Data Ganj Bakhsh

Hazrat Syed Ali Hujwiri, better known as Data Ganj Bakhsh رحمة الله عليه  was a Sunni Muslim ascetic, saint and missionary and author of Kashf-ul-Mahjoub. He was the follower of Junaidi Silsila. His Mazar is in Lahore, Pakistan.

Life

Data Saheb was born in Ghazni and was highly brilliant and studious since his childhood. He received an initial education in Ghazni. He extensively travelled to various Muslim countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Levant, etc, before reaching his final destination in Lahore and carried out the missionary works. He was the mureed of Hazrat Abul Fazal Khutli Rahmatullah Alaih. Scholars claimed that it was Data Saheb's Pir's order which make him move to Lahore. He spends 30 years of his life in Lahore till his Wisal.

Dargah

Dargah is constructed over the Mazar Mubarak of Data Ganj Bakhsh. It is said that no one can remain hungry at his dargah because of the 24/7 Langar facilities in dargah.

Urs festival

Urs festival of Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh is a three-day-long event comprising many discourses of clerics, sacred congregations, Qiraat and Naat competitions, debate contests, seminars on Sufism and spiritualism. One can witness an atypical tradition of distributing milk as Tabarruk, along with Langar, during Urs. According to news reporter Fahad Bhatti, the traditions of distributing milk was started in 1962. It is said the Punjab government looks after Urs's security managements. The Mahfil-e-sama or the qawwali gathering during the Urs is the largest Qawwali gathering of Pakistan, which attracts brilliant Qawwals from whole of the country.

Legacy

 According to Sunni scholar Sayyed Aminul Qadri, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani Rahmatullah Alaih said,

If Data Ganj Baksh was alive in my time, I would have been his disciple.

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin performed chilla in the shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh before settling in Ajmer, India. He said the following  praise for Data Ganj Bakhsh,

Ganj Bakhsh e Faiz e Aalam 

Mazhar e Noor e khuda

Nakisaara Peer e kamil

Kamil aara Rehnuma 

He was successful in converting 90000 people to Islam during his lifetime. His Mazar is an inspiration centre of various Sufi Saints including Baba Farid Ganj-e-Shakar.

See Also

* Ahle Sunnat wal jamaat

* Junaid Baghdadi

References



  • Celebrations of Data Ganj Bakhsh (RA) Urs continue". The News International. 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2021-08-24.

  • Islam in South Asia in practice. Barbara Metcalf. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-4008-3138-8. OCLC 699474577.

  • ऐतिहासिक दाता गंज दरगाह". BBC News हिंदी (in Hindi). 2010-07-02. Retrieved 2021-08-27.

  • Nettl, Bruno; Arnold, Alison; Stone, Ruth M.; Porter, James; Rice, Timothy; Olsen, Dale Alan; Miller, Terry E.; Kaeppler, Adrienne Lois; Sheehy, Daniel Edward (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1.

  • Data Ali Hajveri ki karamat by Soban Attari.