->SalamAlayka at 15:01, 6 November 2021

2021-11-06T15:01:03Z

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{{Short description|14th-century Sufi saint}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| honorific_prefix = Shaykh al-Mun`im al-Mukarram
| name = ʿAlā ul-Ḥaq wa ad-Dīn Pāndavī
| honorific_suffix = Ganj-e-Nābāt
| image =
| caption =
| father = ʿUmar bin As`ad Khālidī Lahorī
| lineage = [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]]
| religion = [[Sunni Islam]]
| denomination = [[Hanafi]]
| order = [[Chishti Order]]
| flourished = Late 12th century
| relatives = [[Akhi Siraj]] (father-in-law), Badr Islam Abu Zahid (grandson)
| teacher = [[Akhi Siraj]], Nizām ul-Haq Sarfī
| death_date = 1384-1398 AD
| students = [[Ashraf Jahangir Semnani]], [[Nur Qutb Alam]]
| birth_place = [[Hazrat Pandua]], [[Bengal]]
| death_place = [[Hazrat Pandua]], [[Bengal Sultanate]] (now [[Malda district]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]])
}}{{Bengal Sultanate}}
'''ʿAlā ul-Ḥaq''' ({{lang-ar|{{Nastaliq|علاء الحق والدین}}}}, {{lang-bn|আলাউল হক}}), also known as '''Aḥmad''' and by his [[sobriquet]] '''Ganj-e-Nābāt''' ({{lang-fa|{{Nastaliq|گنج نابات}}}}, {{lang-bn|গঞ্জে নাবাত}}), was a 14th-century [[Islamic scholar]] of [[Bengal]]. Posted in [[Hazrat Pandua]], he was the senior disciple and successor of [[Akhi Siraj]], and a [[Bengal Sultanate]] government official.<ref name=abd/>

==Early life and education==
Haq was born in the city of [[Hazrat Pandua]] to a [[Muslim]] family descended from [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]], an [[Arab]] commander and companion of the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]]. His father, `Umar ibn As`ad Khālidī, migrated from [[Lahore]] to Pandua following the establishment of Muslim rule in Bengal.<ref name=bpedia>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Shaikh Alaul Haq (R)|author=Abdul Karim}}</ref> Some sources claim that Haq was first taught by Nizamul Haq Sarfi, who was a senior scholar of Bengal based in [[Gauḍa (city)|Lakhnauti]] and teacher of Nasiruddin Bahath. This claim however, has been doubted by others due to issues relating to time periods. After the death of his father, Haq was meant to have inherited two gardens worth 8000 [[History of the taka|taka]]s though someone else had taken possession of it. Haq never attempted to regain the inherited property.<ref name=abd/>

Excelling in his studies, Alaul Haq began calling himself ''Ganj-e-Nābāt''. This act was criticised by [[Nizamuddin Auliya]] of [[Delhi]], as his teacher was [[Fariduddin Ganjshakar|Ganj-e-Shakar]] (store of sugar), and the title of ''Ganj-e-Nabat'' (store of fine sugar) sounded like Alaul Haq was showing some sort of superiority. [[Akhi Siraj]] of the [[Chishti Order]] arrived to Bengal on the advice of his teacher, Nizamuddin Auliya, where he was made the court scholar of Bengal. Alaul Haq became his student and dropped the ''Ganj-e-Nabat'' title. There are many stories relating to Haq's relationship with his mentor Siraj. It is said that Haq would accompany his teacher with a cauldron on his head, and carrying an oven whilst barefooted so that he could his teacher could have hot meals. Siraj admired his student to such an extent that he made him his successor and married his daughter to Haq; making Haq his own son-in-law.<ref name=sufis>{{cite book|title=Sufis of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh|volume=1|page=72-73|year=2002|publisher=Kitab Bhavan|editor=Singh, NK|location=[[New Delhi]]}}</ref>

==Career==
Following the death of Siraj, Haq served as the court scholar; setting up a [[khanqah]] in [[Hazrat Pandua]] and becoming an elite member of the [[Sultan of Bengal]] [[Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah]]'s government.<ref name=bpedia/> During the reign of Sultan [[Sikandar Shah]], Haq was put in charge of the royal treasury of the [[Bengal Sultanate]].<ref name=abd/>

According to legend, Haq was so generous to his students and the needy that his generosity outweighed that of the Sultan. As a result, Haq was supposedly banished to [[Sonargaon]] for two years before being allowed to return to his Khanqah.<ref name=bpedia/> [[Ashraf Jahangir Semnani]], a former ruler of [[Semnan Province|Semnan]] in modern-day [[Iran]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/Mir-atUl-israr-UrduTranslation|title=Mir-at ul-Israr - Urdu translation|last=Shaykh Abdul Rahman Chishti|language=Urdu}}</ref> had abdicated his throne to become a student of Alaul Haq in Pandua.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/Khazinat-ul-asfiyaurduTranslation4Volumes|title=Khazinat-ul-Asfiya (Urdu translation) 4 volumes|last=[[Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Lahori]]}}</ref> His journey took two years and upon meeting Haq and his disciples in the outskirts of Pandua, Semnani was carried by [[Litter (vehicle)|doli]] to Haq's khanqah where he was fed four handfuls of rice and [[paan]] by Alaul Haq. Semnani studied under Alaul Haq for 12 years, before being instructed by him to go and propagate in [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]].<ref>''Hayate Makhdoom Syed Ashraf Jahangir Semnani'' (1975), Second Edition (2017) {{ISBN|978-93-85295-54-6}} {{Citation
|location = MAKTABA JAMIA LIMITED, SHAMSHAD MARKET, ALIGARH-202002, U.P. INDIA
|title = HAYATE MAKHDOOM SYED ASHRAF JAHANGIR SEMNANI (2nd Ed.)
|author = Syed Waheed Ashraf
|edition =
|date = 2017
|ol = 26384309M
}}.</ref><ref>‘'MUQADDEMA-E- LATĀIF-E-ASHRAFI' Book in PERSIAN, Published by Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India</ref><ref name=abd>{{cite book|title=The Muslim Mystic Movement in Bengal, 1301-1550|year=1993|author=Abdul Latif|publisher=K P Bagchi}}</ref>

{{quote|{{Nastaliq|نهاده تاج دولت بر سر من، علاء الحق والدین گنج نابات}}<br>Alaul Haq Ganj-i-Nabat has placed the crown of [[al-Dawla|Dawlat]] upon my head|[[Farsi|Persian]] couplet recited by student [[Ashraf Jahangir Semnani]] after being received by Alaul Haq at the khanqah}}

==Death==
[[File:Chhoti Dargah at Pandua in Malda District 11.jpg|thumb|The historic Chhoti Dargah cemetery in [[Hazrat Pandua]].]]
It is suggested by [['Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi]], in his ''Akhbar al Akhyar'', that Alaul Haq died in the year 800 AH (1398 AD).<ref>{{cite book|page=143|author=[['Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi]]|title=Akhbarul Akhyar}}</ref> On the other hand, the guardians of Haq's shrine possess a book which cites his death in 786 AH (1384 AD). It is said that Alaul Haq's [[janaza]] was performed by [[Jahaniyan Jahangasht]]. His shrine, the Chhoti Dargah,<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|author=Serajuddin, Asma|article=Tomb Architecture}}</ref> is one of the major [[dargah]]s of Bengal; located in the ruined city of [[Hazrat Pandua]] in [[Malda district|Malda]] and adjacent to the other contemporary scholars of Bengal such as Jalaluddin Tabrizi. Haq's disciples included his son Nur Qutb Alam (who was his successor), as well as the Sufi saint [[Ashraf Jahangir Semnani]]. His [[urs]] is commemmorted from 23-25 [[Rajab]] in Chhoti Dargah, presently in [[West Bengal]], [[India]].<ref name=bpedia/> Alaul Haq's grandson, Badr Islam, and his great grandson, Shaykh Zahid, were prominent scholars in [[Sonargaon]].<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Sonargaon|author=Khan, Muazzam Hussain}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|title=Akhbarul Akhyar|author=Abdal Haqq Muhaddith Dehlwi [d.1052H-1642 CE]}}: A short biography of the prominent Sufis of India have been mentioned in this book including that of Alaul Haq Pandavi
* 'Mir'at-ul-Israr' by Syed Abdur Rahman Chisti
* 'Lataife-Ashrafi' (Discourses of Ashraf Jahangir Semnani) Compiled by Nizam Yemeni, Edited and annotated by [[Syed Waheed Ashraf]], published in 2010
* 'Ma'arijul-Wilayat'
* 'Hayate Makhdoom Syed [[Ashraf Jahangir Semnani]](1975), Second Edition(2017) {{ISBN|978-93-85295-54-6}}, Maktaba Jamia Ltd, Shamshad Market, Aligarh 202002, [[India]]

{{authority control}}
{{Hanafi scholars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandavi, Alaul Haq}}
[[Category:Indian Sufi saints]]
[[Category:Chishtis]]
[[Category:People from Malda district]]
[[Category:14th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Sufi writers]]
[[Category:Sufi mystics]]
[[Category:Sufi teachers]]
[[Category:Bengal Sultanate officers]]
[[Category:14th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]]

Alaul Haq - Revision history

->SalamAlayka at 15:01, 6 November 2021