Haji Ali

Haji Ali Dargah is a small mosque-mausoleum complex on a tidal islet just off the coast of the Worli area of Mumbai, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway approximately five hundred metres long that is submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide. The dargah houses the tomb of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, a fifteenth-century Sufi saint of Bukharan origin who, according to local tradition, gave away his worldly possessions and travelled across the Islamic world before settling in Mumbai (then a small Portuguese-ruled archipelago) and eventually being interred at this offshore site. The current shrine building, in white plaster with a single small minaret and dome, has been progressively rebuilt over the centuries on the foundations of the original tomb, with substantial recent restoration work to address marine erosion of the foundations. The shrine is visited daily by tens of thousands of devotees of all religions — Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others — making it one of the most ecumenically visited religious sites in India and one of the most photographed landmarks of Mumbai. The walk along the causeway during low tide, with the Arabian Sea on both sides and the Mumbai skyline in the background, is one of the iconic experiences of the city. The shrine has at times been the focus of significant legal and social campaigns regarding women's access to the inner sanctum.