Ajan Fakir, born Shah Miran, also known as Azan Pir, Hazrat Shah Miran, and Shah Milan (presumably from Miran), was a Sufi Syed[1], poet, Muslim preacher and saint from the 17th century[2] who came from Baghdad to settle in the Sibsagar area of Assam in the north-eastern part of India, where he helped to unify the people of the Brahmaputra valley[3] and to reform, reinforce and stabilise Islam in the region of Assam.[4] The nickname Azan came from his habit of calling azan.[5]
According to one version his name was "Hazarat Shah Syed Mainuddin". He is particularly known for his Zikir and Zari, two forms of devotional songs, that draw from local musical traditions and have striking similarities with borgeets of Srimanta Sankardeva, the 16th century saint-scholar from Assam.
According to the late renowned author and Sahitya Akademi award winner Abdul Malik, Azan Fakir was a preacher with profound mastery over the Qur’an, the Hadith and Islamic philosophy. Abdul Malik has done extensive study on zikr. In 1955-54 Asam Sahitya Sabha and Department of Tribal Culture and Folklore Research, Gauhati, entrusted Syed Abdul Malik to gather zikrs. In 1958, Abdul Malik published a book entitled, Asamiya Zikr Aru Jari. Another Assamese scholar Muhibul Hussain made the first major collection of zikrs in his book Hajarat Ajan Pir, published in 1954.
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He was a disciple of Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya in Baghdad. He came to Assam accompanied by his brother Shah Navi. He married an Ahom woman of a high family and settled at Gorgaon, near modern Sibsagar town.
He flourished during the middle of the 17th century and saw action in the battle between Mir Jumla and the Ahoms. As a Pir he composed Zikirs. Originally he spoke Arabic, but he learnt the language of the land he adopted, completely mastered it and wrote his spiritual songs in such a homely idiom that they stand comparison with the compositions of his Vaishnava contemporaries.
He used the medium Zikir (some kind of spiritual songs)to propagate Islam. The practitioners (Md Kerimuddin Ahmed and Abu Khayer Abdul Muneem) of Zikir are still alive in Sivasagar, Assam (the address is given below). Any queries of Azan peer or Azan peer's Zikir may be asked to the given address. All interested persons are welcome to visit it. The persons described below are authorized as Zikir practitioner under Dibrugarh radio station by the station director on behalf of president of India.
Md Kerimuddin Ahmed Abu Khayer Abdul Muneem
Jengonikotia Taxiali or C/O: - Abdul Hussain
Sivasagar, Assam, India Sivasagar, Assam, India
P.O & Dist: -Sivasagar P.O & Dist: -Sivasagar
Pin: -785640 Pin: -785640
Phone: -7399781545
In course of time his influence spread, he acquired a good number of followers and earned the enmity of a Muslim official, Rupai Dadhora, who by conspiracy convinced the Ahom king that Ajan Fakir was going against Islamic tenets and had orders passed for plucking out the Pir’s eyes. The Pir, according to some songs, had two earthen pots brought into which he let his “two eyes drop”.
The king was alarmed and for atonement made land grants to Ajan Fakir at Sovaguri Chapari, near Sibsagar and had a matha built for him. This place on the bank of Brahmaputra has become a holy place with Ajan Pir’s Dargah where an annual urs is held.
His dargah is at Sahaguri Chapari near Sibsagar town.