Saturday, January 9, 2010
Waris Shah
Syed Waris Shah (Urdu/Punjabi: وارث شاہ) (1706 – 1798) was a Punjabi Sufi poet, best-known for his seminal work Heer Ranjha, based on the traditional folk tale of Heer and her lover Ranjha. Heer is considered one of the quintessential works of classical Punjabi literature. The story of Heer was also put to paper by several other writers, including Damodar Daas, Mukbal, and Ahmed Gujjar, but Waris Shah’s version is by far the most popular today. Syed Waris Shah was into a reputed Syed family in the village of Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura District, Pakistan Punjab in or around 1706. His father’s name was Gulshar Shah. Waris Shah acknowledged himself as a disciple of Pir Makhdum of Kasur. Waris Shah’s parents are said to have died when he was in his early years and he probably received his education at the shrine of his preceptor. After completing his education in Kasur, he shifted his residence to Malkahans. Here, he resided in a small room, adjacent to a historic mosque. Waris Shah died in or around 1798 when he was around 92 years of age. His mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage today, especially for those in love. He was a consummate artiste, deeply learned in Sufi and domestic cultural lore. His verse is a treasure-trove of Punjabi phrases, idioms and sayings. His minute and realistic depiction of each detail of Punjabi life and the political situation in the 1700s, remains unique. Waris Shah also sublimated his own unrequited love for a girl (Bhag Bhari) in writing romance. The amazing poetic mould that he worked within has not been bettered by any of his successors till date.
Sultan Bahu
Sultan Bahu (ca 1628 – 1691) was a Muslim Sufi and saint, who founded the Sarwari Qadiri sufi order. Like many other sufi saints of the Indian subcontinent, Sultan Bahu was also a prolific writer, with more than forty books on Sufism attributed to him. However, as the majority of his books deal with specialised subjects related to Islam and islamic mysticism, it is his Punjabi poetry that has generated popular appeal and made him a household name in the region. His poetic verses are sung in many genres of sufi music, including qawaalis and kaafis. Tradition has established a particular style of singing his couplets, which is not used in any other genre of sufi music. The Mausoleum of Sultan Bahu is located in Garh Maharaja, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a popular and frequently-visited sufi shrine, and the annual festival is celebrated with the usual fervour, which is now a distinguishing feature of what is being called a ’shrine culture’ of the Indian subcontinent.
Shah Hussain
Shah Hussain (1538-1599) was a Punjabi poet and Sufi saint. He was born in Lahore (present-day Pakistan). His tomb and shrine lies in Baghbanpura, adjacent to the Shalimar Gardens. His urs (annual death anniversary) is celebrated at his shrine every year. It is known as “Mela Chiraghan” (”Festival of Lights”) and is the second largest festival in Lahore after Basant. It used to be the biggest festival of the Punjab. Shah Hussain’s love for a Brahmin boy called “Madho” or “Madho Lal” is famous, and they are often referred to as a single person with the composite name of “Madho Laal Hussain”. Madho’s tomb lies next to Hussain’s in the shrine. Shah Hussain was the pioneer of the kafi form of Punjabi poetry.
Sachal Sarmast
Sachal Sarmast (1739 – 1829) was a renowned Sindhi Sufi poet during the Kalhora era. Abdul Wahab was his real name and “Sachal” was the name he used in his own poetry. Sachu means truth in Sindhi and Sachalu means truthful. Sarmast means mystic in Sindhi and Urdu. Suchal Sarmast literally means ‘truthful mystic’. Sachal Sarmast was an ardent follower of Wahdat-ul-Wujood, an Islamic Philosophy synonymous with Hamah Oost.
Life
He was born in the Daraza village of Khairpur, Sindh in 1739 right around the when the Afghan warlord Nadir Shah invaded Sindh. His real name was Abdul Wahab but he adopted the name Sachal, which means truthful and Sarmast which means the intoxicated. Sachal lost his father when he was very young. He was raised by his uncle who later became his spiritual master. He married his cousin who died two years later and Sachal did not marry again. During his childhood, once Sachal went to Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, another great mystic poet of Sindh, who looked at him and said this little boy will complete what he had started.
Sachal was a great lover of music. Touched by music, he would often cry profusely. Couplets would pour out from his lips, which his followers or fellow dervishes would immediately inscribe. Sachal is well known for his kalam as well as kafis conveying his spiritual message in haunting melodies. Sachal preferred solitude and silence. He never traveled out from his village Daraza. He was very simple in his attire, lifestyle, and eating habits. Soup and yoghurt were his favorites. He slept on a bare wooden bed. He was a humble man with long soft flowing hair, and penetrating eyes. He wrote mystical poetry in Arabic, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Farsi (Persian) and Baluchi. He once said, “He (God) is everywhere and in each and every phenomenon. He has come here just to witness His own manifestation.” Three days before his death, he retreated in a small enclave where he finally became one with the Truth on the 14th day of Ramadan in 1829 at the age of 90. He was buried at the same place that was later on made into a beautiful and well-decorated shrine.
Life
He was born in the Daraza village of Khairpur, Sindh in 1739 right around the when the Afghan warlord Nadir Shah invaded Sindh. His real name was Abdul Wahab but he adopted the name Sachal, which means truthful and Sarmast which means the intoxicated. Sachal lost his father when he was very young. He was raised by his uncle who later became his spiritual master. He married his cousin who died two years later and Sachal did not marry again. During his childhood, once Sachal went to Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, another great mystic poet of Sindh, who looked at him and said this little boy will complete what he had started.
Sachal was a great lover of music. Touched by music, he would often cry profusely. Couplets would pour out from his lips, which his followers or fellow dervishes would immediately inscribe. Sachal is well known for his kalam as well as kafis conveying his spiritual message in haunting melodies. Sachal preferred solitude and silence. He never traveled out from his village Daraza. He was very simple in his attire, lifestyle, and eating habits. Soup and yoghurt were his favorites. He slept on a bare wooden bed. He was a humble man with long soft flowing hair, and penetrating eyes. He wrote mystical poetry in Arabic, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Farsi (Persian) and Baluchi. He once said, “He (God) is everywhere and in each and every phenomenon. He has come here just to witness His own manifestation.” Three days before his death, he retreated in a small enclave where he finally became one with the Truth on the 14th day of Ramadan in 1829 at the age of 90. He was buried at the same place that was later on made into a beautiful and well-decorated shrine.
Mian Muhammad Bakhsh
Mian Muhammad Bakhsh was a Sufi saint and also a Potohari/Hindko poet of great repute. He is especially renowned as the writer of a book of poetry called Saiful Malūk. He was born in a village called khanqa peir-E-shah Gazi Khari Sharif, situated in the Mirpur District of Azad Jammu & Kashmir).
Life
He belonged to the Gujjar caste and he was a fourth generation descendant of Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar, who was buried in Khari Sharif. Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī’s khalīfah was Khwājah Dīn Muhammad; and his khalīfah was Mīān Shamsuddīn, who had three sons: Mīān Bahāval Bakhsh, Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh – the subject of this article -, and Mīān ‘Alī Bakhsh. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh’s ancestors originated in Gujrat, but had later settled in the Mirpur district of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was brought up in a very religious environment, and received his early education at home. He was later sent with his elder brother, Mīān Bahāval, to the nearby village of Samwal Sharīf to study religious sciences, especially the science of Hadith in the madrassah of Hāfiz Muhammad ‘Alī. Hāfiz Muhammad ‘Alī had a brother, Hāfiz Nāsir, who was a majzub, and had renounced worldly matters; this dervish resided at that time in the mosque at Samwal Sharīf. From childhood Mīān Muhammad had exhibited a penchant for poetry, and was especially fond of reading Yūsuf ō Zulaikhā by Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami. During his time at the madrassah, Hāfiz Nāsir would often beg him to sing some lines from Jami’s poetry, and upon hearing it so expertly rendered would invariably fall into a state of spiritual intoxication. Mīān Muhammad was still only fifteen years old when his father, falling seriously ill, and realizing that he was on his deathbed, called all his students and local notaries to see him. Mīān Shamsuddīn told his visitors that it was his duty to pass on the spiritual lineage that he had received through his family from Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar; he pointed to his own son, Mīān Muhammad, and told those assembled that he could find nobody more suitable than he to whom he might award this privilege. Everybody agreed, the young man’s reputation had already spread far and wide. Mīān Muhammad, however, spoke up and disagreed, saying that he could not bear to stand by and allow his elder brother Bahāvul to be deprived of the honour. The old man was filled with so much love for his son that he stood up and leaving his bed grasped his son by the arms; he led him to one corner and made him face the approximate direction of Baghdad, and then he addressed the founder of their Sufi Order, Shaikh ‘Abdul-Qādir Jīlānī, presenting his son to him as his spiritual successor. Shortly after this incident his father died. Mīān Muhammad continued to reside in his family home for a further four years, then at the age of nineteen he moved into the khānqāh, where he remained for the rest of his life. Both his brothers combined both religion and worldly affairs in their lives, but he was only interested in spirituality, and never married – unlike them. Despite the fact that he had essentially been made a khalīfah of his father, he realized that he still needed to make a formal pledge of allegiance or bay’ah to a Sufi master. Having completed his formal education he began to travel, seeking out deserted locations where he would busy himself in prayer and spiritual practices, shunning the company of his fellow-men. He took the Sufi pledge of allegiance or bay’ah with Hazrat Ghulām Muhammad, who was the khalīfah of Bābā Badūh Shāh Abdāl, the khalīfah of Hājī Bagāsher (of Darkālī Mamuri Sharīf, near Kallar Syedan District Rawalpindi), the khalīfah again of Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Dumriyan Wali Sarkar.He is also said to have travelled for a while to Srinagar, where he benefitted greatly from Shaikh Ahmad Valī.
Poetic Talents and Works
Once he had advanced a little along the Sufi way he became more and more interested in composing poetry, and one of the first things he penned was a qasidah (quatrain) in praise of his spiritual guide. Initially he preferred to write sīharfīs and duhras, but then he advanced to composing stories in verse. His poetry is essentially written in the Pothohari dialect of Panjabi, and utilizes a rich vocabulary of Persian and Arabic words. His works include: Sīharfī, Sohnī Mahīvāl, Tuhfah-e Mīrān, Tuhfah-e Rasūliyah, Shīrīn Farhād, Mirzā Sāhibān, Sakhī Khavāss Khān, Shāh Mansūr, Gulzār-e Faqīr, Hidāyatul Muslimīn,Panj Ganj, Masnavī-e Nīrang-e ‘Ishq. He also wrote a commentary on the Arabic Qasīdat-ul-Burda of al-Busiri and his most famous work, entitled Safarul ‘Ishq (The Journey of Ardent Love), but better known as Saiful Malūk.
Death
He died on the 7th of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah 1324 AH (1907 AD), and was buried in Kharī Sharīf, not far from his illustrious great great grandfather Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar.To this day many people visit his tomb with the intention of receiving spiritual blessings. There is much disagreement about his year of birth. Mahbūb ‘Alī Faqīr Qādirī, in a biography printed as an appendix to the text of Saiful Malūk gives the date as 1246 AH (1826 AD), a date also followed by the Shāhkār Islāmī Encyclopedia; 1830 and 1843 are suggested in other works but are almost cetainly erroneous. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh himself states in his magnum opus – Saiful Malūk – that he completed the work during the spring in the month of Ramadan, 1279 AH (1863 AD), and that he was then thirty-three years of age- hence he must have been born in 1830.
Life
He belonged to the Gujjar caste and he was a fourth generation descendant of Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar, who was buried in Khari Sharif. Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī’s khalīfah was Khwājah Dīn Muhammad; and his khalīfah was Mīān Shamsuddīn, who had three sons: Mīān Bahāval Bakhsh, Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh – the subject of this article -, and Mīān ‘Alī Bakhsh. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh’s ancestors originated in Gujrat, but had later settled in the Mirpur district of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was brought up in a very religious environment, and received his early education at home. He was later sent with his elder brother, Mīān Bahāval, to the nearby village of Samwal Sharīf to study religious sciences, especially the science of Hadith in the madrassah of Hāfiz Muhammad ‘Alī. Hāfiz Muhammad ‘Alī had a brother, Hāfiz Nāsir, who was a majzub, and had renounced worldly matters; this dervish resided at that time in the mosque at Samwal Sharīf. From childhood Mīān Muhammad had exhibited a penchant for poetry, and was especially fond of reading Yūsuf ō Zulaikhā by Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami. During his time at the madrassah, Hāfiz Nāsir would often beg him to sing some lines from Jami’s poetry, and upon hearing it so expertly rendered would invariably fall into a state of spiritual intoxication. Mīān Muhammad was still only fifteen years old when his father, falling seriously ill, and realizing that he was on his deathbed, called all his students and local notaries to see him. Mīān Shamsuddīn told his visitors that it was his duty to pass on the spiritual lineage that he had received through his family from Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar; he pointed to his own son, Mīān Muhammad, and told those assembled that he could find nobody more suitable than he to whom he might award this privilege. Everybody agreed, the young man’s reputation had already spread far and wide. Mīān Muhammad, however, spoke up and disagreed, saying that he could not bear to stand by and allow his elder brother Bahāvul to be deprived of the honour. The old man was filled with so much love for his son that he stood up and leaving his bed grasped his son by the arms; he led him to one corner and made him face the approximate direction of Baghdad, and then he addressed the founder of their Sufi Order, Shaikh ‘Abdul-Qādir Jīlānī, presenting his son to him as his spiritual successor. Shortly after this incident his father died. Mīān Muhammad continued to reside in his family home for a further four years, then at the age of nineteen he moved into the khānqāh, where he remained for the rest of his life. Both his brothers combined both religion and worldly affairs in their lives, but he was only interested in spirituality, and never married – unlike them. Despite the fact that he had essentially been made a khalīfah of his father, he realized that he still needed to make a formal pledge of allegiance or bay’ah to a Sufi master. Having completed his formal education he began to travel, seeking out deserted locations where he would busy himself in prayer and spiritual practices, shunning the company of his fellow-men. He took the Sufi pledge of allegiance or bay’ah with Hazrat Ghulām Muhammad, who was the khalīfah of Bābā Badūh Shāh Abdāl, the khalīfah of Hājī Bagāsher (of Darkālī Mamuri Sharīf, near Kallar Syedan District Rawalpindi), the khalīfah again of Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Dumriyan Wali Sarkar.He is also said to have travelled for a while to Srinagar, where he benefitted greatly from Shaikh Ahmad Valī.
Poetic Talents and Works
Once he had advanced a little along the Sufi way he became more and more interested in composing poetry, and one of the first things he penned was a qasidah (quatrain) in praise of his spiritual guide. Initially he preferred to write sīharfīs and duhras, but then he advanced to composing stories in verse. His poetry is essentially written in the Pothohari dialect of Panjabi, and utilizes a rich vocabulary of Persian and Arabic words. His works include: Sīharfī, Sohnī Mahīvāl, Tuhfah-e Mīrān, Tuhfah-e Rasūliyah, Shīrīn Farhād, Mirzā Sāhibān, Sakhī Khavāss Khān, Shāh Mansūr, Gulzār-e Faqīr, Hidāyatul Muslimīn,Panj Ganj, Masnavī-e Nīrang-e ‘Ishq. He also wrote a commentary on the Arabic Qasīdat-ul-Burda of al-Busiri and his most famous work, entitled Safarul ‘Ishq (The Journey of Ardent Love), but better known as Saiful Malūk.
Death
He died on the 7th of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah 1324 AH (1907 AD), and was buried in Kharī Sharīf, not far from his illustrious great great grandfather Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar.To this day many people visit his tomb with the intention of receiving spiritual blessings. There is much disagreement about his year of birth. Mahbūb ‘Alī Faqīr Qādirī, in a biography printed as an appendix to the text of Saiful Malūk gives the date as 1246 AH (1826 AD), a date also followed by the Shāhkār Islāmī Encyclopedia; 1830 and 1843 are suggested in other works but are almost cetainly erroneous. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh himself states in his magnum opus – Saiful Malūk – that he completed the work during the spring in the month of Ramadan, 1279 AH (1863 AD), and that he was then thirty-three years of age- hence he must have been born in 1830.
Khawaja Ghulam Farid
Khwaja Ghulam Fareed Sahib (Urdu/Shahmukhi/Seraiki: خواجہ فرید, Punjabi Gurmukhi ਖ਼ਾਜਾ ਫ਼ਰੀਦ, Hindi ख़्वाजा फ़रीद) or Khawaja Farid (1845-1901) was a Seraiki poet, mystic and Sajjada nashin (Patron saint) of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He was born and died at Chacharan Shrif but buried at Kot Mithan. He was the son of Khwaja Khuda Bakhsh. His mother died when he was five years old and he was orphaned at age twelve when his father died. He was educated by his elder brother, Fakhr Jahan Uhdi. He was a scholar of that time and wrote several books. He knew Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sindhi, Panjabi, Braj Bhasha, and Seraiki. He was a poet of Seraiki and Urdu. He also wrote some poems in Sindhi, Persian, and Braj Bhasha. He was an imperialist poet. He opposed British rule in Bahawalpur. He said to ruler of Bahawalpur in his poem, “You rule yourself on your state and finish police station of British from your state.”
Life
Khawaja Ghulam Farid, the top most spiritual poet in Siraiki Language, was born in 1845 A.D. at Kot Mithan, in a family of Arab settlers who had come to this country along with the Arab forces. Maulana Khuda Bux had two sons, Khawaja Farid-ud-Din and Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din. It is said that when Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a child, Maulana Muhammad gave him the first lesson of the first alphabet “ALIF” and asked him to say “ALIF”. He repeated the same again and again till every-one present there was enveloped by a trance. Some qawali singers were invited and they too recited the same word on their musical instruments. The trance remained in sway for a considerable time. Khawaja Farid’s mother died when he was only four years of age. He was looked after by his eider brother. At the age of eight, he had committed to memory the whole of the holy Quran. Thereafter Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan took the child to his palace at Ahmad Pur Sharqia for imparting him religious knowledge by some renowned scholar. At the age of thirteen, Khawaja Farid became the disciple of Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din, his elder brother. When he crossed 28 years of his age Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din died. He left for Ruhi where the remained for about eighteen years. It was a typical wilderness but suitable for a recluse saint. It was very beneficial for connection with Kot Mithan or Chachar. About this wilderness of Ruhi, we often read in his lyrics. He performed Haj Baitullah in 1876. Khawaja Farid was conversant with seven languages Viz, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Multani, Sindhi, Hindi and Sansakrat. He led a life of purity and was utterly devoted to the righteous path of the Holy Prophet of Islam. May his soul ever rest in peace. The lyrics of Khawaja Farid speak of the sadness of his separation from God and Muhammad, the beloved of Allah. He never reckoned himself away from his goal. But at times he felt a great separation and so he cried, groaned and sang in his ecstacy of the love which united him to his creator but with a veil in between them. The body acts as a most obedient slave, the sould gives life to the body and the spirit infuses the mechanical power in man. All these faculties he utilised only for the sake of Allah to approach Him, the only Goal for the man to attain. The spiritual yearing, purification and elevation depends on so many factors which have been explained by saints and spiritualists. The shortest way to the creator is Love and Khawaja used this Method of attaining sublimation. All the attributes of Allah, we know are the off- shoots of Love. Khawaja Farid expressed this love in his fine verses.
Life
Khawaja Ghulam Farid, the top most spiritual poet in Siraiki Language, was born in 1845 A.D. at Kot Mithan, in a family of Arab settlers who had come to this country along with the Arab forces. Maulana Khuda Bux had two sons, Khawaja Farid-ud-Din and Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din. It is said that when Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a child, Maulana Muhammad gave him the first lesson of the first alphabet “ALIF” and asked him to say “ALIF”. He repeated the same again and again till every-one present there was enveloped by a trance. Some qawali singers were invited and they too recited the same word on their musical instruments. The trance remained in sway for a considerable time. Khawaja Farid’s mother died when he was only four years of age. He was looked after by his eider brother. At the age of eight, he had committed to memory the whole of the holy Quran. Thereafter Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan took the child to his palace at Ahmad Pur Sharqia for imparting him religious knowledge by some renowned scholar. At the age of thirteen, Khawaja Farid became the disciple of Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din, his elder brother. When he crossed 28 years of his age Khawaja Fakhar-ud-Din died. He left for Ruhi where the remained for about eighteen years. It was a typical wilderness but suitable for a recluse saint. It was very beneficial for connection with Kot Mithan or Chachar. About this wilderness of Ruhi, we often read in his lyrics. He performed Haj Baitullah in 1876. Khawaja Farid was conversant with seven languages Viz, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Multani, Sindhi, Hindi and Sansakrat. He led a life of purity and was utterly devoted to the righteous path of the Holy Prophet of Islam. May his soul ever rest in peace. The lyrics of Khawaja Farid speak of the sadness of his separation from God and Muhammad, the beloved of Allah. He never reckoned himself away from his goal. But at times he felt a great separation and so he cried, groaned and sang in his ecstacy of the love which united him to his creator but with a veil in between them. The body acts as a most obedient slave, the sould gives life to the body and the spirit infuses the mechanical power in man. All these faculties he utilised only for the sake of Allah to approach Him, the only Goal for the man to attain. The spiritual yearing, purification and elevation depends on so many factors which have been explained by saints and spiritualists. The shortest way to the creator is Love and Khawaja used this Method of attaining sublimation. All the attributes of Allah, we know are the off- shoots of Love. Khawaja Farid expressed this love in his fine verses.
Bulleh Shah
Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757) (Punjabi: Shahmukhi:بلہے شاہ, Gurmukhi: ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ}}), whose real name was Abdullah Shah [1], was a Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist and philosopher.[2]
Biography
Bulleh Shah is believed to have been born in 1680, in the small village of Uch, Bahawalpur, Punjab, now in Pakistan [3]. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan . At the age of six months, his parents relocated to Malakwal. There his father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a preacher in the village mosque and a teacher. His father later got a job in Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of Kasur. Bulleh Shah received his early schooling in Pandoke, and moved to Kasur for higher education, to become a student of the prominent professor, Ghulam Murtaza. He also received education from Maulana Mohiyuddin. His spiritual teacher was the eminent Sufi saint, Shah Inayat Qadri [4]. Bulleh Shah was a direct descendant of Muhammad, through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad. A large amount of what is known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn’t even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some “facts” about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other “facts” seem to have been passed down through oral traditions. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724). Bulleh Shah lived in the same period as the famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 – 1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the famous Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahad (1739 – 1829), better known by his pen-name, Sachal Sarmast (“truth seeking leader of the intoxicated ones”). Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived 400 miles away from Mir Taqi Mir (1723 – 1810) of Agra. He died in 1758, and his tomb is located in Kasur, Pakistan[5].
Poetry Style
The verse form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is called the Kafi, a style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used not only by the Sufis of Sindh and Punjab, but also by Sikh gurus. Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy strongly criticizes Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day. At the time worldy corruption had been taken over as opposed to the true teachings of Islam. [edit] A Beacon of Peace Baba Bulleh Shah’s time was marked with communal strife between Muslims and Sikhs. But in that age Baba Bulleh Shah was a beacon of hope and peace for the citizens of Punjab. While Bulleh Shah was in Pandoke, Muslims killed a young Sikh man who was riding through their village in retaliation for murder of some Muslims by Sikhs. Baba Bulleh Shah denounced the murder of an innocent Sikh and was censured by the mullas and muftis of Pandoke. Bulleh Shah maintained that violence was not the answer to violence. Bulleh Shah also hailed Guru Tegh Bahadur as a ghazi (Islamic term for a religious warrior).
Humanist
Bulleh Shah’s writings represent him as a humanist, someone providing solutions to the sociological problems of the world around him as he lives through it, describing the turbulence his motherland of Punjab is passing through, while concurrently searching for God. His poetry highlights his mystical spiritual voyage through the four stages of Sufism: Shariat (Path), Tariqat (Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). The simplicity with which Bulleh Shah has been able to address the complex fundamental issues of life and humanity is a large part of his appeal. Thus, many people have put his kafis to music, from humble street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like the Waddali Brothers and Abida Parveen, from the synthesized techno qawwali remixes of UK-based Asian artists to the rock band Junoon. Bulleh Shah’s popularity stretches uniformly across Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, to the point that much of the written material about this Muslim thinker is from Hindu and Sikh authors.
Modern Renditions
In the 1990s Junoon, Asia’s biggest rock band from Pakistan, has also rendered such poems as Aleph (Ilmon Bas Kareen O Yaar) and Bullah Ki Jaana. Bulleh Shah’s verses have also been adapted and used in Bollywood film songs. In 2004, Rabbi Shergill successfully performed the unlikely feat of turning the abstruse metaphysical poem Bullah Ki Jaana into a Rock/Fusion song, which became hugely popular in India and Pakistan. Another version was performed by Lakhwinder Wadali titled simply Bullah. Examples include the songs Chhayya Chhayya and Thayya Thayya in the movie Dil Se. The Wadali Bandhu, a Punjabi Sufi group from India, also released a version of Bullah Ki Jaana on their album Aa Mil Yaar…Call of the Beloved.
Biography
Bulleh Shah is believed to have been born in 1680, in the small village of Uch, Bahawalpur, Punjab, now in Pakistan [3]. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan . At the age of six months, his parents relocated to Malakwal. There his father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a preacher in the village mosque and a teacher. His father later got a job in Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of Kasur. Bulleh Shah received his early schooling in Pandoke, and moved to Kasur for higher education, to become a student of the prominent professor, Ghulam Murtaza. He also received education from Maulana Mohiyuddin. His spiritual teacher was the eminent Sufi saint, Shah Inayat Qadri [4]. Bulleh Shah was a direct descendant of Muhammad, through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad. A large amount of what is known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn’t even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some “facts” about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other “facts” seem to have been passed down through oral traditions. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724). Bulleh Shah lived in the same period as the famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 – 1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the famous Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahad (1739 – 1829), better known by his pen-name, Sachal Sarmast (“truth seeking leader of the intoxicated ones”). Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived 400 miles away from Mir Taqi Mir (1723 – 1810) of Agra. He died in 1758, and his tomb is located in Kasur, Pakistan[5].
Poetry Style
The verse form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is called the Kafi, a style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used not only by the Sufis of Sindh and Punjab, but also by Sikh gurus. Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy strongly criticizes Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day. At the time worldy corruption had been taken over as opposed to the true teachings of Islam. [edit] A Beacon of Peace Baba Bulleh Shah’s time was marked with communal strife between Muslims and Sikhs. But in that age Baba Bulleh Shah was a beacon of hope and peace for the citizens of Punjab. While Bulleh Shah was in Pandoke, Muslims killed a young Sikh man who was riding through their village in retaliation for murder of some Muslims by Sikhs. Baba Bulleh Shah denounced the murder of an innocent Sikh and was censured by the mullas and muftis of Pandoke. Bulleh Shah maintained that violence was not the answer to violence. Bulleh Shah also hailed Guru Tegh Bahadur as a ghazi (Islamic term for a religious warrior).
Humanist
Bulleh Shah’s writings represent him as a humanist, someone providing solutions to the sociological problems of the world around him as he lives through it, describing the turbulence his motherland of Punjab is passing through, while concurrently searching for God. His poetry highlights his mystical spiritual voyage through the four stages of Sufism: Shariat (Path), Tariqat (Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). The simplicity with which Bulleh Shah has been able to address the complex fundamental issues of life and humanity is a large part of his appeal. Thus, many people have put his kafis to music, from humble street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like the Waddali Brothers and Abida Parveen, from the synthesized techno qawwali remixes of UK-based Asian artists to the rock band Junoon. Bulleh Shah’s popularity stretches uniformly across Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, to the point that much of the written material about this Muslim thinker is from Hindu and Sikh authors.
Modern Renditions
In the 1990s Junoon, Asia’s biggest rock band from Pakistan, has also rendered such poems as Aleph (Ilmon Bas Kareen O Yaar) and Bullah Ki Jaana. Bulleh Shah’s verses have also been adapted and used in Bollywood film songs. In 2004, Rabbi Shergill successfully performed the unlikely feat of turning the abstruse metaphysical poem Bullah Ki Jaana into a Rock/Fusion song, which became hugely popular in India and Pakistan. Another version was performed by Lakhwinder Wadali titled simply Bullah. Examples include the songs Chhayya Chhayya and Thayya Thayya in the movie Dil Se. The Wadali Bandhu, a Punjabi Sufi group from India, also released a version of Bullah Ki Jaana on their album Aa Mil Yaar…Call of the Beloved.
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