History of Golra Sharif

The township of Golra is situated at the foot of the Margalla Hills at a distance of about 11 miles from Rawalpindi city and in the centre of sector E-11 Islamabad, Federal Capital of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Margalla Hills are the foothills of the Himalayas. The hills are a series of small elevation hills located north of Islamabad. Margalla Range has an area of 12,605 hectares. The hill range nestles between an elevation of 685 meters at the western end and 1,604 meters on its east. The Village is situated near Margalla Hills, Islamabad, between latitude 33 degrees and 37 degrees east latitude; about 1707 feet above sea level, at a distance of 17 km from the ancient city of Taxila. Prior to the arrival of Hazrats ancestors Golra Sharif was just a small village in the suburbs of Rawalpindi.

Golra sharif was the headquarters of the Sikh sub divisional officer. Earlier, this area had been ruled by the Afghans, towards the end of the 18th century, Ranjit Singh, the governor of the Punjab, declared his independence, and annexed the Golra area also into his domain.

Golra Sharif Darbar

Golra Sharif also has fundamental importance geographically. The vast tracts of Margalla Hills and their adjoining plains have been witness to a vast panorama of chequered history. The area extending from Hasan-Abdal to the neighbourhood of Taxila, a settlement traced back to 2000 years, is custodian of a rich cultural heritage of pre-Islamic period. Even today the archaeological remains dotting the area furnish evidence of the splendid cultural and religious traditions of Buddhist era. Eminent historians of the world agree that it was here that Greek wisdom and Indian civilization meshed together to bring about a synthesis which influenced cultures and art movements everywhere. With his rule extending from 1747 to 1773, Ahmad Shah Abdali emerged as one of its last period rulers. After his death his son Taimur Shah ruled the area till 1793. He had to face tremendous pressure from the Marhattas and Sikhs, and by the British at river Sutlaj.

When the Afghan ruler, Ahmed Shah Abdali, died and his subedar in Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, took advantage of the power vacuum and proclaimed his autonomy, it became a part of Sikh Kingdom. From 1818 to 1849, the area remained under the Sikhs till it was annexed by the British. This was the period of great political upheaval and instability. Some of the communities, known as marauding tribes, were addicted to violent crime and internecine warfare. They levied black-mail tax on the roads south of the Margalla Pass. Morality and virtue were on a rapid decline. Absence of values had created a social abyss a spiritual waste land, and the government too was based on injustice and tyranny. In such a holocaust, God in His Divine Mercy deputed Muslim saints to guide the people and to show them the path of righteousness. Golra Sharif is a region fully aware, since ancient times, of what it means to be sacred. It knows the majesty that goes with the sacredness.