The Explorer Islamabad: Journal of Social Sciences ISSN: 2411-0132(E), 2411-5487(P) Vol-1, Issue (10):377-384 www.theexplorerpak.org 377 ETHNOGRAPHY OF VILLAGE NOORPUR SHAHAN (BARI IMAM) ISLAMABAD Attiya Batool 1 , Dr. Abid Ghafoor Chaudhry 2 , Syeda Aimen Hadi 3 Anthropologist, Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), Incharge, Department of Anthropology PMAS- Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Department of Anthropology PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi Corresponding Author: Attiya Batool Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) Islamabad AttiyaBatool005@gmail.com Abstract: Myths help societies make sense of the world around them, justifying cultural values and social norms. Religion is the chief force bringing social change, as the beliefs and concepts prevalent and plausible in each society are the means by which human cognition is organized and designed. Belief in witches, ancestral spirits, and angry or beneficent Gods is easily accepted in various cultures because our human cognitive capacities and intuitive understanding of the natural and social world are dependent upon them. (Scupin and DeCorse 2009). The purpose of the present research is to study the people of Noorpur Shahan and the cultural practices prevalent in this area. Moreover the focus is to reveal the impact of shrines and its culture on the contiguous community. A sample of 100 devotees were purposively selected and interviewed with the help of structured questionnaire from Noor Pur Shahan village of Capital Territory Islamabad. Villagers are connected with shrine in all aspects and the culture of shrine and neighboring area is nearly identical. Key words: Shrine, Sufi Saint, Belief, Culture, Rituals, Sajjada Nishine and Auqaf. INTRODUCTION The study was conducted in village Noorpur Shahan Bari Imam Islamabad, District Islamabad. It is a sub area of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Islamabad. It is situated on Plateau of Margalla Mountains just behind the Prime Minister House Islamabad and about 4km northeast of the Diplomatic Enclave. Other areas near to the village include Quaid-i- Azam University, Bara Kahu, Saidpur and Mulpur village. In Pothohar region there are various Shrines, where followers visit to deal with their social and psychological problems (Khan and Sajid 2011). “hriŶes are deeplLJ ĐoŶŶeĐted ǁith the “ufi “alasul’ (spiritual orders) which was established and named after some of the leading Aulia Allah (Sufi friends of God) (Khan, et al. 2014). Noorpur Shahan Bari Imam popularlLJ kŶoǁŶ oŶlLJ as Bari Iŵaŵ is situated at the foot of Margallah hills and is famous for the mirror-studded shrine of Hazrat Abdul Latif. The Shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam was originally built on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (Pakistan 1999). It is at least 450 years old and built on top of medieval sites. Shah Abdul Latif Qadri Qazmi Mashhaddi R.A (Bari Imam) is a renowned Sufi Saint of the Pothohar region (Pakistan 1999). He was considered to be righteous by the virtue of being pious (Platteau 2011), true follower and preacher of Islam. He worshipped Allah (God) at a number of places (Batool, et al. 2014). He was a Wali Allah and spiritual guide of Silsila-e-Qadria’, a Tariqa ǁhiĐh claimed spiritual supremacy over all other Sufi orders (Loimeier 2013), of Hazrat Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). A study conducted by the students of Indian university, revealed that urban people were found to be more superstitious than those having rural background (George and Sreedhar 2006). In Pakistan, majority of the population is Muslim (Farooq and Kayani 2012) who visit shrines due to their dedication and traditional orientation towards Sufism. Tradition of Sufism reflects that spiritual resources provide coping strategy for various issues of the contemporary world (Voll 1992). The Shrine of Bari Imam is one of the most popular Shrines of South Asia. Followers and believers of Hazrat Bari Imam belong to various areas of Pakistan and come from various countries all over the world. Diverse range of rituals is practiced here every day (Batool, et al. 2015). Most of the villagers living in adjacent area are native and are Sajjada Nishine families. They are associated with Shrine in all aspects like their belief, culture, rituals etc. They perform variety of their religious and cultural rituals at shrine and take part