Bu Ali Shah Qalandar


Syed Shah Sharfuddeen Bu Ali Shah Qalandar Panipati, also called Bu Ali Qalandar was a Sufi saint of the Chishtī Order who lived and taught in India. His shrine or dargah in Bu Ali Shah Qalandar Dargah in the city of Panipat is a place of pilgrimage.
His real name was Syed Shah Sharfuddin but he is famous by the title Bu Ali Shah Qalandar. His father, Syed Muhammad Abol Hassan Fakhar Uddin was a great scholar and saint of his time.His father is buried in Para chinar now Pakistan. He is from the ancestry of forth shia Imam Zain Ul Abideen. His large descendants reside in Pakistan and are known as Hussaini Syed. He completed his studies at an early age and subsequently taught near the Qutub Minar in Delhi for 20 years. He published a collection of Persian poetry by the name of " Diwan Hazrat Syed Shah sharfuddeen Bu Ali Qalandar" which was later translated by Khawaja Shahudin in Punjabi. It's a great Sufi work in Persian language. Some other famous Qalandars include Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and Shams Ali Qalandar.

Birthplace

One account says he was born in early 1209 and lived till 1324 in Panipat, India. However an epitaph on his tomb in Persian gives his birthplace as Ganja in present-day Azerbaijan; while some scholars opine that in fact, he was born near Ganjah, once a small suburb of Lahore city but now integrated in the main old city complex. His father, Sheikh Fakhar Uddin was a famous scholar of his time. His mother was Hafiza Jamal, the daughter of Maulana Nemat Ullah Hamdani. Some people also claim his father actually came from Iraq and settled down in Panipat.

Tomb

The dargah, mosque and enclosure at the Qalandar Chowk in Panipat were constructed by Mahabat Khan, a general in the service of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Mahabat Khan's own tomb in red sandstone is adjacent to the saint's mausoleum. The tombs of Hakim Mukaram Khan and the Urdu poet Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali are also located within the enclosure. A nearby structure is the tomb of the last Lodi dynasty ruler of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, killed in the First Battle of Panipat.
The left wall of the mausoleum has a qasida embossed and painted in blue and gold, written by Zahuri Neishabouri who visited India during the reign of Akbar.
A large number of people from all walks of life - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians - visit the tomb and offer prayers there each Thursday and during the annual Urs Mela.