Akhi `Uthmān Sirāj ad-Dīn Āinā-e-Hind | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. 1258 |
| Died | c. 1357 (aged 98–99) |
| Resting place | Pirana PirDargah, Sadullahpur, Malda, West Bengal |
| Flourished | 13th–14th century |
| Relatives | Alaul Haq (son-in-law) Nur Qutb Alam (grandson) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Denomination | Hanafi |
| Order | Chishti Order |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Fakhruddin Zarradi, Ruknuddin,Nizamuddin Auliya |
Students | |
| Arabic name | |
| Personal (Ism) | Uthman عثمان |
| Teknonymic (Kunya) | Akhi Siraj أخ سراج |
| Epithet (Laqab) | Siraj ad-Din سراج الدين |
| Toponymic (Nisba) | al-Bangali البنغالي Gauri/Al-Ghawri گوڑی/الغوري |
ʿUthmān Sirāj ad-Dīn al-Bangālī (Arabic:عثمان سراج الدين البنغالي; 1258-1357), known affectionately by followers asAkhi Siraj (Bengali:আখি সিরাজ), was a 14th-centuryBengali Muslimscholar. He was aSufi belonging to theChishti Order and was a disciple ofNizamuddin Auliya ofDelhi. As one of the senior disciples of Nizāmuddīn Auliyā, he spent long years with him inDelhi and earned thesobriquet ofĀinā-e-Hind (Persian:آینه هندMirror of India).[1] His shrine, the PiranaPir Dargah inGaur,West Bengal, attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees every year.[2] Siraj and his successor,Alaul Haq, are credited with the rise to prominence of the Chishti order in Bengal.[3]
'Abd al-Haqq al-Dehlawi mentions in hisAkhbar al Akhyar, the name ofAkhi Sirāj Gaurī; which suggests that Siraj was a native ofGaur inBengal.[4][5] He is thought to have been born around 1258 CE, when the region was under the rule of theMamluk dynasty based inDelhi.
As a young man, Siraj travelled to Delhi where he studied under prominent Muslim personalities. Siraj studied with Nizāmuddin and took lessons from Mawlānā Rukn ad-Din, studyingKafiah,Mufassal, theMukhtaṣar of al-Qudurī andMajma'a-ul Bahrain.Amir Khurd, a disciple and biographer ofNizamuddin Auliya as well as the author ofSiyār ul-Awliyā, also participated in these lessons. Siraj completed his studies in a short period of time and became an accomplished scholar, such was his zeal for learning. He was then to be made a senior disciple of Nizamuddin, but was informed that he was still not educated enough. As a result, he was taught theIslamic sciences for a further six months, by Shaykh Fakhr ad-Din Zarradi, a great scholar and another senior disciple ofNizamuddin Auliya. After presenting himself to Nizamuddin, Siraj was then conferred thekhirqa (initiatory cloak) ofkhilafat (succession) and was given thePersian title ofĀinā-e-Hind (Mirror of India).
After receiving khilafat, Siraj remained in Delhi in the company of his mentor Nizamuddin for four years, though continuing to return to Bengal to see his mother once a year. Prior to his death in 1325, Nizamuddin ordered Siraj to return to Bengal to preach. Siraj was present at the bedside of Nizamuddin when he died in 1325 AD. He stayed in Delhi until 1328–1329, at which point he departed for Gaur after the SultanMuhammad bin Tughlaq had transferred the capital toDaulatabad and forced Delhi's citizens to migrate.[citation needed][6]
After resettling down in Bengal, Siraj was made the court scholar of Bengal under the government of theSultanShamsuddin Ilyas Shah. Siraj established a hugelangar kitchen where free food was distributed to the poor and destitute. He also brought some valuable books along with him from the library of Nizamuddin and these books formed the nucleus of the firstChishtikhanqah in Bengal. Soon after his arrival inHazrat Pandua,Alaul Haq became his disciple. Such was his love and devotion to Siraj that when they travelled, likeJalaluddin Tabrizi before him, Alaul Haq would carry a cauldron of hot food on his head even though it would burn his hair, so that he could provide his teacher with warm food on demand.[7] It is said that this even took place during Siraj's numerousHajj visits, which they would travel by on foot.[8]
He lived and worked in Bengal for the rest of his life and he also married. One of his daughters later married his disciple, Alaul Haq. Amir Khurd, his fellow student, said that he won great esteem from the people of Bengal and "illumined the whole region with his spiritual radiance." Siraj buried thekhirqa he received from Nizamuddin in the northwestern corner of the Sagar Dighi.
In 1357, Akhi Siraj died and was buried in a suburb of Lakhnauti calledSadullahpur. Siraj was succeeded byAlaul Haq.
It is said that he buried thekhirqa (robes) that he had received from SheikhNizamuddin Auliya in the north-western corner of the Sagar Dighi (reservoir) and ordered that he be buried close to that piece of cloth. He was interred near his buried robes according to his wishes, and a mausoleum was erected over his grave. The date of construction of the mausoleum is not known, but two inscriptions attached to its gateways show that the gateways were erected in the 16th century by SultanAlauddin Husain Shah and later SultanNasiruddin Nasrat Shah. Husain Shah built a siqayah (water fountain) at the mausoleum too. Hisurs is commemorated annually onEid al-Fitr (1st and 2nd Shawwaal) and his tomb is still visited by many today. During this event,Jahaniyan Jahangasht's flag (which is kept in Jalaluddin Tabrizi's dargah) andNur Qutb Alam's handprint are taken to Siraj's mausoleum.[5]
