Khwaja Ghulam Farid


Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a 19th-century Sufi poet and mystic from Bahawalpur, Punjab, belonging to the Chishti Order. Most of his work is in his mother tongue Multani, which later evolved into the Saraiki language. However, he wrote in many different languages, including Punjabi, Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi, Hindi and Persian, but gained popularity for writing in his mother tongue Multani. His writing style is characterized by the integration of themes such as death, passionate worldly and spiritual love, and the grief associated with love.

Life

He was born into a branch of the Koreja family who claimed descent from Umar, the second Rashidun caliph through an early migrant to Sindh. The family was established as saints associated with the Suhrawardī Sufi order. Originally from Thatta, Sindh, the family seat later moved to Mithankot in the early 18th century on the invitation of a disciple and subsequently transferred their allegiance to the Chishtī order. Khawaja Farid was born /1845 at Chachran. Farid's father died when he was around eight years of age. He was then brought up by his elder brother, Khawaja Fakhr al-Dīn, and grew up to become a scholar and writer. He received a fine formal education at the royal palace of Ṣādiq Muḥammad IV, the Nawab of Bahawalpur. His brother Fakhr al-Dīn, who had brought him up after their parents' deaths, also died when Farid was 26 years old. Farid performed hajj in 1875, and then retired to the Cholistan Desert for chilla where he spent a total of eighteen years. He died at Chachran on 24 July, 1901, and was buried at Mithankot.
He is mentioned in the Gazetteer of the Multan District prepared and published by Edward Douglas MacLagan in 1902.

Works

His most significant works include:Masnavi Madan-e-Ishq ; Publisher: Gulzar-e-Muhammad Press, LucknowDīwān-i FarīdManāqib-i maḥbūbiyya
  • ''Fawāʾid-i Farīdiyya''

Legacy