Shāh ʿAlī al-Baghdādī (–1480) was a 15th-century

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

missionary and

Sufi saint The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God in Islam, God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press ...

based in the Faridpur and

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

regions of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

Life

Ali al-Baghdadi was born in to Mufti Fakhruddin in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

. He was a descendant of Sultan Ali, allegedly a son of

Muhammad al-Jawad Muhammad al-Jawad (, – ) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the ninth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father, Ali al-Rida (). He is known by the epithets al-Jawād () and al-Taqī (). Like most of his predecessors, M ...

and younger brother of

Ali al-Hadi Ali al-Hadi (; – ) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the tenth Imamate in Shia doctrine, Imam in Twelver Shi'ism, Twelver Shia, succeeding his father, Muhammad al-Jawad (). Born in Medina in 828, Ali is known with the ti ...

. At the age of twenty, he travelled to the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

with forty to one hundred companions in 838 AH (1434 CE). He married into the

Sayyid dynasty The Sayyid dynasty was the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451 for 37 years.See: * M. Reza Pirbha, Reconsidering Islam in a South Asian Context, , Brill * The Islamic frontier in the east: Expansion ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. Eventually, he entered the

Sultanate of Bengal The Bengal Sultanate ( Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, ...

during the reign of Sultan

Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (; born as Jadu/যদু) was a 15th-century Sultan of Bengal and an important figure in medieval Bengali history. Born a Hindu to his aristocratic father Raja Ganesha, the patriarch of the Ganesha dynasty, he assumed t ...

. The Sultan gifted him with 12,000

bigha The bigha or beegah (, , Assamese: বিঘা) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in northern & eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. There is no "standard" size of bigha and it varies considerably from place ...

s of land in Dholsamudra, Faridpur and he settled in the qasba of Girdah. The presence of Sufi saints such as Shah Ali Baghdadi, his brother-in-law Shah Husayn Tegh-Burhana and companions Haji Saaduddin and Shah Muhammad Goraz led to the area being named as Miran-i-Girdah in their honour. Many Hindus in Girdah converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

through his efforts. In due course, Ali proceeded to

. This later migration is explained by the engulfment of Girdah as a result of

Padma River The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the banks ...

erosion and Ali's desire to become initiated into the

Chishti Order The Chishti order () is a Sufi Tariqa, order of Sunni Islam named after the town of Chishti Sharif District, Chisht, Afghanistan where it was initiated by Abu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to Herat and later spread across South Asia by Mu ...

by Shah Bahar, a

based in Dhaka. Nevertheless, Ali also contributed to spreading Islam in Dhaka, where he remained until the rest of his life.

Shrine

After practicing chilla in complete fasting for forty days, Shah Ali Baghdadi died in and was buried in Mirpur, Dhaka. However, according to a book preserved in his mausoleum, he died in 1577 AD. The Bangladeshi

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

Nur Muhammad Azmi identifies Shah Ali's year of death as 913 AH (1507 AD). Many pilgrims visit his shrine at the time of his

urs Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or Urus (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. ...

(death anniversary) from different parts of

and beyond. His mosque was completely renovated in 1806. The second

Nawab of Dhaka The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of one of the largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The t ...

Khwaja Abdul Ghani Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani (30 July 1813 – 24 August 1896) was the second Nawab of Dhaka and the first to assume the title of Nawab as hereditary, recognized by the British Raj. He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, w ...

constructed a road leading to the shrine in the 18th century. His son and successor,

Khwaja Ahsanullah Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Ahsanullah KCIE (22 August 1846 – 16 December 1901) was the third Nawab of Dhaka. He was notable for his philanthropic works in Bengal, most notably his donations to the present Bangladesh University of Engineering an ...

, contributed towards the renovation of the shrine and establishment of a ''musafir-khana'' (guest-house).

Legacy

The Shah Ali Thana was founded in 2005, and includes the ward of Shah Ali Nagar. A

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in Girdah Locally called Gayabi Mosque contains an ancient relic chamber set up by Shah Ali Baghdadi. These include his wooden plate, turban,

prayer mat A prayer rug or prayer mat is a piece of fabric, sometimes a pile carpet, used by Muslims, some Christians, especially in Orthodox Christianity and some followers of the Baháʼí Faith during prayer. In Islam, a prayer mat is placed between the ...

and ''

tasbih ''Tasbih'' () is a form of ''dhikr'' that involves the glorification of God in Islam by saying: "''Subhan Allah''" (). It is often repeated a certain number of times, using either the fingers of the right hand or a '' misbaha'' to keep track ...

'' (made out of

fish bone Fish bone is any bony tissue in a fish, although in common usage the term refers specifically to delicate parts of the non-vertebral skeleton of such as ribs, fin spines and intramuscular bones. Not all fish have fish bones in this sense; for i ...

). The chamber also holds a kurdi coat which was said to have belonged to Shah Madar, as well as

Relics of Muhammad A series of objects are venerated in Islam because of associations with Prophet Muhammad. Islam has had a long history of relic veneration, especially of veneration of relics attributed to the Islamic prophet Prophet Muhammad.Goldziher, I. and ...

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

Hasan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

, Husayn and

Abdul Qadir Gilani Abdul Qadir Gilani (; ; c. 1077/78 – 1166) was a Hanbali scholar, preacher, and Sufi leader who was the eponym of the Qadiriyya, one of the oldest Sufi orders. He was born c. 1077/78 in the town of Na'if, Rezvanshahr in Gilan, Persia, ...

. His nephew, Shah Syed Habibullah Maddan-e-Khoda (son of Shah Husayn Tegh-Burhana), settled in the village of Banamalidia, Madhukhali, Faridpur (where he is buried). Among his notable descendants are Barrister Syed Qumrul Islam Mohammad Salehuddin who was elected MNA from Faridpur 2 in 1970, MCA in 1972 elected MP of Bangladesh Parliament in 1973 from Faridpur 3 & Founder of Bangladesh Justice Party. Baghdadi's son Syed Shah Usman settled in Dasar, Madaripur in 1504, on tiger-back. From his descendants is businessman and politician

Syed Abul Hossain Syed Abul Hossain (1 August 1951 – 25 October 2023) was a Bangladeshi businessman and politician. He was the managing director and chairman of SAHCO International Ltd. He served as a member of the Bangladesh Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) for fo ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 23.7970, 90.3489, region:BD_type:landmark, display=title 1480 deaths History of Dhaka Bengali Sufi saints 15th-century deaths 15th-century Muslims People from Baghdad