Shah Jalal Dakhini (, ) was a 15th-century

Sufi Muslim Sufism ( or ) is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and ...

figure of

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 ...

, eastern

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 ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

). Dakhini was one among the many Sufis who spread Islam in eastern India. Saint received an honorifics as a Dakhini as he was the resident of

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

Biography

It is debated whether Dakhini was originally from the

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

(as his name suggests) or that he was from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of western states of India, Republic of India. The Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative divisions of India, Adminis ...

. According to 'Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi's ''Akhbar-ul-Akhyar'', Dakhini studied under Shaykh Piyara in

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

. Piyara was a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

scholar 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 ...

. One day, he set off with a few companions from Gujarat to eastern

, during the reign 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 Yusuf Shah. He established 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'' ...

in present-day

Motijheel Motijheel () is a central business district and a thana of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is Dhaka's primary central business district, and also the nation's largest commercial and financial hub. Motijheel, located immediately adjacent to Dhaka's zero ...

in order to propagate Islamic teachings to the local people. He gained a large following in Dhaka, so much so that it was seemingly proportionate to the power of a king. It is said he also started to have a very pompous attitude. According to legend, the Sultan was angered by this, viewing Dakhini as a threat, and so had Dakhini and his comrades

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

in 1475. Dakhini is assumed to be buried in the eastern tomb of a single-domed

mazar (mausoleum) A ''mazār'' (), also transliterated as mazaar, also known as ''marqad'' () or in the Maghreb as ''ḍarīḥ'' (), is a mausoleum or shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. Medieval Arabic ...

northeast of the

Bangabhaban The Bangabhaban () is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of Bangladesh, located on Bangabhaban Road, and short road connecting Dilkusha, Dhaka, Dilkusha Avenue, Dhaka. It is surrounded by the Bangabhaban Gardens (fo ...

gateway.

Legacy

Tradition holds that his tomb is within the

compound.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalal Dakhini, Shah People from Dhaka 15th-century Indian Muslims 15th-century Indian people Bengali Sufi saints 1476 deaths Gujarati people