Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan

For other people named Mazhar, see Mazhar (disambiguation).

Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān
Born	11th Ramadan, 1111 A.H. (1699 CE) Mughal Empire
Died	10th Muharram, 1195 A.H. (1781 CE)
Region	Islamic scholar /Sufi
School	Islam, Hanafi, Sufi
Notable ideas	Acceptance of Hindus as Ahl-i Kitab, unflinching adherence to the Sunnah
Influences Ahmad Sirhindi, Abu Hanifa
Influenced Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi, Qadi Thanaullah Panipati, Shah Waliullah, Ibn Abidin

Mirzā Mazhar Jān-i Jānān (Urdu: مرزا مظہر جانِ جاناں‎), also known by his laqab Shamsuddīn Habībullāh (1699–1781), was a renowned Naqshbandī Sufi poet of Delhi, distinguished as one the "four pillars of Urdu poetry." He was also known to his contemporaries as the sunnītarāsh, "Sunnicizer", for his absolute, unflinching commitment to and imitation of the Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

He established the Naqshbandī suborder Mazhariyya Shamsiyya.

His birth and early life

The date of birth is variously given as 1111 or 1113 A.H, and it took place in Kālā Bāgh, Mālwa. Shaikh Muhammad Tahir Bakhshi notes his date of birth as 11th Ramadan 1111 AH. His father Mirzā Jān was employed in the army of the mighty Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Following a custom according to which the Emperor had the right to name the sons of his officers, Aurangzeb is reported to have said:

"A son is the soul of his father. Since the name of his father is Mirzā Jān, the name of the son will be Jān-i Jānān."

His early religious instruction was entrusted to hājjī Afzal Siyālkōtī (hadith) and hāfiz Abd al-Rasūl Dihlawī (Qur'an). At the age of 18, he joined the Naqshbandī order under Nūr Muhammad Bada'ūni, who was closely connected to the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī, and completed his studies in four years. He was also initiated in the Qādirī, Chishtī and Suhrawardī orders.

In his prime, Mazhar was advised to write poetry in Urdu rather than Persian as the days of the latter language were said to be numbered in India. Besides authoring poetry and polemics, Mazhar also wrote a large number of letters relating to Sufi thought and practice.

Views on Hinduism and other religions

Among his notable ideas is his acceptance of the Divine-origin of the vedas, which he claimed were revealed by God at the beginning of creation, and his acceptance of the Hindus as the people of the book.

Legacy and influence

Among his 'disciples' or Muridīn was the great Hanafī scholar, Qādī Thanāullāh Panipatī, who wrote a famous Tafsir of the Qur'an by the name Tafsir-i Mazharī, which he named after his teacher. Also in his spiritual lineage (silsila) came the great Hanafī jurist Imam Ibn 'Abidīn and the Qur'an exegete Allāma Alusī.

His Naqshbandī lineage came to be known as Mazhariyya Shamsiyya. Mazhar apparently authorised more disciples than any of his predecessors. He regularly corresponded with his deputies, and his letters form much of the basis of our knowledge about his life and ideas.

He was succeeded by his khalifa (deputy) Hazrat Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi, who is considered Mujaddid of the 13th Islamic century by most Naqshbandi followers today. His tariqah spread to whole India and Middle East.

His death and martyrdom

Mirzā Mazhar was shot and seriously injured on the 7th of Muharram, of the year 1195 AH/1780 CE. The author of Āb-i Ḥayāt writes:

"The cause of this murder was widely rumored in Delhi among high and low: that according to custom, on the seventh day [of Muḥarram], the standards were carried aloft [in procession]. Mirzā Mazhar sat by the side of the road in the upper veranda of his house, with some of his special disciples. Just as ordinary barbarous people do, his [Sunni] group and the [Shia] procession group may perhaps have hurled some insults and abuse, and some barbarous person was offended. Among them was one stony-hearted person named Faulād [=steel] Ḳhān, who was extremely barbarous. He did this evil deed. But Ḥakīm Qudratullāh Ḳhān 'Qāsim', in his anthology, says that in his poetry Mirzā Sahib used to compose a number of verses in praise of Hazrat ʿAlī, and some Sunni took this amiss and did this evil deed.

It should be noted that the author of Āb-i Ḥayāt, a determined Shi'a, has been suspected of indulging in partisan religious bias. Professor Frances Pritchett has noted that the latter account of the death of Mirzā Mazhar in Āb-i Ḥayāt is a deliberate distortion. Professor Friedmann, as well as Annemarie Schimmel and Itzchad Weismann, have all noted that Mirzā Mazhar was killed by a Shi'ite zealot.

Most of his Urdu biographers have also written that he was killed by a gunshot by a Shi'ite on 7th Muharram, and he died on 10th Muharram 1195 AH.

Spiritual Chain of Succession

Main articles: Golden Chain (Naqshbandi), Naqshbandi-Haqqani Golden Chain, Naqshbandi Tahiri Golden Chain, and Naqshbandi Hussaini Golden Chain

Mirza Mazhar belonged to the Mujaddidi order of Sufism, which is the main branch of Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah. His spiritual lineage goes to Muhammad, through Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, the Mujaddid of eleventh Hijri century. The complete lineage is as under:

#	Name	Buried	Birth	Death
1	Sayyadna Muhammad the last Prophet	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	Mon 12 Rabi al-Awwal (570/571 CE)	12 Rabi al-Awwal 11 AH (5/6 June 632 CE)
2	Sayyadna Abu Bakr Siddiq	Madinah, Saudi Arabia		22 Jumada al-Thani 13 AH (22 August 634 C.E)
3	Sayyadna Salman al-Farsi	Mada'in, Iraq		10 Rajab 33 AH (4/5 February 654 C.E)
4	Imām Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, son of son of (2)	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	23 Shaban 24 AH (22/23 June 645 C.E)	24 Jumada al-Thani 101/106/107 AH
5	Imām Jafar Sadiq, son of granddaughter of (2)	Madinah, Saudi Arabia	8 Ramadan 80 AH (5/6 November 699 C.E)	15 Rajab 148 AH (6/7 September 765 C.E)
6	Khwaja Bayazid Bastami	Bistam, Semnan province, Iran	186 AH (804 C.E)	15 Shaban 261 AH (24/25 May 875 C.E)
7	Khwaja Abul-Hassan Kharaqani	Kharaqan, near Bistam, Semnan province, Iran	352 AH (963 C.E)	10 Muharram 425 AH (5/6 December 1033 C.E)
8	Khwaja Abul Qasim Gurgani	Gurgan, Iran		23 Safar 450 AH (19/20 April 1058 C.E)
9	Khwaja Abu Ali Farmadi	Toos, Khurasan, Iran	434 AH (1042/1043 C.E)	4 Rabi al-Awwal 477 or 511 AH (10 July 1084 / 6 July 1117)
10	Khwaja Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamadānī	Marv, near Mary, Turkmenistan	440 AH (1048/1049 C.E)	Rajab 535 AH (Feb/Mar 1141 C.E)
11	Khwaja Abdul Khaliq Ghujdawani	Ghajdawan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	22 Shaban 435 AH (24/25 March 1044 C.E)	12 Rabi al-Awwal 575 AH (17/18 August 1179 C.E)
12	Khwaja Arif Reogari	Reogar, near Bukhara, Uzbekistan	27 Rajab 551 AH (15 September 1156 C.E)	1 Shawwal 616 AH (10/11 December 1219 C.E.)
13	Khwaja Mahmood Anjir-Faghnawi	Bukhara, Uzbekistan	18 Shawwal 628 AH (18/19 August 1231 C.E)	17 Rabi al-Awwal 717 AH (29/30 May 1317 C.E)
14	Khwaja Azizan Ali Ramitani	Khwaarizm, Uzbekistan	591 AH (1194 C.E)	27 Ramadan 715 or 721 AH (25/26 December 1315 or 20/21 October 1321)
15	Khwaja Muhammad Baba Samasi	Samaas, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	25 Rajab 591 AH (5/6 July 1195 C.E)	10 Jumada al-Thani 755 AH (2/3 July 1354 C.E)
16	Khwaja Sayyid Amir Kulal	Saukhaar, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	676 AH (1277/1278 C.E)	Wed 2 Jumada al-Thani 772 AH (21/22 December 1370 C.E)
17	Khwaja Muhammad Baha'uddin Naqshband Bukhari	Qasr-e-Aarifan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	4 Muharram 718 AH (8/9 March 1318 C.E)	3 Rabi al-Awwal 791 AH (2/3 March 1389 C.E)
18	Khwaja Ala'uddin Attar Bukhari, son-in-law of (17)	Jafaaniyan, Transoxiana (Uzbekistan)		Wed 20 Rajab 804 AH (23 February 1402 C.E)
19	Khwaja Yaqub Charkhi	Gulistan, Dushanbe, Tajkistan	762 AH (1360/1361 C.E)	5 Safar 851 AH (21/22 April 1447 C.E)
20	Khwaja Ubaidullah Ahrar	Samarkand, Uzbekistan	Ramadan 806 AH (March/April 1404 C.E)	29 Rabi al-Awwal 895 AH (19/20 February 1490 C.E)
21	Khwaja Muhammad Zahid Wakhshi	Wakhsh	14 Shawwal 852 AH (11/12 December 1448 C.E)	1 Rabi al-Awwal 936 AH (3/4 November 1529 C.E)
22	Khwaja Durwesh Muhammad, son of sister of (21)	Asqarar, Uzbekistan	16 Shawwal 846 AH (17/18 February 1443 C.E)	19 Muharram 970 AH (18/19 September 1562 C.E)
23	Khwaja Muhammad Amkanaki, son of (22)	Amkana, Bukhara, Uzbekistan	918 AH (1512/1513 C.E)	22 Shaban 1008 AH (8/9 March 1600 C.E)
24	Khwaja Muhammad Baqi Billah Berang	Delhi, India	5 Dhu al-Hijjah 971 or 972 AH (14 July 1564 / 3 July 1565)	25 Jumada al-Thani 1012 AH (29/30 November 1603 C.E)
25	Shaikh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī, Imām Rabbānī	Sirhind, India	14 Shawwal 971 AH (25/26 May 1564 C.E)	28 Safar 1034 AH (9/10 December 1624 C.E)
26	Imām Khwaja Muhammad Masum Faruqi, 3rd son of (25)	Sirhind, India	1007 AH (1598/1599 C.E)	9 Rabi al-Awwal 1099 AH (13/14 January 1688 C.E)
27	Khwaja Muhammad Saifuddin Faruqi, son of (26)	Sirhind, India	1049 AH (1639/1640 C.E)	19 or 26 Jumada al-awwal 1096 AH (April 1685 C.E)
28	Hafiz Muhammad Mohsin Dehlavi	Delhi, India
29	Sayyid Nur Muhammad Badayuni	Delhi, India		11 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1135AH (12/13 August 1723 C.E)
30	Shaheed Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, Shams-ud-Dīn Habībullāh	Delhi, India	11 Ramadan 1111 AH (2/3 March 1700 C.E)	10 Muharram 1195 AH (Fri 5 January 1781 C.E)

His Khulafa

In Maqamat Mazhari, his foremost Khalifa and successor Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlwai writes short biographies of many of his Khulafa (deputies). Here only those names are mentioned:

1. Shaykh Abdullah alias Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlawi (author of the book)
2. Shaykh Sayyad Mir Musalman, a Sayyad (descendant of Muhammad), died during the life of his shaykh
3. Qadi Thanaullah Panipati, author of Tafsir Mazhari and other notable Islamic books, descendant of Usman the third caliph of Islam
4. Mawlana Fadalullah, elder brother of Qadi Thanaullah Panipati
5. Mawlana Ahmadullah, eldest son of Qadi Thanaullah Panipati, famous for his braveness and fighting skills
6. Wife of Qadi Thanaullah Panipati
7. Shaykh Muhammad Murad, a trader, spent 35 years in the company of his shaykh
8. Shaykh Abdur-Rahman
9. Mir Aleemullah Gangohi
10. Shaykh Muradullah alias Ghulam Kaki
11. Shaykh Muhammad Ehsan
12. Shaykh Ghulam Hasan
13. Shaykh Muhammad Muneer
14. Khwaja Ibadullah
15. Mawlana Qalandar Bakhsh
16. Mir Naeemullah
17. Mawlana Thanaullah Sanbhali
18. Mir Abdul-Baqi
19. Khalifa Muhammad Jameel
20. Hazrat Shah Bheek
21. Mawlana Abdul-Haqq
22. Shah Muhammad Salim
23. Shah Rahmatullah
24. Muhammad Shah
25. Mir Mubeen Khan
26. Mir Muhammad Mueen Khan, brother of Mir Mubeen Khan
27. Mir Ali Asghar alias Mir Makhoo
28. Muhammad Hasan Arab
29. Muhammad Qa'im Kashmiri
30. Hafiz Muhammad
31. Mawlana Qutbuddin
32. Mawlana Ghulam Yahya
33. Mawlana Sayyad Ghulam Muhiuddin Jilani
34. Mawlana Naeemullah Bahra'ichi
35. Mawlana Kaleemullah Bangali
36. Sayyad Mir Ruhul-Amin
37. Shah Muhammad Shafi
38. Muhammad Wasil
39. Muhammad Hussain
40. Shaykh Ghulam Hussain Thaanisari
41. Mawlana Abdul Kareem
42. Mawlana Abdul Hakeem
43. Nawab Irshad Khan
44. Ghulam Mustafa Khan, student of Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dahlawi
45. Noor Muhammad Qandhari
46. Mulla Naseem
47. Mulla Abdur Razzaq
48. Mulla Jaleel
49. Mulla Abdullah
50. Mulla Taimoor

See also

• Urdu poetry
• List of Urdu language poets

External links

• Maqamat Mazhari (Urdu translation): Biography of Mirza Mazhar