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Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān (Urdu: مرزا مظہر جانِ جاناں), also known by his laqab Shamsuddīn Habībullāh (1699–1781), was a renowned Naqshbandī Sufi poet of Delhi, distinguished as one the "four pillars of Urdu poetry."[1] He was also known to his contemporaries as the sunnītarāsh, "Sunnicizer", for his absolute, unflinching commitment to and imitation of the Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1]
He established the Naqshbandī suborder Mazhariyya Shamsiyya.
The date of birth is variously given as 1111 or 1113 A.H, and it took place in Kālā Bāgh, Mālwa. Shaikh Muhammad Tahir Bakhshi notes his date of birth as 11th Ramadan 1111 AH.[2] His father Mirzā Jān was employed in the army of the mighty Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Following a custom according to which the Emperor had the right to name the sons of his officers, Aurangzeb is reported to have said:[3]
"A son is the soul of his father. Since the name of his father is Mirzā Jān, the name of the son will be Jān-i Jānān."
His early religious instruction was entrusted to hājjī Afzal Siyālkōtī (hadith) and hāfiz Abd al-Rasūl Dihlawī (Qur'an). At the age of 18, he joined the Naqshbandī order under Nūr Muhammad Bada'ūni, who was closely connected to the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī, and completed his studies in four years. He was also initiated in the Qādirī, Chishtī and Suhrawardī orders.[3]
In his prime, Mazhar was advised to write poetry in Urdu rather than Persian as the days of the latter language were said to be numbered in India. Besides authoring poetry and polemics, Mazhar also wrote a large number of letters relating to Sufi thought and practice.
Among his notable ideas is his acceptance of the Divine-origin of the vedas, which he claimed were revealed by God at the beginning of creation, and his acceptance of the Hindus as the people of the book.
Among his 'disciples' or Muridīn was the great Hanafī scholar, Qādī Thanāullāh Panipatī, who wrote a famous Tafsir of the Qur'an by the name Tafsir-i Mazharī, which he named after his teacher. Also in his spiritual lineage (silsila) came the great Hanafī jurist Imam Ibn 'Abidīn and the Qur'an exegete Allāma Alusī.
His Naqshbandī lineage came to be known as Mazhariyya Shamsiyya. Mazhar apparently authorised more disciples than any of his predecessors. He regularly corresponded with his deputies, and his letters form much of the basis of our knowledge about his life and ideas.[4]
He was succeeded by his khalifa (deputy) Hazrat Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi, who is considered Mujaddid of the 13th Islamic century by most Naqshbandi followers today. His tariqah spread to whole India and Middle East.
Mirzā Mazhar was shot and seriously injured on the 7th of Muharram, of the year 1195 AH/1780 CE. The author of Āb-i Ḥayāt writes:[5]
"The cause of this murder was widely rumored in Delhi among high and low: that according to custom, on the seventh day [of Muḥarram], the standards were carried aloft [in procession]. Mirzā Mazhar sat by the side of the road in the upper veranda of his house, with some of his special disciples. Just as ordinary barbarous people do, his [Sunni] group and the [Shia] procession group may perhaps have hurled some insults and abuse, and some barbarous person was offended. Among them was one stony-hearted person named Faulād [=steel] Ḳhān, who was extremely barbarous. He did this evil deed. But Ḥakīm Qudratullāh Ḳhān 'Qāsim', in his anthology, says that in his poetry Mirzā Sahib used to compose a number of verses in praise of Hazrat ʿAlī, and some Sunni took this amiss and did this evil deed.
It should be noted that the author of Āb-i Ḥayāt, a determined Shi'a, has been suspected of indulging in partisan religious bias. Professor Frances Pritchett has noted that the latter account of the death of Mirzā Mazhar in Āb-i Ḥayāt is a deliberate distortion.[6] Professor Friedmann, as well as Annemarie Schimmel and Itzchad Weismann, have all noted that Mirzā Mazhar was killed by a Shi'ite zealot.[1][3][4]
Most of his Urdu biographers have also written that he was killed by a gunshot by a Shi'ite on 7th Muharram, and he died on 10th Muharram 1195 AH.[2]
Mirza Mazhar belonged to the Mujaddidi order of Sufism, which is the main branch of Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah. His spiritual lineage goes to Muhammad, through Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, the Mujaddid of eleventh Hijri century. The complete lineage is as under:[7]
(570/571 CE)
(5/6 June 632 CE)
(22 August 634 C.E)
(4/5 February 654 C.E)
(22/23 June 645 C.E)
(5/6 November 699 C.E)
(6/7 September 765 C.E)
(804 C.E)
(24/25 May 875 C.E)
(963 C.E)
(5/6 December 1033 C.E)
(19/20 April 1058 C.E)
(1042/1043 C.E)
(10 July 1084 / 6 July 1117)
(1048/1049 C.E)
(Feb/Mar 1141 C.E)
(24/25 March 1044 C.E)
(17/18 August 1179 C.E)
(15 September 1156 C.E)
(10/11 December 1219 C.E.)
(18/19 August 1231 C.E)
(29/30 May 1317 C.E)
(1194 C.E)
(25/26 December 1315 or 20/21 October 1321)
(5/6 July 1195 C.E)
(2/3 July 1354 C.E)
(1277/1278 C.E)
(21/22 December 1370 C.E)
(8/9 March 1318 C.E)
(2/3 March 1389 C.E)
(23 February 1402 C.E)
(1360/1361 C.E)
(21/22 April 1447 C.E)
(March/April 1404 C.E)
(19/20 February 1490 C.E)
(11/12 December 1448 C.E)
(3/4 November 1529 C.E)
(17/18 February 1443 C.E)
(18/19 September 1562 C.E)
(1512/1513 C.E)
(8/9 March 1600 C.E)
(14 July 1564 / 3 July 1565)
(29/30 November 1603 C.E)
(25/26 May 1564 C.E)
(9/10 December 1624 C.E)
(1598/1599 C.E)
(13/14 January 1688 C.E)
(1639/1640 C.E)
(April 1685 C.E)
(12/13 August 1723 C.E)
(2/3 March 1700 C.E)
(Fri 5 January 1781 C.E)
In Maqamat Mazhari, his foremost Khalifa and successor Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlwai writes short biographies of many of his Khulafa (deputies). Here only those names are mentioned:[9]
Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan
India, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Canada, Australia
Delhi, India, Rajasthan, Pakistan, Maharashtra
Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Arabic language, Kuwait
Quran, Egypt, Bahrain, Bbc, Easter
Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Jafar as-Sadiq, Salman al-Farsi, Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr
Sufism, Muhammad, Islam, Arabic language, Persian language
Sufism, Islam, Delhi, London, Unesco
Sufism, Islam, Rumi, Sufi poetry, Wali
Sufism, Islam, Delhi, Sharia, Shia Islam