Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Tomb of Khwaja Ghulam Farid
Born 1845
Chachran, Punjab, British Raj (now Pakistan)
Died 1901
Chachran, Punjab, British Raj (now Pakistan)
Venerated in Islam
Influences Baba Farid
Influenced Countless Sufi poets
Tradition or genre
 Kafi

Khwaja Ghulam Farid (Urdu: خواجہ غُلام فرید) or Khwaja Farid (1845–1901) – the most famous 19th-century sufi poet of the Indian subcontinent, polyglot, scholar and writer. He belonged to Chishti–Nizami Sufi order. He was born and died at Chachran and was buried at Mithankot.

His mother died when he was five years old and he was orphaned around the age of twelve when his father, Khwaja Khuda Bakhsh, died. He was then brought up by his elder brother, Fakhr Jahan Uhdi, and grew to become a scholar and writer. He mastered Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Saraiki, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Braj Bhasha, and also wrote poems in Saraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi, Persian, and Braj Bhasha.

His most significant works include:

He frequently uses the symbolism of desert. Sometimes he touched political affairs, opposing the British rule in Bahawalpur.

The 20th century saw development of an entire branch of literary studies into the life and work of Khwaja Ghulam Farid, named faridiyat. Today, many religious and educational institutions in Pakistan and India are named after him (e.g., Government Khawaja Farid College in Rahimyar Khan, Pakistan) as are streets and town quarters. A Khwaja Ghulam Farid Award is awarded by the Government of Pakistan in literature, its recipients including Ismail Ahmedani, Noshi Gilani and others. In 2001, on Khwaja Ghulam Farid's birth centenary, Pakistan Post issued a memorial stamp.

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