Prof Saeed Ahmad

Hazrat Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, one of the most famous Sufi poets of the Punjab, was born in 1830 near Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. His father Mian Shamsuddin was also a saint and was gadi-nasheen at the shrine of Hazrat Pira Shah Ghazi Qalandar.

Mian Muhammad Bakhsh died on the 7th day of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah 1324 AH (1907 AD), and was buried in Khari Sharif. People from Punjab and Kashmir pay visit to his shrine for getting spiritual blessing.

His works include: Siharfi, Sohni Mahiwal, Tuhfah-e-Miran, Tuhfah-e-Rasuliyah, Shireen Farhad, Mirza Sahiban, Qissa Sakhi Khavass Khan, Qissa Shah Mansur, Gulzar-e Faqir, Hidayatul Muslimin, Panj Ganj etc. He also wrote a commentary on the Arabic Qasidat-ul-Burda of al-Busiri and his most famous work is entitled Safarul ‘Ishq (Journey of Love), but better known as Saiful Maluk.

Mian Mohammad Bakhsh wrote eighteen books but his masterpiece that will keep his name ever glowing is no doubt Saiful Malook. He had done this great job when he was only 33-year old. Before writing Saiful Malook he had written books of poetry but those were not known to the public. The book Saiful Malook contains 9,249 couplets which are full of wisdom. He almost touched each and every aspect of life. Such sort of variety of various subjects you would not find in the poetry of any other Sufi saint of the Punjab.

Hazrat Mian Muhammad Bakhsh passed his life in celibacy but he devoted his God-gifted life for the sake of contributing great mystic thought in the language of massses.

It was his mother tongue Punjabi which has been badly ignored by all the governments in Pakistan since 1947 particularly.

It is ironic that all the officials in the Punjab and Centre respect Sufi saints like Mian Muhammad Bakhsh but they do not like to promote Punajbi language, in which these Sufi saints embedded pearls of wisdom, such wisdom which we need a lot in our day-to-day life. Let us rectify our previous mistakes and try to provide a high accolade to such great Sufi poets of the Punjab in our educational syllabus.

From:  The News   Octorber 13, 2013