Mumbai: Haji Ali Dargah Khadim ask devotees to donate to trust instead of Chaadar, flower

In a viral video, Khadim of Haji Ali Dargah is asking devotees to donate the money to trust instead of buying flowers and chaadar. Khadim is stressing that the money would be used for the development of the Dargah and the various charitable activities it carries out.

Haji Ali Dargah is dedicated to Sufi Saint Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari (R.A.) and there is a long tradition of devotees offering chaadar and flowers on the tomb of the Sufi Saint. The person who accepts the chaadar and flowers is Khadim.

The video that came to light on Monday has Javed Qureshi, the Khadim, asking followers to instead give the money to the trust, which would be used for the renovation work of the dargah premises that is going on, the charitable acts during COVID and the Musafirkhana that is coming up. While Javed was not available for comment, the trustee of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust, Sohail Khandwani and the administrator of the Dargah Trust confirmed that it was him.

"The Khadim is not the spokesperson, so he cannot speak," said Mohammed Ahmed, the administrator of the Dargah. "Many times stale flowers were being offered and hence he made that appeal. As such, the flowers were being thrown in the sea," said Sohail Khandwani, trustee of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust.

When asked about flowers being recycled and what happens to Chaadar, Khandwani said, "We do not have the space for that (recycling). We would distribute them to different places. " Khandwani said he did not have the cost figures for the construction of Dargah to share.