Who were these bibi's and from where they came?
- PAK-DAMAN
- May 13, 2019
- 2 min read
Bibi Pak Daman is located between Garhi Shahu and Railway Station area. The shrine of Janab-E-Ruqaiya, daughter of Maula Ali which further holds the graves of

six ladies from Prophet Muhammad’s house the six graves, one belongs to Janab-E-Ruqaiya, who was the sister of Hazrat Abbas and the of wife Hazrat Muslim, the emissary of Imam Hussain to Kufa. Other graves are believed to be as that of sisters and daughters of Hazrat Muslim. It is said that these pious women had arrived in Lahore after the battle of Karbala and the subsequent persecution that followed under Umayyad rulers. The caretakers of the shrine narrate that a Hindu king was ruling the area when the pious women reached Lahore. Upon coming to know about their arrival, the king summoned them to his court. Being pious and purdahnashin, the women prayed to Allah to award them death. Their prayer was answered positively and the earth opened and embraced all of them in its lap The spot later on turned into a popular shrine and Sufis like Data Ganj Baksh, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, and several others visited it and received spiritual knowledge there. It is also believed that these women were the first Muslims to arrive in Lahore and their graves are the earliest ones. The spread of Islam in Indo-Pak sub-continent is also attributed to them with Janab-E-Ruqaiya as a leader. The significance of the shrine could be gauged from the fact that Sultan of Ghazni Mahmood built it after winning Lahore and on coming to know about Janab-e-Ruqaiya’s grave. Names written on the graves are Bibi Haj, Bibi Taj, Bibi Noor, Bibi Hur, Bibi Gauhar and Bibi Shahnaz and these are the very names written on the graves. If we talk about the way the tomb is made it is in such way that at one side is a tablet which states that "Data Ganj Baksh stood at this place when offering fateha every week for the six Bibis. This reinforces the belief that the graves are over 1,000 years old. If this is true, then these are the very first graves of Muslims in Lahore, and represent, probably, the oldest Muslim graves in the entire sub-continent. The shrine keeps on drawing the crowd of devotees who defy all controversies and hold the ladies in high esteem and capable of fulfilling their wishes. Most of them carry Laddus, popularly known as Mannat de Laddu. Upon fulfillment of their wish, they also tie a ring. During Muharram, the number of visitors swells considerably and shrine becomes the main market for procurement of Azadari related items like tazia, alams, and patkas. Bibi Pak Daman was once a sprawling complex but it has shrunk greatly due to the construction of shops and other buildings. It needs expansion to accommodate the crowd of visitors, especially during Muharram when entry to the complex becomes difficult because of the rush of devotees who gather to have ziarat or glimpse of Zuljenah.
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