Hazrat Shah Jalal
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Hazrat Shah Jalal (R) was a major sufi saint of Bengal and is the most celebrated personality of the region of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Shah Jalal (R) commands great respect of Muslims of the subcontinent and is regarded as a national hero by Bangladeshis. Shah Jalal's name is associated with the Muslim conquest of Sylhet, of which he is considered to be the main figure. He lies buried at Sylhet, Bangladesh
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[edit] Early Life & Education
Born Shaikh Makhdum Jalal ad-Deen bin Mohammed, he was later affectionately renamed Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh Hazrat Shah Jalal al-Mujarrad (the last name meaning "the bachelor", on account of his celibacy). Shah Jalal's date and place of birth is unclear. Various traditions, folklore and hostorical documents suggest different ideas. A number of scholars claim that he was born in 1271 in Konya, Turkey, and later moved to Yemen, either as a child or adult, while others contest he was born in Yemen. He was the son of a Turkish Muslim cleric, who was a contemporary of the famous Persian poet and Sufi saint, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. He was educated and raised by his maternal uncle, Syed Ahmed Kabir, in Mecca. He excelled in his studies and became a Hafiz (one who has committed the Qur'an to memory) and was proficient in Islamic theology. He achieved Kamaliyat (spiritual perfection) after 30 years of study and meditation.
[edit] Travel to India
According to legend, his uncle, Sheikh Kabir, one day gave Shah Jalal a handful of earth and asked him to travel to Hindustan with the instruction that he should settle down at whichever place in Hindustan whose earth matched completely in smell and color the earth he was given, and he should devote his life for the propagation and establishment of Islam there.
Shah Jalal journeyed eastward and reached India in c. 1300, where he met with many great scholars and mystics. He arrived at Ajmer, where he met the great Sufi mystic and scholar, Pir Khawaja Gharibnawaz Muinuddin Hasan Chisty, who is credited with the spread of Islam in India. In Delhi, he met with Nizam Uddin Aulia, another major Sufi mystic and scholar.
[edit] Conquest of Sylhet
Tradition goes that a Hindu king named Gaur Govinda ruled the Sylhet area, then predominantly Hindu. Sheikh Burhanuddin, a Muslim who lived in the territory under his control once sacrificed a cow to celebrate the birth of his son. A kite snatched a piece of flesh of the slaughtered cow and it fell from its beak on the house of a Brahmin Hindu, for whom cows were sacred. According to another tradition, the piece of flesh fell on the temple of the king himself, which he took as a great offence. At the order of the king, Burhanuddin's hands were said to have been cut off and his son killed. Burhanuddin went to the Sultan of Gaur, Shamsuddin Firuz Shah, to whom he submitted a prayer for justice. The Sultan accordingly sent an army under the command of his nephew Sikandar Khan Ghazi. He was, however, defeated twice by Gaur Govinda. The Sultan then ordered his Sipahsalar (armed forces chief) Nasiruddin to lead the war.
At this time, Shah Jalal (R) was requested by Nizam Uddin to travel to Sylhet to rescue Sheikh Burhan Uddin. With his 360 followers, some of whom were with him from Yemen and others from Delhi, including his nephew Hazrat Shah Paran, he reached Bengal and joined the Muslim army in the Sylhet campaign.
Knowing that Shah Jalal was advancing towards Sylhet, Raja Gaur Govinda, the king, removed all ferry boats from the river Surma, thereby cutting off any means of crossing into Sylhet. Legend has it that Shah Jalal crossed the river Surma by sitting on a Jainamaz (prayer rug). Upon reaching the opposite bank, he ordered the azan (call to prayer) to be sounded, at which the magnificent palace of Gaur Govinda shattered. With Shah Jalal's help, the king was defeated by the Muslim armies after a fierce battle, and the King subsequently fled.
[edit] Later Life
According to legend, Shah Jalal found a match to the earth his uncle once gave him, and according to his uncle's wishes, he settled down in Sylhet, near Choukidhiki. It is from here that he preached Islam and became a celebrated Muslim figure in Bengal. He and his disciples travelled and settled as far as Mymensingh and Dhaka to spread the teachings of Islam, such as Shah Paran in Sylhet, Shah Malek Yemeni in Dhaka, Syed Ahmad Kolla Shahid in Comilla, Syed Nasiruddin in the region of Pargana Taraf, Haji Daria and Shaikh Ali Yemeni.
Shah Jalal's fame extended across the Muslim world. The Persian explorer, Ibn Battuta, came to Sylhet and met with Shah Jalal. The great Mughal poet, Hazrat Amir Khusrau gives an account of Shah Jalal's conquest of Sylhet in his book "Afdalul Hawaade". Even today in Hadramaut, Yemen, Sheikh Makhdum Jalaluddin's name is established in folklore.
The exact date of his death is unknown, but he is reported by Ibn Battuta to have died in 746 AH (1347 A.D). He left behind no descendants, as he remained a bachelor his entire life, hence the name "al-Mujarrad" ("the unmarried"). He is buried in Sylhet in his Dargah (tomb), which is located in a neighbourhood now known as Dargah Mohalla, named for his Dargah. His shrine is a significant place of interest in Sylhet, with hundreds of devotees visiting daily. At the Dargah is also located the largest mosque in Sylhet and one of the largest in Bangladesh.
[edit] See also
- Islam in Bangladesh
- Sylhet
- Konya
- Hadramawt
- Shah Paran, his nephew and another Sufi saint
- Nizamuddin Auliya, his spiritual master
- Sufism
- Hazrat Shah Siddiq, one of Hazrat Shah Jalal's 360 followers and Sufi saint
