Ali Sher Bengali

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Shaykh

Ali Sher Bengali
আলী শের বাঙ্গালী
Personal
Born
Ali Sher

Srihat, Bengal Sultanate
Died23 Safar
Resting placeKocharab, Paldi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
ReligionIslam
Flourished16th century
DenominationSunni
Other namesAli Sher Bangali
RelativesNurul Huda Abul Karamat (ancestor)
OrderShattari
Muslim leader
TeacherMuhammad Ghawth
Based inAhmedabad

Shaykh ʿAli Sher Bangālī (Bengali: আলী শের বাঙ্গালী, Persian: علی شیر بنگالی) was a 16th-century Bengali author, teacher and Sufi pir of the Shattari order.[1][2] He was one of the three khalifahs (successors) of Muhammad Ghawth Shattari.[3]

Background[]

Ali Sher was born into a Bengali Muslim family in the town of Sylhet in the Bengal Sultanate. His family traced their origins to Nurul Huda Abul Karamat, a 14th-century Middle Eastern migrant who accompanied Shah Jalal in the Conquest of Sylhet and was later appointed as the second Wazir of Arsah Srihat.[4]

Life[]

In his youth, Sher began travelling across the subcontinent for further Islamic studies. When he reached Awadh, it is said that he saw Muhammad Ghawth Shattari in a dream. Sher then travelled to Delhi where he met with Ghawth and became his murid (student).[5] He was one of the two prominent Bengali students of Shattari, the other being Shah Manjhan of Lakhnauti. Shaikh was a student of Ali Sher's contemporary Wajihuddin Alvi.[6]

After studying and serving under Muhammad Ghawth Shattari for a while,[7] Ali Sher Bengali was then ordered to visit Ahmedabad in Gujarat and settle down at the Imad-ul-Mulk Rumi Masjid to become a teacher himself as a khalifa of Shattari. He was a critic of the Sur emperors who were then ruling the region.[8]

In 1571, Ali Sher Bengali wrote a book called A commentary on the excursion of the souls (Arabic: شرح نزهة الأرواح, romanized: Sharḥ Nuzhat al-Arwāḥ),[9] which contained the earliest recorded written biography of Shah Jalal in its preface.[10]

Spiritual genealogy[]

Spiritual genealogy of Ali Sher Bengali is as follows:[3]

Death[]

According to the guardians of his shrine, Ali Sher Bengali died on 23 Safar 970 AH (22 October 1562). He was buried near the Shahi Masjid in the neighbourhood of Paldi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.[11] His urs is celebrated on 23 Safar by devotees every year.[12] However, the supposed year of his death contradicts the date that Ali Sher Bengali wrote his book, which was certainly in 1571, and is most likely inaccurate.[13]

See also[]

  • Ala Bakhsh, another 16th-century Muslim scholar of Bengali origin

References[]

  1. ^ Chattopadhyay, Bhaskar (1988). Culture of Bengal Through the Ages: Some Aspects. University of Burdwan. p. 211.
  2. ^ Ali, Syed Murtaza (1965). হজরত শাহ জালাল ও সিলেটের ইতিহাস [Hazrat Shah Jalal and the History of Sylhet] (in Bengali). Dhaka: University Press. pp. 17–22.
  3. ^ a b Ghazi, Syed Abdullah Shah, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Ghous Gwalior, India
  4. ^ Choudhury, Achyutcharan. "1". Sreehatter Itibritta – Purbangsho (A History of Sylhet), Part 2. Vol. 1. Mustafa Selim; Source publication, 2004.
  5. ^ Rizvi, Syed Muhammad Nir. صوفی یوگ گرو: شیخ محمد غوث گوالیاریؒ (in Urdu). Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.
  6. ^ Quddusi, Mohammad Ilyas (2002). Khandesh Under the Mughals, 1601-1724 A.D.: Mainly Based on Persian Sources. New Delhi: Islamic Wonders Bureau. pp. 122–136.
  7. ^ Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas (1978). A History of Sufism in India: Early Sufism and its history in India to 1600 A.D. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 315.
  8. ^ Ersnt, Carl (1999). "The persecution of Muhammad Ghawth". In Fred De Jong; Berndt Redtke (eds.). Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Debate and Conflict. Islamic History and Civilization. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  9. ^ Abdul Karim (2012). "Shah Jalal (R)". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  10. ^ Hanif, N (2000). "Jalal, Shaikh (d.1357 A.D.)". Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia. Sarup & Sons. pp. 165–167.
  11. ^ Pandey, Shyam Manohar (1968). Sūfī kāvya vimarśa: Dāūda, Kutubana, Jāyasī tathā Mañjhana kī kr̥tiyoṃ kā adhyayana (in Hindi). Vinod Pustak Mandir. p. 155.
  12. ^ Raza, Asif (5 October 2019). माहे सफारुल मुज़फ्फर के महीने में किस बुज़रुग का उर्स किस तारीख को होता है. Muslim TTS (in Hindi).
  13. ^ Siddiqi, KM (11 August 2017). হজরত শাহ জালাল (রহ.) সম্পর্কে তথ্য বিভ্রাট. Daily Inqilab (in Bengali).

Further reading[]

  • Muḥammad Ghausi Shattari; Fazl Ahmad Jiyuri; Z̲akir Ḥusain Shaikh. (۳۵۰) یاد شیخ علی شیر بنگالی. Gulzar-i abrar (in Urdu). p. 308-309.
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