Haji Abu'l Hasan ibn Uthman ibn Ali al-Jalabi al-Hujwiri was born in the year 400 Al-Hijri. He was born in the village of Hujwir near Ghazna Afghanistan, at a time when the great Mahmud of Ghazni was still in power. Not much about him in his childhood and teenage years is actually known, no historical reports have been authentically verified about these matters. But when he reached adulthood, he became a traveller in search of the truth and seeking knowledge, travelling to several different countries and states.
But perhaps, Ali al-Hujwiri is most famous for his trip to Lahore, now in present-day Pakistan, where he would stay there for the rest of his life. He left Afghanistan along with his companions, Abu Sa'eed al-Hujwiri and Ahmad Hammadi al-Sarkhasi. When he first arrived in Lahore, he was able to pay respects to the deceased scholar Hasan al-Zanjani, who had passed away in his sleep the night before. Ali al-Hujwiri worked on philanthropistic activity in Lahore, as well as being a religious teacher. He also helped in converting the Hindu governor of Lahore, Rai Raju, to Islam. This resulted in the descendants of Rai Raju, now known as Shaykh Hindi, gaining a lot of respect for Ali al-Hujwiri as time and years went on.
Ali al-Hujwiri was known to have performed miracles. One of these miracles is his ability to build a mosque which perfectly aligned with the Ka'bah in Makkah. In the town of Lahore, he funded the construction of an Islamic religious complex consisting of a Madrasah, a Khanqah (or a Zawiya) and a mosque. It is also said that he was involved with the actual building process too. When the mosque was half-completed, the ulema of Lahore warned that the mosque was not aligned to the Qiblah, but Al-Hujwiri ignored their warnings and continued work on the structure. When the mosque was completed a year later, he invited everyone to pray in it. But the people, as expected, had their doubts that it faced the Qiblah. So he ordered everyone present to meditate, and when they meditated, the holy Ka'bah appeared in front of them, and this proved that the mosque was correctly aligned. So, they prayed in the mosque.
Ali al-Hujwiri's religious complex became a site for Islamic knowledgeable and invocation of Allah. He taught at the Madrasah there, and he practiced his asceticism at the Khanqah there as well. It is said that at least a thousand illiterate people who visited him there became great scholars, and majority of Hindus there converted to Islam. He was indeed one of the greatest scholars to ever live in the subcontinent of Asia. Even after his passing, great scholars from far away, like Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, respected him and quoted from his works.
Ali al-Hujwiri passed away in the year 465 Al-Hijri, but some date it to between 481 and 500 Al-Hijri. He was buried in a grave behind the compound of his religious complex. Unfortunately, many years later, fanatical Sufis began to worship him at his grave, and they gave him the title of “Data Ganj Bakhsh” which meant a great bestower of treasures and bounties. The Mughals, known famously for their ignorance and introduction of strange, so-calles ‘Islamic’ rituals into the subcontinent, demolished the old religious complex and built a larger and grander mosque over it which meant that it housed the grave of Ali al-Hujwiri as well. In modern times, the grave is still a site of pilgrimage for the ignorant pseudo-Sufi folk, and the place also has spaces for musical performances which were added during the time of General Dictator Zia.
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The Early Zuhaad
Non-FictionA collection of short biographies of early Muslim ascetics, such as Al-Hasan of Basra, Junayd of Baghdad, and Bishr ibn al-Harith al-Hafi. All of these ascetics are firm followers of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
