Madurai Maqbara

Madurai Maqbara is the name usually given to a dargah complex in the grounds of the Kazimar Big Mosque, also called Periya Pallivasal, in the heart of Madurai. Three Sufi saints are buried here: Abdus Salaam Ibrahim, Mir Ahmad Ibrahim and Mir Amjad Ibrahim. Maqbara is an Arabic word for a mausoleum, drawn from qabr, a grave, and is used above all for the resting places of holy men.

Mir Ahmad Ibrahim, remembered as Periya Hazrat, the elder, ran a madrassa in Madurai whose pupils went on to found others across Tamil Nadu, and the Nawab of Carnatic made him chief Kazi of the city; he died in 1872 at the age of 63. His brother Mir Amjad Ibrahim, Chinna Hazrat, the younger, taught alongside him, and stories of miracles gather around both. One of the elder saint's sons, known as Contractor Hazrat, built the Maqbara.