Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | 11thRamadan, 1111 A.H/ 13 March 1699 |
| Died | 10th Muharram, 1195 A.H/ 6 January 1781 (aged 81) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Tariqa | Naqshbandi |
| Creed | Maturidi |
| Profession | Islamic scholar,Sufi |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān (Urdu:مرزا مظہر جانِ جاناں), also known by hislaqabShamsuddīn Habībullāh (13 March 1699 – 6 January 1781), was a renownedHanafiMaturidiNaqshbandīSufi poet ofDelhi, distinguished as one of the "four pillars ofUrdu poetry."[1] He was also known to his contemporaries as thesunnītarāsh, "Sunnicizer", for his absolute, unflinching commitment to and imitation of theSunnah.[1]
The date of birth is variously given as 1111 or 1113 A.H, and it took place inKālā Bāgh,Mālwa, according to one source, while according to another source he was born inAgra.[2]Shaikh Muhammad Tahir Bakhshi notes his date of birth as 11thRamadan 1111 AH.[3] He was born into a noble family of Alvi Syed Awan parentage that served in the administration of theMughals.[4] His father Mirzā Jān was employed in the army of the mightyMughal EmperorAurangzeb. Following a custom according to which the Emperor had the right to name the sons of his officers, Aurangzeb is reported to have said:[5]
"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 tohājjī Afzal Siyālkōtī (hadith) andhāfiz 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 ShaykhAhmad Sirhindī, and completed his studies in four years. He was also initiated in the Qādirī, Chishtī andSuhrawardī orders.[5]
In his prime, Mazhar was advised to write poetry inUrdu rather thanPersian 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 'disciples' orMuridin was theHanafī scholar,Qādī Thanāullāh Panipatī, who wrote a famousTafsir of the Qur'an by the nameTafsir-i Mazharī, which he named after his teacher. Also in his spiritual lineage (silsila) came the great Hanafī jurist ImamIbn 'Abidīn and the Qur'an exegeteAllāma al-Alusī.[6]
He founded a sub-order within the Naqshbandi Tariqa known as the Naqshbandiyya Mazhariyya.[7] Mazhar authorized 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.[8]
He was succeeded by his khalifa (deputy) Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi, who is consideredMujaddid of the 13th Islamic century by mostNaqshbandi followers today. His tariqah spread to whole India andMiddle East.
Mirzā Mazhar was shot and seriously injured on the 7th ofMuharram, of the year 1195 AH/1780 CE. The author of Āb-i Ḥayāt writes:[9]
"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 someSunni took this amiss and did this evil deed.
The author of Āb-i Ḥayāt, a determinedShi'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.[10] Professor Friedmann, as well as Annemarie Schimmel and Itzchad Weismann, have all noted that Mirzā Mazhar was killed by aShi'ite zealot.[1][5][8]
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.[3]
Mirza Mazhar belonged to the Mujaddidi sect ofSufism, which is a main branch ofNaqshbandi Sufi Tariqa. His spiritual lineage goes through ShaikhAhmad Sirhindi, theMujaddid of eleventhHijri century.[11]
In Maqamat Mazhari, his foremost Khalifa and successor Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlwai writes short biographies of many of his Khulafa (deputies). Among them were:[12]
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