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Lakshmi Chowk was one of the busiest areas of the city of Lahore. No one went to sleep with an empty stomach there. Many streets emerged from the main road of Lakshmi Chowk and disappeared as narrow alleys leading to small living quarters of men who worked in the bustling city during the day. One such street that ran parallel to the large, somewhat imposing building of Dayal Singh College, led to the heart of the residential area of Lakshmi Chowk, which was a stark contrast to the busy marketplace.

This particular street led to a world that was hidden from the sight of curious onlookers and at the same time, had a building structure that announced its presence for all to see. Away from the noise and traffic of the big road, was the tomb of a great Islamic religious scholar of the eighteenth century, Shah-Abu-ul-Muwali. It was a large, airy building, with low white washed walls, many verandas and several courts circling the primary tomb, with a round, green dome and two tall, white minarets. The minarets housed countless pigeons that nested in the quiet peace of the tomb. There was a small area with a pool in one of the courts, which had enough space around its perimeter to seat people who wanted to meditate or pray for salvation. Across the tomb was a graveyard, where the descendants of Shah-Abu-ul-Muwali were buried, and it had the potential to expand for each generation had more who were laid to rest in the depths of the graveyard.

Every generation descending from this great scholar had a chosen one, the oldest son, who became the caretaker of the tomb, and who was also responsible for organizing a grand feast and celebration in honor of the Great Scholar every year. People came from distant, faraway places to pay their respects to the Great One’s tomb and to meet with the current descendents, for they were believed to be blessed and bestowed with a power to heal and grant the most heartfelt of prayers because they shared the bloodline of the great scholar. Syed was their family name and it commanded respect, authority and wisdom for them.

Behind the peaceful tomb was another building, tall and narrow, with high windows and a heavy wooden gate that sat stoutly upon its hinges. This was the building that had become the home of the descendents of the great scholar, the Syeds.

It was the winter of 1949, two years after the separation of India and Pakistan, and the great wooden gate was admitting more people than it had in a long while. The tall, yellow walls of the house were freshly painted. The high windows had little clay pots lined along their length, with some oil and a little ball of cotton, which served as a wick, and they were lighted as candles. It was the wedding day of Syed Ahmad Shah, the oldest son of the family of Syeds, the caretaker of the tomb, the gaddi-nasheen is what the common folk called him.