in 1399 A.D. (800-01 A.H.) in the vicinity of Qadam Shareef. He called that portion of land as 'Karbala'. (Ever first Karbala after the original Karbala in Iraq, in the world)

These two incidents indicates that Dargah Shah-e-Mardan has been standing here much longer and building Dargah Shah-e-Mardan by Qudsiya Begum cannot be accepted as true. Dargah Shah-e-Mardan was existed well beyond the time of Qudsiya Begum. Nawab Qudsiaya Zamani only developed it in an organized way with the resources at her command. An inscription on the northern gateway itself is a proof that the buildings constructed by her were only the additions to the latter.

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