Dawn , 12-02-05

LAHORE, Feb 11: Speakers at a seminar on Friday paid rich tributes to Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Shakarganj urging the people to follow his example of shunning hypocrisy.

The newly formed Punjab Forum at Alhamra hall-III here held the seminar as a part of national conference on Fariduddin with journalist Shafqat Tanvir Mirza in the chair and chief minister's special assistant Syed Mowahid Husain as chief guest.

The Syed said Hazrat Shakarganj of Pak pattan and other saints of the Punjab had preached love and tolerance and their teachings had greatly influenced the culture of the province.

He said the saint preferred mixing with the ordinary people instead of rubbing shoulders with the elite of his times. Though King Ghiasuddin Balban married his daughter to him because of his piety and knowledge, he did not like to attend his court and kept himself away from it.

He shunned egotism and hypocrisy. He always worked for the welfare of the people and solved their problems by using his influence. He said the saint ruled over the hearts of the people with his love, affection and tolerance.

Mujibur Rahman Shami said Hazrat Fariduddin was not only a great poet of Punjabi but also a pioneer of the Urdu verse. The founder of Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, greatly revered him.

Many of Hazrat Fariduddin's Punjabi verses have been included in the holy book of Sikhs, the Granth, he added. He said Hazrat Fariduddin was the disciple of Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki whose allegiance (bait) he had sought at a tender age of 15 years.

He lived a long life of 95 years and popularized the Chishtia school of order in mysticism. He said he was a great scholar and had widely travelled in the Middle East countries besides Makkah and Madina.

Traveller Ibn-i-Batoota had mentioned in his travelogue that a saint of Alexandria had mentioned about Hazrat Fariduddin which meant that his popularity had reached Egypt in those days. He was a scholar of Islam and had deep comparative knowledge of other religions.

He said his and other saints teachings, if followed, could put an end to sectarianism and extremism. Mr Mirza said Hazrat Fariduddin as a scholar of Punjabi had the same place as Shah Abdul Lateef in Sindh.

Both had spread the message of love, affection and tolerance through their poetry that had great influence upon the people of their areas. He said Hazrat Fariduddin believed that the sixth pillar of Islam was economics, which, in his terminology, he had called bread as he thought that hunger could lead one to disbelief. In modern terminology it was the slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makan.

Thus he was the first saint to lay emphasis upon economic welfare of the people along with observing other religious practices. He said he had three concepts of Zakat; Shariat concept of 40th part of nisab, Tariqat concept of giving half of nisab and Haqiqat concept of giving whole of the nisab.

Other speakers included ANP leader Mrs Neelam Shah, Punjab Forum president Abbas Najmi, daily Bhulaikha editor Muddasir Iqbal Butt and Farid scholar Masood Khalid. Iqbal Bahoo, Husain Bakhsh's sons Chand Khan and Sooraj Khan and others also recited his poems.