Amir Khusro

Ab’ul Hasan Yam?n al-D?n Khusrow, better known as Amir Khusraw Dehlavi or Amir Khusraw Balkhi is one of the iconic figures in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amir Khusro (or Khusrau) was not only one of India’s greatest poets, he is also credited with being the founder of both Hindustani classical music and Qawwali (the devotional music of the Sufis). “The classical music tradition in both India and Pakistan traces its roots to the 13th-century poet and musician Amir Khosrow, who composed the earliest ragas, the traditional rhythmic form.”The invention of the Indian Tabla is usually attributed to Amir Khusro.[2]

Amir Khusro, a Hindustani Turk was born of a Turkic father, Saif ad-D?n Mahmoud, who was one of the chiefs of the Lachin tribe of the Karakhitais of Kush, Transoxania and a Rajput (Rawal) mother, in India. His grandfather bore the name of Turk.
Major life events in chronological order

1253 Khusro was born in Patiali near Etah in what is today the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. His father Amir Saifuddin came from Balkh in modern day Afghanistan and his mother hailed from Delhi.
1260 After the death of his father, Khusro went to Delhi with his mother.
1271 Khusro compiled his first divan of poetry, “Tuhfatus-Sighr”.
1272 Khusro got his first job as court poet with King Balban’s nephew Malik Chhajju.
1276 Khusro started working as a poet with Bughra Khan (Balban’s son).
1279 While writing his second divan, Wastul-Hayat, Khusrau visited Bengal.
1281 Employed by Sultan Mohammad (Balban’s second son) and went to Multan with him.
1285 Khusro participated as a soldier in the war against the invading Mongols. He was taken prisoner, but escaped.
1287 Khusro went to Awadh with Ameer Ali Hatim (another patron).
1288 His first mathnavi, “Qiranus-Sa’dain” was completed.
1290 When Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji came to power, Khusro’s second mathnavi, “Miftahul Futooh” was ready.
1294 His third divan “Ghurratul-Kamal” was complete.
1295 Ala ud din Khilji (sometimes spelled “Khalji”) came to power and invaded Devagiri and Gujarat.
1298 Khusro completed his “Khamsa-e-Nizami”.
1301 Khilji attacked Ranthambhor, Chittor, Malwa and other places, and Khusro remained with the king in order to write chronicles.
1310 Khusro became close to Nizamuddin Auliya, and completed Khazain-ul-Futuh.
1315 Alauddin Khilji died. Khusro completed the mathnavi “Duval Rani-Khizr Khan” (a romantic poem).
1316 Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah became the king, and the fourth historical mathnavi “Noh-Sepehr” was completed.
1321 Mubarak Khilji (sometimes spelled “Mubarak Khalji”) was murdered and Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq came to power. Khusro started to write the Tughluqnama.
1325 Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq came to power. Nizamuddin Auliya died, and six months later so did Khusro. Khusro’s tomb is next to that of his master in the Nizamuddin Dargah of Delhi.
Khusro the Royal poet

Khusro was a prolific classical poet associated with the royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He is popular in much of North India and Pakistan, because of many playful riddles, songs and legends attributed to him. Through his enormous literary output and the legendary folk personality, Khusro represents one of the first (recorded) Indian personages with a true multi-cultural or pluralistic identity.

He wrote in both Persian and Hindustani. He also spoke Turkish, Arabic and Sanskrit. His poetry is still sung today at Sufi shrines throughout Pakistan and India.

Amir Khusro was the author of a Khamsa which emulated that of the earlier Persian-language poet Nizami Ganjavi. His work was considered to be one of the great classics of Persian poetry during the Timurid period in Transoxiana.

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Babu Rajab Ali

Babu Rajab Ali was born on Aug 10th, 1894 in a Muslim family of Rajputs in the village of Sahoke district Ferozepur (now Dist. Moga). His father's name was Mian Dhamaali Khan and his mother's name was Jiyooni. Babu ji went to primary school in the neighboring village of Bambeeha bhai and then to high school in Moga and passed his matriculation in 1912 from Barjindra High School, Faridkot. Later on he graduated with a diploma in Civil Engineering, commonly known as Overseeri in Punjabi during those days, from an engineering school in Gujraat district. Babu Rajab Ali worked as an overseer in irrigation department all his life and was affectionately called Babu ji by people. Canals were being laid all throughout Punjab in those days and whole landscape was changing, and that was probably first and last time when the word Babu ji was respected with praise and thankfulness in rural Punjab. I believe it was sweetness of language in Babu Rajab Ali's poetry and personality that changed the meanings of phrase 'Babu ji' forever. During the World War II, Babu ji also went to Basra, Baghdad in Iraq and saw "Rabb dian karagariaN" which he has mentioned in his poetry. He worked throughout Punjab and also near Peshawar, as a result he was well-traveled person by the standards of that time. He was fluent in Punjabi and Urdu and knew some Persian, Arabic and English but his poetry was to be only in Punjabi and that too in the ThaiTh Malwaii accent.

Babu ji had hundreds of shagird/students who learned Kavishari from him and sung his Kavishari in Punjabi melas. He was madly in love with Malwa and Punjabi poetry and probably at the peak of his life when one day in 1947 he had to leave his beloved village of Sahoke, his students, his admirers and family history of hundreds of years and leave for Pakistan. Babu ji went to Pakistan but his soul always wandered in Malwa and he wrote hundreds of poems on his separation from his beloved people and places. His family got some land allotted in OkaaRa and settled there. Babu ji visited East Punjab in March 1965 and thousands of Malwai Kavishar(s) came to see their beloved Babu ji.

Babu Rajab Ali wrote about 1 dozen kissas and long poems about Hindu mythology like Puran Bhagat, KaullaN, Ramayan, Raja Rattan Sainn etc.; about 15 kissa about Muslim heroes and historic figures like Hassan Hussain, Hazrat Mohammad, Dahood Badshah etc.; another 15 kissas about Sikh history and heroes like Shaheedi Guru Arjun Dev, Saka Sarhind, Saka Chamkaur, Bidhi Chand de ghoRhay etc. He also wrote almost an episode or a kissa about every known Punjabi folktale like Heer Ranjha, Dulla Bhatti, Mirza, and Bhagat Singh etc. The breadth of the subjects chosen indicates how open hearted and secular poet Babu Rajab Ali was. Interestingly, most of his kissas related to Hindu heroes and figures were written during his life in Pakistan. His love for Punjab and Punjabi was unconditional and not bound by walls of religions or nationalities.

Babu ji passed away on to the next world on May 6, 1979, singing songs of Punjabi and longing for seeing his village Sahoke of his childhood and youth again. Babu ji is a pride of Punjabi language and will live forever in hearts of Punjabis. His poems are still sung by hundreds of Kavishars in Punjab who claim with pride that they are shagirds of Babu Rajab Ali.

Mian Muhammad Baksh

Mian Muhammad Baksh

Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh was a Sufi saint and a Punjabi 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 near Mirpur District of Azad Jammu & Kashmir).

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 poet of Phari language (widely spoken in different parts of Kashmir.

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.

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His Upbringing

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.

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His Formal Pledge of Allegiance

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.

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His 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 aqasidah (quatrain) in praise of his spiritual guide. Initially he preferred to writesiharfis 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:

Siharfi,
Sohni Meheinval,
Tuhfah-e Miran,
Tuhfah-e- Rasuliyah,
Shireen Farhad,
Mirza Sahiban,
Sakhi Khavass Khan,
Shah Mansur,
Gulzar-e Faqir,
Hidayatul Muslimin,
Panj Ganj,
Masnavi-e Nīrang-e ‘Ishq,
He also wrote a commentary on the Arabic Qasidat-ul-Burda of al-Busiri,
and his most famous work, entitled Safarul ‘Ishq (Journey of Love), but better known as Saiful Maluk.

Principal Karamjit Singh Gathwala

Principal Karamjit Singh Gathwala

Principal Karamjit Singh Gathwala(23March1951-)
Education: MA (Punjabi,Hindi,English). B.Ed.
Birth Place :Naraingarh. Distt.Sangrur (Punjab)
Punjabi Ghazlan/Ghazals, Punjabi Geet/Songs, Punjabi Kavitavan/Poems

Lala Dhani Ram Chatrik

Lala Dhani Ram Chatrik

Lala Dhani Ram Chatrik (1876-1954) devoted all his life for the upliftment of Punjabi language. He standardized the type set for Gurmukhi script. His language, its ornmentation and subjects of his poetry are near and dear to common people. Lala Dhani Ram Chatrik wrote Fullan Di Tokri, Bharthri Hari Bikramajit, Nal Damayanti, Chandanwari, Dharmvir, Kesar Kiari, Nawan Jahan, Noor Jahan Badshah Beghum and Sufikhana. 

Professor Puran Singh

Professor Puran Singh

Professor Puran Singh(1881-1931), a great visionary poet wrote in English, Hindi and Punjabi. He also knew Japanese and German. Professor Puran Singh was influenced by Swami Ram Tirath, Bhai Vir Singh, Walt Whitman, Japanese way of life and Sikh Philosophy. His love for freedom, openness and purity of heart are the main theme of his poetry. Professor Puran Singh wrote Khulhe Maidan, Khulhe Ghund, Khulhe Asmani Rang (Poetry) and Khulhe Lekh (Prose) in Punjabi. He is rightly called the sixth river of Punjab. 

Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Khwaja Ghulam Farid, one of the greatest Punjabi/Saraiki Sufi poets, was born in 1845 and died in 1901 at Chacharan Shrif. He was buried at Kot Mithan. His mother died when he was five years old and his father Khwaja Khuda Bakhsh died when he was twelve. His brother Fakhr Jahan Uhdi educated him. Khwaja Ghulam Farid was a great scholar of Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sindhi, Braj Bhasha and Punjabi/Saraiki. He also wrote poems in Urdu, Sindhi, Braj Bhasha and Persian. He wrote Dewan-e-Farid in Punjabi/Saraiki in 1882. Khwaja Ghulam Farid wrote Kafis (272+) and many Dohrajat (Dohre).We present Punjabi/Saraiki Poetry of Khwaja Ghulam Farid in Gurmukhi script. 

Bulleh Shah

Mir Bulleh Shah Qadiri Shatari, often referred to simply as Bulleh Shah (a shortened form of Abdullah Shah) lived in what is today Pakistan. His family was very religious and had a long tradition of association with Sufis. Bulleh Shah's father was especially known for his learning and devotion to God, raising both Bulleh Shah and his sister in a life of prayer and meditation. 

Bulleh Shah himself became a respected scholar, but he longed for true inner realization. Against the objections of his peers, he became a disciple of Inayat Shah, a famous master of the Qadiri Sufi lineage, who ultimately guided his student to deep mystical awakening. 

The nature of Bulleh Shah's realization led to such a profound egolessness and non-concern for social convention that it has been the source of many popular comical stories -- calling to mind stories of St. Francis or Ramakrishna. For example, one day Bulleh Shah saw a young woman eagerly waiting for her husband to return home. Seeing how, in her anticipation, she braided her hair, Bulleh Shah deeply identified with the devoted way she prepared herself for her beloved. So Bulleh Shah dressed himself as a woman and braided his own hair, before rushing to see his teacher, Inayat Shah.

Bulleh Shah is considered to be one of the greatest mystic poets of the Punjab region.

His tomb in the Qasur region of Pakistan is greatly revered today.

Hazrat Sultan Bahu

The Sultanul Faqr and Sultanul Arifin

     Hazrat Sultan Bahu is one of the most renowned sufi saints of the later Mughal Period in the history of Indo Pakistan subcontinent. He is often called Sultanul Arifin ( the Sultan of gnostics) in the Sufi circles. His ancestors belonging to the tribe of Alvids called Awan and coming from Arabia via Hirat ( Afghanistan ) had settled in the soon Sakesar Valley of Khushab District in Punjab. His Father, Sultan Bazid, had served in the army of the Emperor Shah Jehan as a high ranking officer and so in recognition to his services he had been awarded a jagir in the shorkot area. The family migrated to the place and settled at Qalai Shorkot, a settlement at the bank of River Chenab ( now in District Jhang, Punjab). Hazrat Sultan Bahu was born there, probably in 1628 A.D.
    Even in the early childhood, it was perceived by all those around him that a strange light shone upon his face which compelled even the Hindus to utter Kalima Tayyiba  ( there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger) in his presence. His father died when he was just a child but his mother Bibi Rasti, remained alive till he was forty years old.
    His mother supervised his education but it must have been irregular because he was often found under the influence of ecstatic states. It seemed that his education remained informal to the end. Whatever he expressed or wrote after-words,  it was in the light of his own spiritual vision and Knowledge.
    His mother taught him the essential sufi exercises of dhikr ( invocation of Allah and His Names ) and he probably needed no more guidance after that. He was initiated to walk the path of Sufis intuitively. His spiritual experiences and vision enriched his mind and spirit with so much knowledge that he far excelled his contemporary Sufi masters and sufi poets in Tasawwuf ( Sufism ) and Suluk ( all about the Sufi Way and its stations and states). In a book he remarks: Though we have little of formal learning, / Yet the spirit has been blessed with holiness by esoteric knowledge. In fact he may be called a born saint.
    He got married in his early youth and twice or thrice afterwards and had sons and daughters but all this did not deter him from his dervish wanderings, to visit the sacred places and look for the spiritual company of his fellow sufis. 
  
             At the age of thirty he had an extraordinary vision in which he saw Prophet Muhammad ( may peace be upon him ) through the spiritual recommendations and support of Hazrat Ali and Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani. The prophet himself took his  bay'ah  and allowed him to pass on the Sufi teachings. He often mentions in his books about his presence in the spiritual meetings presided by the Prophet himself. However, in the treatise " Of the Spirit " he calls Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani his Murshid ( spiritual director ). He is always lavish in the praise of Hazrat Shaikh and calls himself Qadiri. In his eyes the teachings of the Qadiriya order were most effective for the spiritual development of the disciples. But at the same time it is evidently clear that by the Qadriya order he means the one that he himself represented. He names it " Sarwari Qadiri ".
           During the same period when he was a young man of about thirty, the war of succession between Dara Sikoh and Aurangzeb was fought. His later writings are sufficient proof  of his moral and spiritual support for Aurangzeb who won and became the emperor. He himself, however, never cared to have any concern with the court or the courtiers.
          All his life he kept traveling to the far-flung places initiating disciples and passing on the spiritual knowledge and wisdom to the seekers of truth. He might have written most of the books during such journeys. He  never made a permanent Khaneqah during his lifetime.
         Sometimes he fell into ecstasy and passed his days and nights in the state of absorption. Many places are still remembered and venerated where he stayed for some long or short periods to contemplate in solitude.
        In  "Manaqibi Sultani " a few of his journeys have been mentioned. His traveling in Saraiki region up to Sindh, his journey to Delhi where he met the emperor Aurangzeb in the Jamia Mosque and his visits to the tombs at Multan and other cities have been indicated.
       He died in 1961 A.D. at Shorkot where he was buried close to the bank of the river. His body had, however, to be transferred twice to other nearby places due to the floods. Now the place he lies buried under a beautiful tomb is called Darbar Hazrat Sultan Bahu ( District Jhang, Punjab).
      He wrote many books in Persian. He also wrote ghazals and poems in Persian as a well as Abyaat in Punjabi. His Punjabi poetry contains spiritual fervour and passionate expression of the exalted state of Divine Love. One is transported to the spiritual domains while one listens to his  Dohas in a melodious voice of the singers. About thirty epistles, treatises and books are still available. Almost all of his work has been written under inspiration in his style peculiar to him. Most often he uses "scatter method " diffusing Sufi doctrine and the methods of spiritual realization in his writings
     He was the greatest teacher and propagator of Faqr ( spiritual poverty ) which is the shining guiding star in his teachings. He may be considered one of the greatest Revealers in the history of Sufism.
    His dargah has always been supervised by the Sajjadah Nashins of his own family. The present  Sajjadah Nashin also belongs to his line.
    It is strange that his fame rose and spread world-wide after his death. Only recently Scholars have turned attention to present and interpret his doctrine in a systematic way. The scope to edit, translate, interpret and transmit his work is still very vast. It is hoped that the next generation of sufi scholars and teachers will continue to perform this tremendous job more efficiently.

Rahman Baba

Abdul Rahman (respectfully referred to as Rahman Baba) is considered by many to be the greatest Pashtun poet.

Rahman Baba was born in the early seventeenth century in the hilly Mohmand region of Afghanistan, outside of Peshwar. This was a time when Afghanistan was under invasion by the Persians to the west and the Mongols to the east, a period of great struggle and hardship.

Yet, in the midst of this turmoil, the young Abdul Rahman showed himself to be an excellent student with a natural gift for poetry. But as he grew older he became disillusioned, questioning the real value of such pursuits. He withdrew from the world, becoming a hermit, dedicating himself to prayer and devotion. In his solitary worship, he began to write poetry again.

Despite his reclusive life, Rahman Baba's poetry quickly spread and gained fame. Religious figures used his poetry to inspire the devout. Political leaders used his poems to inspire the independence movement. Rahman Baba's poetry became an important part of the nation's voice.