Religious leaders from India, Pakistan and the UK joined over 10,000 people to celebrate the birth anniversary of famous Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at an event here.
The four-day event was organised at the sprawling Indian township of Lenasia, south of Johanensburg, and ended yesterday.
The first celebration was started at the home of Indian-origin Sayed brothers in 1967 after one of their teenage sons Abbas Sayed accompanied his father to Ajmer and asked why they could not have a similar event back home.
It has since grown to become one of the major events hosted by the Saaberie Chishti Society each year, attracting thousand of Sufi devotees from all over South Africa.
"It is highly commendable that in keeping with the teachings of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti that they have embarked on a wide range of social, religious and welfare activities, all aimed at helping the needy of all communities in South Africa, irrespective of race or creed," said spiritual leader and the guest of honour from India Sayed Jilani Mia Ashrafi.
In a similar celebration in the Indian township of Laudium near Pretoria on Saturday, more than 3,000 people filled a stadium to participate in the birth anniversary of the Sufi saint.
An event was organised annually in the 1960s in the old Asiatic Bazaar where Pretoria's Indians were first settled, but this was stopped when the community was forcibly resettled under draconian apartheid-era separate development laws, organisers of the event said.
It was revived after a break of nearly two decades by some young members of the local Indian community who formed the Buzme Chishtia International organisation, they said.
Qawali singers from India feature regularly at the event, often with the support from the Indian Consul General in Johannesburg and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Moinuddin Chishti, also known as Gharib Nawaz, was an Islamic scholar and philosopher from Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the Chishti Order of Sufism in the Indian subcontinent.
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