Laal-u Shahbaaz-u Qalandar is a patron saint of His real name was Syed Mohammad Usman and he was born early in the 13th century in Marwand, Iran. His father became a dervish, that is one who has taken a vow of poverty and austerity, and his mother was a high ranking princess. Even as a young boy, he showed strong religious leanings. He knew the Qur'an by heart at age seven, and at twenty he was initiated into the Qalandar order. He dressed from then on in beggars clothes, embraced poverty, wandering throughout Middle East. In 1263, he arrived in Multan, Punjab, where people begged him to stay. He continued his journey south, eventually settling down in Sehwan in southern Sindh, where he took up residence in the trunk of a tree on the outskirts of town.
The legend has it that the incumbent fakirs and dervishes in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that there was no room for one more. He returned the bowl floating a single flower on the top. His legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274.
The shrine around his tomb, built in 1356, dazzles the eye with its Sindhi kashi tiles, mirror work and two gold-plated doors - one donated by the late Shah of Iran, the other by the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The inner sanctum is about 100 yards square with the silver canopied grave in the middle. On one side of the marble floor is a row of about 12 inch high collapsible wooden stands on which are set copies of Qur'an for devotees to read. On the other side, beside a bundle of burning incense sticks, are rows of diyas (oil lamps), obviously for Hindu devotees.
Urs-u, which means death anniversary of a saint, is celebrated every year at the shrine of Laal Shahbaaz in the first week of February. The Urs-u is a carnival as well a religious festival. It attracts over half a million pilgrims mainly from Sindh and Punjab who flock into Sewhan, a small town of about 30,000. Local residents take in many relatives and guests but most people pitch in tents. On each morning of the three day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and worshippers make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint and make a manta - a wish.
The pilgrims file into the inner sanctum clutching, caressing, kissing, touching and feeling the grave, the railing, the doorposts. They bow and touch their eyelids to the grave. They communicate with the saint with eyes closed and hands folded - in real Sindhi style. Most offer flowers and a green chadar with Qur'anic inscriptions in silver or gold threads. At night, there is singing and dancing in praise of the saint.
The tallest man in the world is a Sindhi by the name of Alam Channa. He has devoted his entire life to the serving of this great Saint of Sindh, saeen Laal-u Shahbaaz-u Qalandar and caring for his Dargah (the musoleum).