• Data Ganj Bakhsh (Al Hujwiri) is considered the first Sufi saint to come to India and preach.
• In 1039, Abu’l Hasan al Hujwiri, a native of Hujwir near Ghazni in Afghanistan was forced to cross the Indus as a captive of the invading Turkish army.
• He settled in Lahore and wrote a book in Persian, called the Kashful-Mahjub (Unveiling of the Veiled) to explain the meaning of Tasawwuf and those who practised it, that is, the Sufi. Hujwiri died in 1073 and was buried in Lahore.
• The grandson of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni constructed a tomb over his grave and this tomb-shrine became a site of pilgrimage for his devotees, especially on his death anniversary. Even today Hujwiri is revered as Data Ganj Bakhsh or “Giver who bestows treasures” and his mausoleum is called Data Darbar or “Court of the Giver”.
• Pilgrimage, called Ziyarat, to tombs of the Sufi saints is prevalent all over the Muslim world. This practice is an occasion for seeking the Sufi’s spiritual grace (Barakat). For more than seven centuries, people of various creeds, classes and social backgrounds have expressed their devotion at the Dargahs of the five great Chishti saints. Amongst these, the most revered shrine is that of Khwaja Muinuddin, popularly known as “Gharib Nawaz” (comforter of the poor).
Sufi Literature:
(1) Treatises or manuals dealing with Sufi thought and practices – The Kashf-ul-Mahjub of Al Hujwiri is an example of this genre. It enables historians to see how traditions outside the sub-continent influenced Sufi thought in India.
(2) Malfuzat (Conversations of the Sufi saints): Malfuzats were compiled by different Sufi Silsilahs, with the permission of the Shaikhs, these had obvious didactic purposes.
(3) Maktubat (Collections of letters): Letters written by Sufi masters, addressed to their disciples and associates – while these tell us about the Shaikh’s experience of religious truth that he wanted to share with others, they also reflect the life conditions of the recipients and are responses to their aspirations and difficulties, both spiritual and mundane.
(4) Tazkiras (Biographical accounts of the saints): The most famous Tazkira is the Akhbar-ul-Akhyar of Abdul Haqq Muhaddis Dehlavi. The authors of the Tazkiras often sought to establish the precedence of their own orders and glorify their spiritual genealogies.
