{{short description|Punjabi Sufi poet (c. 1830–1907)}} {{Use Pakistani English|date=December 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Mian Muhammad Bakhsh | native_name = {{nq|میاں محمد بخش}} | image = | image_size = | caption = Photograph of Bakhsh | birth_date = {{circa|1830}}<ref name=APNA>[http://apnaorg.com/prose-content/english-articles/page-101/article-10/index.html In memory of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh] [[Academy of the Punjab in North America]] (APNA) website, Published 13 October 2013, Retrieved 31 December 2017</ref> | birth_place = [[Khari Sharif]], [[Sikh Empire]] (present-day [[Azad Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Pakistan]])<ref name=APNA/> | death_date = 22 January 1907<ref name=APNA/> | death_place = [[Khari Sharif]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[British India]] (present-day [[Azad Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Pakistan]])<ref name=APNA/> | resting_place = [[Khari Sharif|Shrine of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, Khari Sharif]] | years_active = Mid-19th century – early-20th century | occupation = Poet | era = [[Colonial India]] | movement = [[Punjabi literature#Punjabi Shayari|Classical Punjabi Sufi poetry]] | father = Mīān Shamsuddīn | module = {{Infobox writer |embed=yes | genre = {{Hlist|[[Love]]|[[divine love]]|[[Sufi poetry|Islamic mysticism]]|[[social commentary|society]]|[[nature]]|[[self-reflection]]|''[[Nazm]]''|''[[Kafi]]''|''[[Ghazal]]''}} | notableworks = [[Sayful Mulūk]] (his book of poetry)<ref name=Dawn>[https://www.dawn.com/news/741938 The River that played god] Dawn (newspaper), Published 13 August 2012, Retrieved 31 December 2017</ref><ref name=APNA/> | pseudonym = ''Mīān Muhammad Bakhshā'' | language = {{Hlist|[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]|[[Persian language|Persian]]{{efn|Most of Bakhsh's work is in the Punjabi language with the exception of his book "Yari", which he wrote in Persian.}}}} }} }} {{Punjabis}} {{Sufism}} '''Mian Muhammad Bakhsh''' ({{langx|pa|میاں محمد بخش}}, {{IPA|pa|miãː mʊɦəˈməd̪ bəxʃ|pron}}; {{circa|1830}} – 22 January 1907) was a [[Punjabi Muslims|Punjabi]] [[Sufism|Sufi]] poet, from [[Khari Sharif]] in present-day [[Azad Kashmir|Azad Jammu and Kashmir]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Geeti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfukTDZTBNMC&dq=saif+ul+malook+punjabi+poet&pg=PA135 |title=Crossing Boundaries |date=1997 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1341-9 |pages=135 |language=en |quote=The decades and centuries after Bulleh Shah's death in 1758 saw a number of well - known Punjabi mystic and secular poets . These included Mian Mohammed Baksh, author of Safrul Ishq, popularly known as Saiful Malook...}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> He wrote 18 books during his lifetime of 77 years, and is especially remembered for his ''[[Prince Saiful Malook and Badri Jamala|Saiful Maluk]]'', a [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] poetic rendering of the traditional [[Arabic]] story of Prince Saiful Maluk.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-09 |title=Saif-ul-Malook; The Lake of Fairies in 1870's |url=https://pdf.defence.pk/threads/saif-ul-malook-the-lake-of-fairies-in-1870s.595795/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Pakistan Defence |language=en-US}}</ref> He also wrote the romantic tragedy, ''[[Mirza Sahiban]]''. Most of his work is in Punjabi,{{efn|Most of Bakhsh's work is in the [[Majhi dialect|Majhi]] and [[Pahari-Pothwari|Pothwari]] dialects of Punjabi}} with the exception of the book "''Yari''", written in [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2017/mian-muhammad-bakhsh-a-great-punjabi-sufi-poet |title=Mian Muhammad Bakhsh – A great Punjabi Sufi Poet |website=nation.com.pk |access-date=18 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322044412/https://nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2017/mian-muhammad-bakhsh-a-great-punjabi-sufi-poet |archive-date=22 March 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Mian Muhammad Bakhsh is revered throughout the Punjab, [[Hazara Division|Hazara]] and Azad Kashmir. He is regarded as the bridge between medieval and early-modern [[Punjabi literature]].
==Early life== Bakhsh was born in {{circa|1830}} in Khari Sharif (present-day Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan) during the [[Sikh Empire|Sikh rule]], into a Punjabi [[Gurjars|Gujjar]] Poswal family of the Banian clan with roots in [[Gujrat, Pakistan|Gujrat]] (present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jahangir|first=Emperor of Hindustan|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/sil.849796.39088018028456|title=The Jahangirnama memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India|date=1999|publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution|doi=10.5479/sil.849796.39088018028456}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-08-30 |title=Mian Muhammad Bakhsh – A great Punjabi Sufi Poet |url=https://nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2017/mian-muhammad-bakhsh-a-great-punjabi-sufi-poet |access-date=2020-10-08 |website=The Nation |language=en |quote=Mian Sahib’s great grandfather belonged to a clan Paswal Gujjar. He came to Khari Sharif from village Chak-Behram of Gujrat, Punjab. Gujrat is an adjoining district to Mirpur, Kashmir.}}</ref> There is considerable disagreement about his year of birth. Mahbūb 'Alī Faqīr Qādirī, in a biography printed as an appendix to the text of ''Sayful Mulūk'' gives the date as 1246 AH (1830 AD), a date also followed by the ''Shāhkār Islāmī Encyclopedia''; 1830 and 1843 are suggested in other works. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh himself states in his magnum opus, ''Sayful Mulūk'', that he completed the work in the month of [[Ramadan]], 1279 AH (1863 AD), and that he was then thirty-three years of age. Hence, he must have been born in 1829 or 1830.<ref name=APNA/>
==Upbringing== He was brought up in a very religious environment, and received his early education at home. He was later sent with his elder brother, Mīān Bahāval, to the nearby village of Samwal Sharīf to study religious sciences, especially the science of ''[[Hadith]]'' in the madrassah of Hāfiz Muhammad 'Alī. His teacher was Hāfiz Ghulam Hussain. Hāfiz Muhammad 'Alī had a brother, Hāfiz Nāsir, who was a ''[[majzub]]'', and had renounced worldly matters; this dervish resided at that time in the mosque at Samwal Sharīf. From childhood Mīān Muhammad had exhibited a penchant for poetry, and was especially fond of reading ''[[Yūsuf ō Zulaikhā]]'' by [[Jami]]. During his time at the madrassah, Hāfiz Nāsir would often beg him to sing some lines from Jami's poetry, and upon hearing it so expertly rendered would invariably fall into a state of spiritual intoxication.
Mīān Muhammad was still only fifteen years old when his father, falling seriously ill, and realizing that he was on his deathbed, called all his students and local notaries to see him. Mīān Shamsuddīn told his visitors that it was his duty to pass on the spiritual lineage that he had received through his family from Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar; he pointed to his own son, Mīān Muhammad, and told those assembled that he could find nobody more suitable than he to whom he might award this privilege. Everybody agreed, the young man's reputation had already spread far and wide. Mīān Muhammad, however, spoke up and disagreed, saying that he could not bear to stand by and allow his elder brother Bahāvul to be deprived of the honour. The old man was filled with so much love for his son that he stood up and leaving his bed grasped his son by the arms; he led him to one corner and made him face the approximate direction of [[Baghdad]], and then he addressed the founder of their Sufi Order, Shaikh [[Abdul Qadir Gilani]], presenting his son to him as his spiritual successor. Shortly after this incident his father died. Mīān Muhammad continued to reside in his family home for a further four years, then at the age of nineteen he moved into the [[khānqāh]], where he remained for the rest of his life. Both his brothers combined both religion and worldly affairs in their lives, but he was only interested in spirituality, and never married unlike them.
==Poetic talents and works== ''Saif ul Malūk'' (1863) is considered his masterpiece. In its ending verses, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh listed major genres of [[Punjabi literature|Punjabi poetry]] and his predecessor [[list of Punjabi poets|Punjabi poets]]: {{Blockquote|The land of Punjab has had many poets full of wisdom, who have composed brilliant ''[[kafi|kāfī]]s'', ''bārāṅmāhs'', ''dohṛās'' and ''[[Bayt (poetry)|bait]]s''. Some have composed and written books, ''[[Punjabi Qissa|qissa]]s'' and ''[[Risalah (fiqh)|risāla]]s''. Where now has that company gone, Muhammad? Look and take careful stock.
First is [[Baba Farid|Shaikh Farid Shakarganj]], true knower and possessor of sainthood. Every utterance of his tongue is a guide on the true path.
Then there was a [[Sultan Bahu]], a special hero in the cause of truth. The ''dohṛās'' which he uttered shine out in both worlds.
On listening to the ''kāfīs'' of [[Bulleh Shah|Bullhe Shah]], inner unbelief is broken. He swims about in the ocean of Oneness. |source=''Saif ul Malūk'' (1863)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shackle |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Shackle |url= |title=Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice |date=2012-03-08 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-908098-4 |editor-last=Malhotra |editor-first=Anshu |pages=3–34 |language=en |chapter=Punjabi Sufi Poetry from Farid to Farid |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078012.001.0001 |editor-last2=Mir |editor-first2=Farina |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/32479}}</ref>}}
Once he had advanced a little along the Sufi way, he became more and more interested in composing poetry, and one of the first things he penned was a ''[[qasidah]]'' ([[quatrain]]) in praise of his spiritual guide. Initially he preferred to write {{transliteration|ar|siharfis}} and {{transliteration|ar|[[duhra]]s}}, but then he advanced to composing stories in verse. His poetry is written in a mixed language composed of the [[Majhi dialect|Majhi]], [[Pahari-Pothwari]] and [[Hindko]] dialects of Punjabi, and utilizes a rich vocabulary of [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic]] [[Loanword|loan-words]]. Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, in his lifetime, contributed his great mystic thought in the language of the masses – Punjabi language which was also his mother tongue.<ref name=APNA/>
His works include: ''Siharfi'', ''[[Sohni Mahiwal]]'', ''Tuhfah-e Miran'', ''Tuhfah-e- Rasuliyah'', ''[[Khosrow and Shirin|Shirin Farhad]]'', ''Mirza Sahiban'', ''Sakhi Khavass Khan'', ''Shah Mansur'', ''Gulzar-e Faqir'', ''Hidayatul Muslimin'', ''Panj Ganj'', ''Masnavi-e Nīrang-e ‘Ishq''. He also wrote a commentary on the [[Arabic]] ''[[Qasidat al-Burda]]'' of al-[[Al-Busiri|Busiri]] and his most famous work, entitled ''Safar-ul-Ishq'' (Journey of Love), but better known as ''Saif ul Maluk''.<ref name=APNA/>
==Formal pledge of allegiance== Despite the fact that he had essentially been made a ''[[Tariqa|khalīfah]]'' of his father, he realized that he still needed to make a formal pledge of allegiance or ''[[bay'ah]]'' to a Sufi master. Having completed his formal education he began to travel, seeking out deserted locations where he would busy himself in prayer and spiritual practices, shunning the company of his fellow-men. He took the Sufi pledge of allegiance or ''bay'ah'' with Ghulām Muhammad, who was the khalīfah of Bābā Badūh Shāh Abdāl, the khalīfah of Hājī Bagāsher (of Darkālī Mamuri Sharīf, near Kallar Syedan District Rawalpindi), the khalīfah again of Dumriyan Wali Sarkar. He is also said to have travelled for a while to [[Srinagar]], where he benefitted greatly from Shaikh Ahmad Valī.
==Death and legacy== He died on the 7th day of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah 1324 AH (1907 AD), and was buried in Khari Sharif, not far away from his spiritual great great grandfather, Damriyan Wali Sarkar. To this day many people visit his tomb with the intention of receiving spiritual blessings.<ref name=APNA/> [[File:Shrine of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh.JPG|thumb|[[Shrine]] of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh at Khari Sharif, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.]] In February 2016, rich tributes were paid to Mian Muhammad Bakhsh at a literary seminar held at [[Allama Iqbal Open University]], Islamabad, Pakistan. Speakers at the seminar included scholar [[Fateh Muhammad Malik]]. He said that Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, through his poetry, spread the message of mutual harmony and brotherhood of mankind. He added that the young generation should seek aspirations from the national heroes and eminent literary personalities like him. Mian Muhammad Bakhsh serves as a guiding force to develop a happy and successful life.<ref name=APNA1>[http://apnaorg.com/prose-content/english-articles/page-164/article-9/index.html Speakers pay rich tributes to Sufi poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh] [[Academy of the Punjab in North America]] (APNA) website, Published 17 February 2016, Retrieved 31 December 2017</ref>
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|author=Miyān̲ Muḥammad Bak̲h̲sh|editor=Ḍākṭar Faqīr Muḥammad Faqīr|title=Sayf al-mulūk|url=https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/saiful-mulook-miyan-mohammad-bakhsh-ebooks?lang=ur|isbn=969-503-093-9|date=1999|language=Punjabi|publisher=al-Faiṣal Nāshirān va Tājirān-i Kutub|location=Lāhaur|OCLC=1241708889}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Mian Muhammad Bakhsh}} * [http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/mian/ Full text of ''Saiful Malūk'' poetry of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfx2LMW7tmg Kalam of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh on YouTube]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakhsh, Mian Muhammad}} [[Category:1830 births]] [[Category:1907 deaths]] [[Category:Sufi poets]] [[Category:Punjabi Sufis]] [[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]] [[Category:Punjabi-language poets]] [[Category:19th-century poets]] [[Category:19th-century mystics]] [[Category:Punjabi Muslims]] [[Category:Punjabi Sufi saints]] [[Category:Sufi shrines in Pakistan]]