Haji Ali Shrine is a mosque on a small island off Bombay, connected to the mainland by a stone path that is submerged at high tide. Seen at night from the sea wall, it becomes the still, luminous center of a scene that also includes a crowded restaurant, street commerce, and the city’s restless after-midnight life.

Setting and Access

The island is linked to the mainland by a broad stone path three hundred and thirty-three steps long. From dawn until dusk, when the tide permits, pilgrims and tourists fill the route; at high tide, the path vanishes beneath the water, leaving the island isolated. This changing access makes the shrine’s setting inseparable from the sea and its rhythms.

From the retaining wall beside the road, the mosque at night resembles a great ship moored offshore. Brass lanterns cast green and yellow light against its marble walls, while its rounded contours and teardrop arches glow white in the moonlight. The minarets rise like spars above the apparent sails, turning a familiar religious building into a striking maritime image.

The Shrine and the Nighttime Crowd

On the night Lin visits with Abdel Khader Khan and Abdullah, they first stop at the Haji Ali Restaurant, close to the shrine. The small restaurant is full, and many customers eat outside, standing on the footpath or sitting in and on their cars. Hundreds gather there night after night to eat, meet, and buy drinks, cigarettes, or sweets. Music pours from parked cars; people speak in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, and English; waiters carry food and parcels between the counter and the curb.

The restaurant operates in defiance of the business curfew, despite being only twenty metres from the Haji Ali police post. Its continued opening depends on bribes to officials and police rather than a licence. When a commissioner, minister, or other important visitor is expected to pass, advance notice allows the authorities and owners to stage a brief appearance of compliance: lights go out, cars disperse, and the restaurant closes temporarily. The interruption does little to diminish its appeal as a gathering place.

Lin’s Visit

The shrine enters Lin’s account during an unplanned journey toward Tardeo, away from his home in the Colaba slum. He reflects on the local custom of accepting friends’ vague invitations and trusting that the unexplained trip will prove worthwhile. At the restaurant, Abdel Khader Khan taps Lin’s hand twice and touches his thumb to his lips, signaling that Lin should observe without speaking. The visit thus begins under an instruction to watch rather than participate.

Abdullah and Lin then walk to a deserted spot on the sea wall. The moon hangs above the mosque, and thousands of bats cross the electrical wires overhead. A little girl who is still selling jasmine garlands approaches them and gives Abdullah one. When he offers her money, she refuses it, laughs, and walks away singing a Hindi-film chorus. Abdullah reflects on the beauty of generosity among the very poor; Lin, impressed by the thought and expression, remarks on Abdullah’s English. Against the busy restaurant’s transactions, this small unbought gift gives the shrine’s nighttime setting a quieter human emphasis.