Khwaja Ghulam Farid

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Khwaja Ghulam Farid
Tomb of Ghulam Farid at Kot Mithan
Tomb of Ghulam Farid at
Native name
خواجہ غُلام فرید
Born1845 (1845)[1]
Chachran, Bahawalpur State, British India (now Punjab, Pakistan)
Died24 July 1901 (1901-07-25) (aged 55)[1]
Chachran, Bahawalpur State, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Resting placeMithankot, Punjab, Pakistan
Notable workDiwan-e-Farid, Manaqab-e-Mehboobia, Fawaid Faridia
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Khwaja Ghulam Farid (خواجہ غُلام فرید) or Khwaja Fareed (1845–1901) was a 19th-century Sufi poet of Punjab.[2] He was an adherent of as his great grandfather Khawaja Qazi Mohammad Aaqil Koreja had accepted discipleship and spiritual viceroyality (khilafat) of one of the most celebrated Sufi saints of Indo-Pak subcontinent, Hazrat Noor Mohammad Maharvi of Chistian.

Khawaja Ghulam Fareed's ancestors migrated from Sindh in 16th century AD and firstly settled in a village, named Manglot in Lodhran district and then migrated to Mithankot in Rajanpur district present days .However, when Sikh's invasions into Punjab started threatening this peaceful area, they preferred to migrate to Chachran, in Bahawalpur State, where Abbasid Nawabs were fearlessly ruling to much of the chagrin of both Sikhs and Sadozai rulers of Multan.

Since his early days of youth, Khawaja Ghulam Farid turned towards spiritual ecstasy; he started attending and arranging mahafil-e-sama wherein largely verses of Persian Sufi saints were sung in the form of qawalis. As he himself had a God-gifted talent of creating verses, he also started writing kafis (poems showing Love for Infinite) as exposition of his inner sublime feelings and his unique spiritual experiences. It was not too much late that his own kafis started taking over an unwarranted place in spiritual congregations due to their uniqueness and grandeur.

Khawaja Ghulam Farid's Divan comprises of 271 kafis. His kafis carry words of several languages and his literary heritage has been claimed by both the Punjabi and the Saraiki language movements.

Early life[]

Farid's mother died when he was four years old and he was orphaned around the age of twelve when his father, Khwaja Khuda Bakhsh, died. He was then brought up by his elder brother, Khwaja Fakhr-ud-Din, also known as Khwaja Fakhr Jehan Sain, and grew up to become a scholar and writer. He wrote kafi poems in Punjabi/Saraiki, Urdu, Sindhi, Persian, and Braj Bhasha.[citation needed]

Nawab of Bahawalpur took Farid to his palace at Ahmedpur East for his religious education by a scholar, when he was 8 years old. His brother Fakhr-ud-Din, who had brought him up after his parents' deaths, also died when Farid was 28 years old. Farid then left for the Cholistan Desert (also known as Rohi) for chilla (retreat) where he lived for 18 years. Most of his work includes mentioning of the beauty of this place.

Farid performed hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) in 1876.

Works[]

His most significant works include:

  • Diwan-e-Farid (Multani verse)
  • Manaqabe Mehboobia (in Persian prose)
  • Fawaid Faridia (in Persian prose)

In his poetry, he frequently uses the symbolism of a desert. Namely, he discusses how beautiful the desert is and how it attracted him to stay there for 18 years and how he believed that made him feel close to Muhammad. His work however does also include slightly touching the topic of political affairs, opposing the British rule in Bahawalpur state, writing a letter to the Nawab of Bahawalpur and also mentioning it in some of his poetry.

Legacy[]

  • The 20th century saw the development of a branch of literary studies on Farid's life and work called Fareediyat.
  • Today, many religious and educational institutions in Pakistan and India are named after Farid (e.g., Khawaja Farid Government College in Rahimyar Khan, Pakistan) as are streets and town living quarters.
  • A literary award named after Farid – the Khwaja Ghulam Farid Award – is awarded yearly by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in literature, its recipients including Ismail Ahmedani (in 2013) and (in 2007) among others.[3][4]
  • In 2001, on Farid’s 100th death anniversary (urs), Pakistan Post issued a memorial stamp to honour him in its "Poets of Pakistan" series[1]
  • Sadiq Public School, the public school built by Nawab Sadeq Mohammad Khan V in Bahawalpur, has a house for the day scholars of the prep section named after Farid, called Fareed House.
  • Fareed Gate is the name of one of the historic gates surrounding the old city of Bahawalpur named in Farid's honour.
  • The Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT) in Rahim Yar Khan District was named after Farid.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Profile of Khwaja Ghulam Farid on Paknetmag website Retrieved 15 April 2020
  2. ^ Suvorova, Anna (22 July 2004). Muslim Saints of South Asia: The Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries (Islamic calendar). Routledge. ISBN 1134370059 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Amir Jalil Bobra (19 December 2013). "Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) confers awards on literary figures". The Nation (newspaper). Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  4. ^ PAL announces National Literary Awards Academy of the Punjab in North America website, Published 10 August 2007, Retrieved 15 April 2020

External links[]

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