Hashim (poet)

Hashim Shah (Punjabi: ਹਾਸ਼ਿਮ ਸ਼ਾਹ, ہاشم شاہ), b. 1735 d. 1843, was a Punjabi writer and Sufi poet, best known for his story Sassi Punnun (or Sassi Panhu). Hashim's Family came out from Hold Madina. When they migrated out in Punjab, India, they started living at Jagdev Kalan, the biggest village of tehsil Ajnala, Amritsar district. Hashim Shah was born In Madina in 1735 and lived in that village his whole life. He wrote three stories "Kissa Kaw" named Sassi Punnu, Sohni Mahiwal, and Shiri Farhad.

Hashim, besides following the family tradition of hikmat (physician), copunselling and Piri-Muridi, also worked as a carpenter for sustenance. He left the profession of carpentry when Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his courtiers extended their patronage to Hashim. Thereafter, he devoted his entire life to spiritual attainments and composing Sufistic (mystic) poetry.

{HASHIM AS A SUFI : Sufism ran in his family. He himself, his father and grandfather practised piri-muridi; he had taken Sufism as an established belief. His Punjabi poetry reverberates with mysticism of high order and can be allegorically interpreted for Love Divine.

Hashim died in 1843 and is buried in village Tharpal in Sialkot district where every year Urs was held on or about 21st of Jeth (end May - early June) every year.

In his poetic compositions his prosody is Punjabi though his vocabulary abounds in Hindi, Persian and Arabic words He has written the following books: [Qissa Shirin Farhad, Qissa Sohni Mahiwal, Qissa Sassi Punnun, Gyan Prakash and Dohre. Of these Sassi Punnun and Dohre are his two master-pieces and have been published in many editions.

    (For further details reference may be made to GREAT SUFI POETS OF THE PUNJAB by R.M. Chopra, 1999.)

REFERENCES: 1. "Great Sufi Poets of The Punjab" by R. M. Chopra, (1999), Iran Society, Kolkata.