A concise historical and spiritual profile of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, the revered Sufi saint of Lahore, detailing his lineage, travels, teachings, literary legacy, and enduring influence on Islamic mysticism in South Asia.
Early Life, Lineage, and Spiritual Journey
Syed Ali Hajviri, commonly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, whose mausoleum stands in Lahore as a living symbol of his devotion to knowledge and spiritual guidance, lived in the 5 century of the Hijra. He was one of the earliest and most venerated of Muslim saints of Pakistan and India who flourished in this century. As a result of his concentrated efforts, thousands of people embraced Isla, and today it goes without saying that his devotees outnumber the devotees of all saints of the Subcontinent who came here to propagate Islam.
On his father’s side, Hazrat Data Sahib directly descended from Hazrat Ali. Ahmed Fazal Muhammad Din Alkhuttali was his spiritual teacher. After completing his studies, he traveled widely as was customary with early Sufi sheikhs in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Azarbijan, Tabristan, Khazistan, Kiman, and met a large number of divines and learned men of his time and had discussions with them on various topics pertaining to the development of the soul and intellect. He gathered knowledge and spiritual experience from every nook and corner of the Islamic world.
Arrival in Lahore and Mission of Enlightenment
Hazrat Data Sahib came to Lahore as a standard bearer in the army of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi and settled down in Lahore on the bank of river Ravi. All his life he waged fierce wars against ignorance, superstition and pseudo-sufism. He constantly warned people against impostors who ignored to observe the principles of Islam but mas-queraded under the choke and grab of mysticism.
He established, where he now lies buried, what is reported to be the first mosque ever built in the land of the five rivers. The mosque became an academy and a great source of light and learning.
His profound knowledge and understanding of the faith of Islam made him a fountainhead of the great virtues of human brotherhood and equality of mankind ,and love for fellow beings. Through his own personality and conduct, he represented the great values of life that typify the spirit of Islam and kindled a spirit of social welfare and service among his followers.
Legacy, Literary Contributions, and Lasting Influence
Apart from imparting regular instructions to the converts to the Islamic faith, Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh devoted his time to writing and compiling books. His reputation as a practicing sufi and as the author of the most celebrated and widely read treaties on the principles of Sufism and the practices of the Sufis has stood the test of time as well as the physical limits of geography and sectarians, and man-made barriers.
Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, whose preaching and profound utterances and his personal magnetism and spiritual force were responsible for spreading the light of Islam far and wide in this region, was the author of many books. Of his numerous literary works and philosophical treaties, the most outstanding and those that are available are KASHFAL-AL-MAHJUL and KASHF-AL-ASRAR.
Kashf -al-Mahjoob is a voluminous book. This is the first book on Islamic mysticism compiled in the Subcontinent and is looked upon as an authority by those initiated in spiritualism. It aims to present the complete system of Sufism, setting out and discussing its doctrines and its practices: a method of exposition found even in the biographies of the Sufis. His exposition of Sufi doctrine and practice is distinguished not only by wide learning and firsthand knowledge but also by the strong personal character impressed on everything he writes.
Kashf-al-Mahjoob is a mine of information containing a description of the practices of early Sufi Saints, the growth of Silsilahs or Sufi orders, and the state of Muslim society. It is a perfect guide in matters, and there is no other book on mysticism of such rank and caliber in Persian. It is a classical work of autobiographical trend. His teachings, embodied in this book, are as iconoclastic today as they were when he preached to those who flocked to his monastery a thousand years ago.
Data Sahib worked and lived in one of the most existing and critical periods of history when the old Islamic world order was crumbling, and the new order was taking its birth. Hazrat Syed Ali Hajviri lived in Lahore for 34 years from 431 Hijri till he died on the 9th of Muharram in 465 Hijri.
Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti spent a term of solitary meditation at his tomb, and so did Baba Farid-ud-Din Ganj-e-Shakar. It was Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti, who, after Aitkaf, stood at the foot of Data’s shrine and recited the following:
On the inner wall of the Data Sahib’s Mazar, there is an inscription which says:
“This is the Khangah of Ali Hajviri. Lift the dust of its portal and apply it like collegium and see with your truth-seeking eyes so that the mysteries may be revealed to you”.
