Hujwiri
Abu 'l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAlī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī (c. 1009-1072/77), known as ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or al-Hujwīrī (also spelt Hajweri, Hajveri, or Hajvery) for short, or reverentially as Shaykh Syed ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or as Dātā Ganj Bakhsh by Muslims of South Asia, was an 11th-century Persian Sunni Muslim mystic, theologian, and preacher from Ghazna, who became famous for composing the Kashf al-maḥjūb (lit. 'Unveiling of the Hidden'), which is considered the "earliest formal treatise" on Sufism in Persian.It is also believed by few medieval historians that he was born in Caucasus Nowadays in Russian Federation. Ali Hujwiri is believed to have contributed "significantly" to the spread of Islam in South Asia through his preaching, with one historian describing him as "one of the most important figures to have spread Islam in the Indian subcontinent." Khwaja Gharib Nawaz stayed at Ali Hujwiri's mausoleum and quoted a tribute to him as a narration; گنج بخش فیضِ عالَم مظہرِ نورِ خدا ناقصاں را پیرِ کامل ، کاملاں را راہنما Ganj Bakhsh-e-Faiz-e-Alam Mazhar-e-Nur-e-Khuda, Na Qasaan-ra Pir-i Kamil, Kamilaan-ra Rahnuma.
In the present day, Ali Hujwiri is venerated as the main wali of Lahore, Pakistan by the traditional Sunni Muslims of the area. He is, moreover, one of the most widely venerated saints in the entire South Asia,[8] and his tomb-shrine in Lahore, popularly known as Data Darbar, is one of the most frequented shrines in South Asia. At present, it is Pakistan's largest shrine "in numbers of annual visitors and in the size of the shrine complex,"and, having been nationalized in 1960, is managed today by the Department of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Punjab. The mystic himself remains a "household name" in the daily Islam of South Asia. In 2016, the Government of Pakistan declared 21 November to be a public holiday for the commemoration of the commencement of Ali Hujwiri's three-day death anniversary.
Ali Hujwiri was born in Ghazni, in present-day Afghanistan, in around 1009 to Uthman ibn Ali or Bu Ali. As is common with Sufi saints, he is a direct descendant of Muhammad through his father, who was a direct descendant of Al-Imam Hasan ibn Ali. His genealogical chain goes back eight generations to Ali. According to the autobiographical information recorded in his own Kashf al-maḥjūb, it is evident that Ali Hujwiri travelled "widely through the Ghaznavid Empire and beyond, spending considerable time in Baghdad, Nishapur, and Damascus, where he met many of the pre-eminent Ṣūfīs of his time."In matters of jurisprudence, he received training in the Hanafi rite of orthodox Sunni law under various teachers. As for his Sufic training, he was linked through his teacher al-Khuttalī to al-Husrī, Abu Bakr Shibli (d. 946), and Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910). For a short period, the mystic is believed to have lived in Iraq His brief marriage during this period is said to have been unhappy. Eventually, Ali Hujwiri settled in Lahore, where he died with the reputation of a renowned preacher and teacher. After his death, Ali Hujwiri was unanimously regarded as a great saint by popular acclaim.[
Ali Hujwiri supported the orthodox belief in the existence of saints.[32] As such, he stated: "You must know that the principle and foundation of Sufism and Knowledge of God rests on sainthood, the reality of which is unanimously affirmed by all the teachers, though every one has expressed himself in a different language."[32] Elsewhere, he said: "God has saints whom He has specially distinguished by His Friendship and whom He has chosen to be the governors of His Kingdom and has marked out to manifest by His Actions and has peculiarly favored with diverse kinds of miracles and has purged of natural corruptions and has delivered from subjection to their lower soul and passion, so that all their thoughts are of Him and their intimacy is with Him alone. Such have been in past ages, and are now, and shall be hereafter until the Day of Resurrection, because God exalted this community above all others and has promised to preserve the religion of Muhammad.... The visible proof [of Islam] is to be found among the saints and the elect of God."
Courtesy--wikipedia
- Hujwiri