Khwaja Ghulam Farid

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:

• Deewan-e-Farid (poem in Saraiki, 1882; in Punjabi, 1883 ; in Urdu, 1884)
• Manaqabe Mehboobia (prose, in Persian)

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.

See also

• Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, (KF-UE&IT),Established in 2014.
• Fariduddin Ganjshakar
• List of mausolea and shrines in Pakistan
• List of Pakistani poets
• List of mausolea worldwide
• Saraiki literature
• Qari Muhammad Muslehuddin Siddiqui
• Pathanay Khan
• Christopher Shackle

External links

• Khawaja Farid, A Mystic and Spiritual Poet
• The complete works of Khwaja Farid in Punjabi
• Sufiana Kalam of Khwaja Ghulam Farid (sung by various folk singers)
• Poetry of Khwaja Farid sung by traditional musicians