BABA SAWAN SINGH:
Baba Sawan, a famous Sufi-Sant of Punjab, was born in 1858. He always taught the
message of brotherhood and peace between the people of all religions. He had
beautiful white hairs, beard and eye-brows. In his old age, his eye-brows were
grown so large that he uses to see by moving them aside with his hands. Due to
this reason, he comes out occasionally from his small house. Whenever he came
out, a large mob of people was always there to see him. He died at very ripen
age in on April 2, 1948 in Beas, near Amritsar.
MAULVI GHULAM RASOOL:
Maulvi Ghulam Rasul Alampuri of Kapurthala was one of the most popular Sufi
poets of Punjab. He was born about 1813 in Alampur, Punjab (presently, in
India). He was the teacher of saint Baba Malang Sahib’s mother. He was the
author of ‘Yousaf Zulekha’. ‘Yousaf Zuleka’ of Ghulam Rasool and ‘Heer’ of Waris
Shah are regarded as the crowns of Punjabi literare. Ghulam Rasool’s potery
infuneced many modern poets like Habib Jablib and Saad Ahmad Baghi. He died in
1874 at the age of 61.
BABA PHUMAN SHAH:
Baba Phuman Shah was born to a religious family in the 2nd half of 19th century.
He got Quranic and Arabic education in early age and use to offer prayers
regularly but latter he was so much influenced by the Sufi poet Jyoti Shah that
he left mosque and became a Sufi and started preaching, “It’s better to serve
God’s creation than to serve God”.
He was a rebellious Sufi poet. In his poetry he used so bitter and harsh tongue
that no one ever dared to write, and preserve, his poetical work. He had a
donkey and once, in a sunny afternoon, he was found to be in a mosque resting
with his donkey. When people came to know of it, they beat him severly. This was
not first time, infect, he had been beaten several times by extremist Muslims
but no one ever dared to kill him because of his relationships with Baba Jyoti
Shah and Enayat Shah Zeldar, both of which were highly respected by the people.
He died a natural death, despite so many enemies, around 1940 AD. At his death
only Hindus, Sikhs and some open-minded Muslims expressed grief while a large
number of Muslims, mostly extremist Mullahs, took the sigh of relief. Today
researches have shown that his poetry was against ‘Mullahism’, but not against
Islam, or any other religion.
SANT BABA NARAYAN DAS:
Baba Narayan Das was a famous Sufi-Sant of Punjab who born and died during the
British rule in India. He was the contemporary of Sufi poet Baba Jyoti Shah and
both sages were closely acquainted with each other. Today, there are several
NGOs, Inns, hospitals and educational institutes on his name, in the India.
BABA LACHMAN DAS:
Baba Lachman Das was a Sufi Sant born in the 2nd half of 19th century. He was
the disciple of Sant Baba Narayan Das. He was a naked fakir (saint), like his
teacher. According to Hussein Baksh Malang, a Sufi who met him, ‘the nakedness
of Lachman Das was the protest against the inequalities and cruelties of the
system (both social and economical)’.
Baba Lachman Das was a great humanist. During the bloody partition of British
India, in August 1947, when the blood of natives was shedding like water, he
went on the hunger strike and, as a protest against the bloody partition; he
stood in a lake for about seven days, completely naked (as a protest), in the
extremely cold and stormy weather. He stood there until the blood shed stop from
his side. It was the result of his protest that his town became one of the
safest ways to cross border. He died in the East Punjab soon after the Partition
but he didn’t accept the Partition till his last breath.
BABA JYOTI SHAH:
Baba Jyoti Shah, born around 1840, was a famous Sufi sage and poet of his times.
He belongs to the Chishti order of Sufism. He was the contemporary of Khwaja
Ghulam Farid and Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. He was a very learned and enlightened
person. His poetry too much resembles with that of poet Baba Bulleh Shah. But,
unlike Bulleh Shah, he and his poetry has gone in fugitiveness and abscondment.
His poetry was very popular among the masses, in British India, and was often
sung by Qawals (India’s classical singers). But after the partition of British
India, in 1947, due to extremely negligence, his poetry soon disappeared from
the horizons. Today, whatever we know about this ‘forgotten poet’ is much due to
poet Saad Ahmed Baghi and the Qawals, some of whom still preserve a small number
of his poetical verses. British Indian Museum have also preserved some portion
of his, yet unpublished, poetical work.
Baba Jyoti Shah’s dated of death is still disputed. It is believed that he died
in the mid 1st half of 20th century, perhaps around 1926. The village ‘Jyotishah
Alampur’ of Indian Punjab is named after him.
BABA KALI:
Baba Kali, a Sufi sage, was born in the 1st half of 20th century. He was a very
learned person and well-versed in Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and English. He
led the life as a normal person up to the partition of British India, in 1947.
But during the ‘bloody partition’, he was so much shocked, at the unexpected and
brutal deaths of his countrymen, including his relatives, that he ‘left
everything’ and start to live in fugitiveness, like a n hermit, under a canal
drain, located in the Lahore cantonment. He lived there till his last breath.
It is said that he blown up his both eyes, during the Partition, so that he
couldn’t see the bloodshed of his people. He use to sing ‘Heer’, the poetical
work of Sufi saint Peer Waris Shah, in a very appealing tone, like that of
prophet David. This was his only pass time. According to Hussain Baksh Malang,
his only ideological friend, perhaps, in whole world, “he use to sing ‘Heer’ so
deeply and in such a sympathetic way that tears fell from his blind eyes while
singing.”
The killings and bloodshed during the Partition had unpleasant and everlasting
effects on this noble soul. Since, he considered the politicians and VIP class
for this ‘vulgar incident’, thus, he never hesitated in expressing his utmost
hateness towards them. This rebellious, bold and kindhearted Sufi died in the
2nd half of 20th century. At his death, just four men were present [including
few children who were there just to ‘enjoy the show’] and these were the persons
who were appointed by the local authorities to remove his corpse from the canal
drain.
When in evening Hussain Baksh Malang came home from his work, he was told about
the death of Baba Kali, by his son. He took a deep sigh, wept and expressed his
utmost sympathy with him. He said, “Baba Kali was the Waris Shah in himself;
just as Waris Shah is living in us; Baba Kali too will live in us and his
mission will endure through ages”.
MAOJ DEEN:
Baba Maoj Deen was born as Majad-al-Deen, in about 1876 A.D. He was the Murshed
(teacher) of saint Hussain Baksh Malang and friend of poet Dr. Muhammad Iqbal He
was employed in British Indian Railways and was respected in whole domain not
just of his piousness but also of his high education. He was quite learned man
and was well versed in Arabic, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English. He had a
beautiful white beared. He always preached the message of peace, humanity and
brotherhood. He influenced many pots like Allama Iqbal, Dr. Wajdi, Malik Khushi
Mohammad and Saad Ahmad Baghi. He also influenced many revolutionary leader of
India and has close relations with them. Bhagat Singh, Dada Amir Haider and
Masood KhadPoosh are the most famous of them.
Maoj Deen was the disciple and caliph of Enayat Shah Zeldar, the
‘Abraham-bin-Adham of Punjab’. Maoj was an employ of British Indian Railways
(now, the Pakistan Railways). He died in Lahore, on December 25, 1959 around 3
o’clock, at the ripen age of about 87.
ENAYAT SHAH ZELDAR:
Inayat Shah or Enyat Shah, often called the ‘Abraham-bin-Adham of Punjab’, was
born around 1855, in a well-to-do feudalist family. Enayat’s father was a rich
feudalist of Punjab and was given the title of ‘Zeldar’ (a lord of seven
villages), by the Government.
After the death of his father, Enayat Shah succeeded him as a Zeldar. Whole day,
he uses to roam in his lands aimlessly, sitting on his royal white horse. Once,
during his journey he met Baba Jyoti Shah, a saint with very attractive
personality. He talked with him and was very impressed by his thoughts. After
few meetings, he was so much influenced by the teachings of Baba Jyoti Shah that
he became his disciple and left the aristocratic and feudalist life. He gave up
his all feudalist activities and declared that ‘the land doesn’t belong to
feudalists and landlords but to the people who work on it’. He, then,
distributed half of his land and property among poor peasants and farmers while
half among his relatives and family members while keeping not an inch of land
for his personal use. After this, he became the ‘Messiah’ of poor masses while
on the other hand he became one of the chief rivals of his relatives and local
feudalists, who tried their best to stop him from his socialistic activities but
all in vain.
After Baba Jyoti Shah’s death, Enayat Shah succeeded him as his caliph. Till his
last breath, like his beloved teacher, he taught the message of love, peace,
brotherhood and equality. He died, perhaps, around 1935 and immense number of
people, mainly poor village folk, attended his funeral. He was perhaps the only
saint of the world to be buried like a king. His sacred tomb lies in the East
Punjab near the ‘Durand line of Punjab’, which divides Punjab between India and
Pakistan. With the division of Punjab, his land too divided in two parts; half
(<50%) in Pakistan and half (>50%) in India.
HUSSEIN BAKSH MALANG:
Muhammad Hussein Baksh ,commonly known as Baba Malang Sahib, was born to Ghulam
Muhammad and Churaan Bebe in 1921 in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) of British India. He
was the descendent of General Yaar Muhammad, the son of celebrated Sufi saint
Shah Muhammad and one of the most faithful Commander-in-Chiefs of Tipu Sultan,
the ruler of Mysore. He was the fourth in the line of succesion from Baba Jyoti
Shah.
Hussain’s father was extremely relegious person who use to send him to local
‘Madrassa’ (Islamic school), for learnig Quranic education while his mother was
a liberal Sufi lady. She was the student of famous Maulvi Ghulam Rasool of
Alampur. After her marrige she came Hoshiarpur and became the pupil of Baba
Jyoti Shah and Baba Narayan Das, the two outstanding Sufi-Sants of their time.
She died when Hussain was quite young. After her death and according to her
will, Enayat Shah Zeldar, the caliph of Baba Jyoti Shah, took the responsibility
of teaching the young Hussain. But he was too old thus he, soon, made his
disciple Maoj Deen the new teacher of Hussain. This was the man who first time
called Hussain a Malang, a term used for enlighted and dauntless Sufis and
qalandars.
Maoj Deen was the friend of famous poet Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. Once Iqbal was
sitting with Maoj Deen when Malang Hussain arrived. Maoj Deen said to Iqbal
'there comes my Shaheen'. Malang met Iqbal and both admired each other.
In about 1934, the young Hussain came Lahore, from Hoshiarpur. After spending
four to fives years in Lahore, Malang got job in the British Indian Railways,
Lahore. Maoj Deen was also an employ of the Railways thus both enjoyed each
other’s company. Maoj taught Hussain like a benevolence friend and comrade.
Malang Hussain had due respect in his heart for Maoj Deen and love him more than
his father. To him, his father gave him life but his teacher gave him the way to
led life. Malang was the favourite disciple of Maoj Din. He was the ‘Shaheen of
Maoj Deen’ who latter became his caliph.
Malang was the greatest humanist of his time. In 1947, at the time of the
partition of the British India, Malang saved the lives of many non-muslims from
the hands of extremist Muslims and helped them to reach their destinations in
India.. To him ‘humanity is the best relegion’. According to him all human
beings, and all other creatures too, belong to one class. He so much love
animals and birds that he never wore leather-made sleepers and never ate meat.
Malang died on October 31,1995 in Lahore due to a lung disease. He is buried in
Mughalpural next to his beloved teacher Maoj Deen.
MALIK KHUSHI MUHAMMAD:
Malik Khushi Mohammad was born on May 21, 1927, in the district Amritsar. He was
well-versed in Arabic and Punjabi language. He was the pupil of famous saint
Baba Maoj Deen. He is a revolutionary Sufi poet and had published his master
piece ‘Sachiyaan Gallaan’ (2007), which comprises very beautiful poetry on
Sufism, humanism and revolutionism. Nowadays, he is spending his last days in
Lahore.