Alā ul-Ḥaq wa ad-Dīn ʿUmar ibn As`ad al-Khālidī al-Bangālī (), commonly known as Alaul Haq () or reverentially by the

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...

Ganj-e-Nābāt (, ), was a 14th-century

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 ...

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 ...

. Posted in

Hazrat Pandua Pandua, also historically known as Hazrat Pandua and later Firuzabad, is a ruined city in the Malda district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It served as the capital city of the independent Sultanate of Bengal for nearly a century, until t ...

, he was the senior disciple and successor of Akhi Siraj, and a

Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, 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- ...

government official.

Early life and education

Alaul Haq Umar was born in 1301, in the city of

to a

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 ...

family descended from

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...

, an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

commander and companion of the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, who belonged to the

Banu Makhzum The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh (tribe), Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of ...

clan of

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

. His father, Shaykh As`ad Khālidī, migrated from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

to Pandua where he served as the Finance Minister of 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, ...

. His uncles, cousins and brothers also held high ranks in the Sultanate court. Some sources claim that Haq was first taught by Nizamul Haq Sarfi, who was a senior scholar of Bengal based in Lakhnauti and teacher of Nasiruddin Bahath. This claim however, has been doubted by others due to issues relating to time periods. After the death of his father, Haq was meant to have inherited two gardens worth 8000

taka The taka (, , sign: , code: BDT, short form: Tk) is the currency of Bangladesh. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Issuance of banknotes 10 and larger is controlled by Bangladesh Bank, while the 2 and 5 govt. notes are the responsibility of the ...

s though someone else had taken possession of it. Haq never attempted to regain the inherited property. Excelling in his studies, Alaul Haq began calling himself ''Ganj-e-Nābāt'' and gained popularity in Bengal. This act was criticised by

Nizamuddin Auliya Khawaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (sometimes spelled Awliya; 1238 – 3 April 1325), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin (), Sultan-ul-Mashaikh () and Mahbub-e-Ilahi (), was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, a ...

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 ...

, as his teacher was Ganj-e-Shakar (store of sugar), and the title of ''Ganj-e-Nabat'' (store of fine sugar) was a sign of arrogance and superiority. Akhi Siraj of 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 ...

returned to Bengal on the advice of his teacher, Nizamuddin Auliya, where he was appointed as the country's court scholar. Alaul Haq became his student and dropped the ''Ganj-e-Nabat'' title. There are many stories relating to Haq's relationship with his mentor Siraj. It is said that Haq would accompany his teacher with a cauldron on his head, and carrying an oven whilst barefooted so that he could his teacher could have hot meals, and would often have to walk in such a state in front of the homes of his relatives. This eventually led to Alaul Haq suffering from

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarring ...

. This supposedly even took place during Siraj's numerous

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

visits. Alaul Haq was admired by his teacher Siraj to such an extent that he was made his successor and the husband of Siraj's daughter.

Career

Following the death of Siraj, Haq served as the court scholar; setting up a

khanqah A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'' ...

and becoming an elite member of the

Sultan of Bengal The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, 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- ...

Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was the founder of the Sultanate of Bengal and its inaugural Ilyas Shahi dynasty. The Ilyas Shahi Dynasty ruled Bengal for 145 years (1342–1487), except for a 21-year interregnum by the House of Ganesha, descendants of R ...

's government. During the reign of Sultan

Sikandar Shah Abul Mujāhid Sikandar Shāh (, ), commonly known as Sikandar Shah; was the second Sultan of Bengal and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He was the son of Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah. Sikandar Shah continued to project the imperial ambitions of his father. He ...

, Haq was put in charge of the royal treasury of the

. It is said that Alaul Haq was so generous to his students and the needy that his generosity outweighed that of the Sultan. As a result, he was banished to

Sonargaon Sonargaon (; ; Literary translation, lit. ''Golden Hamlet (place), Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. Sonargaon is one of the old capitals of ...

for two years before being allowed to return to his Khanqah.

Ashraf Jahangir Semnani Sultan Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Semnani (; (1285–1386) was an Iranian Sufi saint from Semnan, Iran. He was the founder of the Ashrafi Sufi order. He is India's third most influential Sufi saint after Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer and Niz ...

, a former ruler of Semnan in modern-day

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, had abdicated his throne to become a student of Alaul Haq in Pandua. His journey took two years and upon meeting Haq and his disciples in the outskirts of Pandua, Semnani was carried by doli to Haq's khanqah where he was fed four handfuls of rice and

paan Betel nut chewing, also called betel quid chewing or areca nut chewing, is a practice in which areca nuts (also called "betel nuts") are chewed together with slaked lime and betel leaves for their stimulant and narcotic effects, the prima ...

by Alaul Haq. Semnani studied under Alaul Haq for 12 years, before being instructed by him to go and propagate in Jaunpur.

Death

Chhoti Dargah at Pandua in Malda District 11

It is suggested by 'Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi, in his ''Akhbar al Akhyar'', that Alaul Haq died in the year 800 AH (1398 AD). On the other hand, the guardians of Haq's shrine possess a book which cites his death in 786 AH (1384 AD). It has also been said that Alaul Haq's

janaza Islamic funerals () follow fairly specific Ritual#Islam, rites, though they are subject to regional interpretation and variation in custom. In all cases, however, sharia (Islamic religious law) calls for burial of the body as soon as possible. T ...

was performed by Jahaniyan Jahangasht. His shrine, the Chhoti Dargah, is one of the major

dargah A Sufi shrine or dargah ( ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargāh'' दरगाह درگاہ, ''dôrgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervi ...

s of Bengal; located in the ruined city of

in Malda and adjacent to the other contemporary scholars of Bengal such as Jalaluddin Tabrizi. Haq's disciples included his son

Nur Qutb Alam Nūr Qut̤b ʿĀlam (, ) was a 14th-century Bengali Islamic scholar, author and poet. Based in the erstwhile Bengali capital Hazrat Pandua, he was the son and successor of Alaul Haq, a senior scholar of the Bengal Sultanate. He is noted for his ...

(who was his successor), as well as the Sufi saints

and Husayn Dhukkarposh. 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. ...

is commemorated from 23 to 25

Rajab Rajab () is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of the classical Arabic verb ''rajaba'' is "to respect", which could also mean "be awe or be in fear", of which Rajab is a derivative. This month is regarded as one ...

in Chhoti Dargah, presently in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Alaul Haq's grandson, Badr Islam, and his great-grandson, Shaykh Zahid, were prominent scholars in

References

Bibliography

*: A short biography of the prominent Sufis of India have been mentioned in this book including that of Alaul Haq Pandavi * 'Mir'at-ul-Israr' by Syed Abdur Rahman Chisti * 'Lataife-Ashrafi' (Discourses of Ashraf Jahangir Semnani) Compiled by Nizam Yemeni, Edited and annotated by Syed Waheed Ashraf, published in 2010 * 'Ma'arijul-Wilayat' * 'Hayate Makhdoom Syed

(1975), Second Edition(2017) , Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandavi, Alaul Haq Bengali Sufi saints Chishtis People from Malda district 14th-century Bengalis Sufi writers Sufi mystics Sufi teachers Bengal Sultanate officers 14th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Banu Makhzum Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam

Early life and education

Career

Death

See also

References

Bibliography