To Live On

By Majid Sheikh, *Lahore lives up to the message of Data Sahib* - Dawn.com - Pakistan
Sunday, July 4, 2010

The bombing of the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh saw Lahore descend into shock.

There was, initially, an eerie sadness never experienced by the city before. Each person was contemplating how to react, the result of a disbelief that such a thing could happen to Lahore’s ‘Patron Saint’.

It really does not matter which religion or sect you belong to, every one has a deep respect for the patron saint of Lahore. Even seasoned agnostics were alarmed. How could anyone set off bombs inside these hallowed contemplation grounds?

Violence and Sufism do not mix. One is an aggressive manifestation of an inner need which hurts others. The other is peaceful introspection to understand such a need. So the silence that followed was a beautiful reaction.

This was Lahore at its very best. This was centuries of experience all coming good. There is absolutely no doubt that the people of this beautiful city follow their Sufi patron in letter and spirit.

There were violent utterances too, but from the ‘mullah’ class only who blamed the USA, India, Israel and a host of other perceived enemies. It is small wonder that they remain a despised class. They also blamed the powerful and they blamed weak minorities, especially a small sect that was brutally attacked just a few weeks earlier. This made me sad, for the message of the man they claim to follow was being violently violated.

This reminded me of a poem by that great Punjabi poet Sultan Bahu, himself a great Sufi and follower of Ali Hassan of Hajver. The poem starts with the line:

“Dil kale ton moonh kaalaa changaa,
je koee usnoon jaane hoo”

(Black skin is better than a black heart, provided you think about it). The poem ends with the line:

“Aalim chhorr maseetaan natthe,
jad lagge dil tikaane hoo”

(Scholars surely flee their mosques, O Bahu, when their hearts are touched by Allah’s love).

Through the ages the shrine of Data Sahib, as he is popularly referred to by his followers, has seen emperors and beggars alike humbled by his message, the message of Allah’s love for his humanity.

Inside, in safe vaults, hand-written versions of the Holy Quran written by rulers like Sultan Shamsuddin Altamesh and even Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznvi lie unread. Over the ages great Sufis like Khawaja Moeenuddin Chisthi of Ajmer and Khawaja Fareed of Pakpattan spent years in ‘chilla’ or meditation, before moving on to establish their own centres of learning and meditation.

Ali Hassan of Hajver came to Lahore in 431 AH and died in 465 AH. Just why has Data Sahib such a special place in the lives of the people of Lahore? The answer lies in the fact that almost every mystic Sufi who came to the sub-continent, or was born here, has visited and learnt a higher message at the shrine of Data Sahib.

He represents the first among the greats, of this there is no doubt. But who was this great man, the ‘Patron Saint’ of Lahore. We have never dwelt on the man, and so today a few words are needed to put him in his context.

The family of Abul Hassan Ali, ibn Usman al-Jullabi, belonged to Hajver in Afghanistan, though Abul Hassan Ali was born in Ghazni in 991 AD when the Ghaznavid Empire was expanding. He was attracted to the Sufi message early in his life and travelled to Iran, Iraq and Syria. In these journeys he met several Sufi mystics and seers.

He studied Sufism under Abu'l-Fazl Muhammad, through whom he was spiritually connected to Junaid Baghdadi. He settled in Iraq where he got married. Little is known about this aspect of his life. From here he was ordered by his spiritual mentors to proceed to Lahore, where on his arrival he experienced the funeral of Hazrat Zanjani, who lies buried on the premises of Lady Aitchison Hospital on Hospital Road next to Mayo Hospital. It was then that he understood that it was Allah’s will that he be the Patron Saint of Lahore.

However, there is another version to this trip to Lahore. One account says that he was made a prisoner of war in Iraq and that he was brought as a captive to Lahore. That is a story that needs exploration.

But no matter what brought him to this city, he spent the rest of his life here, where he compiled his epic book ‘Kashf Al Mahjoob’ in Persian. The book is one of the earliest treatises on Sufism. He died in Lahore in 1077 AD.

Hazrat Moeenuddin Chishti paid homage to Data Sahib through the immortal lines that still don the shrine’s front:

Ganj Bakhsh-e faiz-e aalam, mazhar-e Nur-i Khuda
Naqisaan ra pir-e kaamil, kaamilaan ra rahnuma

Abul Ali Hassan wrote a number of other books, some of which were stolen by other scholars. Many experts think that the Sufi book ‘Maghzin-e-Kashf-ul-Israr’ is also his book. His other books include ‘Deewan’, ‘Minhaj ud Deen’, ‘Kitabul Fanna wal Baqa’, ‘Israrul Kharq wal Moo'dabat’, ‘Kitab ul Biyan’ and ‘Riayat ul Huqooq Allah’.

But the enduring fame of Data Sahib lies in his mystical appeal to people of every class and faith. He remains the mentor of the great Sufis of the sub-continent till date, and the hope of the poor of almost every village in the country.

From scholars to those who know nothing about the man, especially the new emerging urban elite, he remains a source of solace. The respect he commands, for some reason, no one else does.

That is why when the ground where lies the Patron Saint were violated, Lahore was shocked. Over the centuries Genghis Khan, Taimurlane, Babar, Ranjit Singh and the British have all shown greater respect. Something fundamentally has gone wrong.

When scholarship and history are ignored, there has to be something fundamentally wrong. But Abul Hassan Ali Hajveri will continue to live on in the hearts of the people as Lahore ‘Data Sahib’.

Picture: The introspective silence that followed the attack was Lahore at its very best. This was centuries of experience all coming good. — Photo by Reuters