Hazrat Bābā Farīduddīn Mas'ūd Ganjshakar (Persian: حضرت بابا فرید الدّین مسعود گنج شکر, Punjabi: حضرت بابا فرید الدّین مسعود گنج شکر, ਫ਼ਰੀਦ-ਉਦ-ਦੀਨ ਗੰਜਸ਼ਕਰ) (1173-1266)^[1][2] or (1188 (584 Hijri) - May 7, 1280 (679 Hijri)) ^[3][4], commonly known as Baba Farid (Punjabi: بابا فرید, ਬਾਬਾ ਫ਼ਰੀਦ) was a 12th century Sufi preacher and saint of the Chishti Order of South Asia.^[1]
Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar, a Muslim Sufi, is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language ^[3] and is considered one of the pivotal saints of the Punjab region. Revered by Muslims and Hindus, he is also considered one of the fifteen Sikh Bhagats within Sikhism and his selected works form part of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture.^[5].

Life and Genealogy

Bābā Farīd was born in 1199 or 1173 CE (584 Hijri) at Kothewal village, 10 km from Multan in the Punjab region of Pakistan, to Jamāl-ud-dīn Suleimān and Maryam Bībī (Qarsum Bībī), daughter of Sheikh Wajīh-ud-dīn Khojendī ^[6]. He was a descendant of the Farrūkhzād,(known as Jamāl-ud-Dawlah, a Persian (Tajik) King of eastern Khorasan ^[7].
He was the grandson of Shaykh Shu'aib who was the grandson of Farrukh Shah Kabuli, the king of Kabul and Ghazna. When Farrukh Shāh Kābulī was killed by the Mongol hordes invading Kabul, Farīd’s grandfather Shaykh Shu'aib left Afghanistan and settled in the Punjab in 1125.^[8]
Farīd’s genealogy is a source of dispute, as some trace his ancestors back to al-Husayn while others trace his lineage back to the second Caliph Umar ibn Khattab. Baba Farid's ancestors came from Kufa, while Abdullah ibn Umar died during the Hajj, and was buried in Makkah. The family tree of Baba Fareed traces through Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Adham, whose ancestors came from Kufa. Kufa was the capital of the Caliphate of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, and it is a known fact in history that Abdullah ibn Umar refused to pledge allegiance to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib when the later became Caliph, until his death. It is also relevant to mention that the same Abdullah ibn Umar did accept Yazid as Caliph, as well as his father Muawiyya ibn Abi Sufyan. Therefore it is fair that his genealogy from Nasab o Nisbat Farid tracing back to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib also be included in his biography, in addition to the second version tracing back to Umar ibn Khattab. This is why the famous Hadith scholar of India, a follower of the Chisti school mentioned in Mashaikh e Chist about the ancestor of Baba Farid, Ibrahim bin Adham Qalandar, "His ancestry through the medium of five predecessors, links up with Hadhrat Umar. Some people claim that he was a Sayyid of the line of Hadhrat Husain. He was born in the city of Balkh. His nickname was Abu Ishaq. Khwajah Fudhail Bin Iyadh had conferred the mantle of Khilaafate to him. Besides being the Khalifah of Hadhrat Fudhail, he was also the Khalifah of Khwajah Imran Ibn Musa, Khwajah Imam Baqir, Khwajah Shaikh Mansur Salmi and Khwajah Uwais Qarni"^[9]
Baba Farid's genealogy tracing back to Husayn from Nasab o Nisbat Farid is as follows,
Ali ibn Abi Talib 2.Sayyid us-Shuhada Abu ‘Abd Allah Imam Husayn 3.Sayyidina Imam ul Mushaideen Imam ‘Ali Zayn al-Abidin 4.Alam Awwal wa Aakhir Sayyidina Imam Abu Ja’far Muhammad al-Baqir 5.Mard e-Haqq Sayyidina Abd Allah Daqdaq 6.Fakhr Bani Adam Sayyidina Mansur Abu Nasir Hashim 7.Munba e-Jod o Karam Sayyidina Nasir Adham 8.Tark a-Aquleem Sayyidina Abu Ishaq Ibrahim (Ibrahim Bin Adham) 9.'Abd al-Fatah Ishaq Nasir ul-Deen 10.'Ali Waiz al-Akbar 11.‘Aali Rutba Buland Akhtar Muhammad al-Waiz al-Asghar 12.Mahram e-Israr Majud Masud Sama’an 13.Sar Halqa e-Badghan e-Ilah Sulman (Sama’an Shah) 14.Mazhar e-Dhat Wajib ul-Wujud Sayyidina Nasir ud-din Mahmud (Nasheyman Shah) 15.Fana f-illah Sayyidina Shahab ud-din Ahmad Shaheed Furukh Shah: King of Kabulistan, Khorasan 16.Imam ul-Sufiyya wal Tasawwuf Sayyidina Muhammad Yusuf 17.Mushahid e-Dhat e-Ahad Sayyidina ‘Abd al-Rahman Ahmad Shaheed 18.Imam Bae Shak o-Raeb Sayyidina Seraj ud-din Shuaib 19.Khwaja Doraan Sayyidina Jamal ud-din Sulaiman Kiuliwal 20.Sayyidina wa Mawlana Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar (d.668 AH)
The alternative version of his geneology tracing back to Umar ibn Khattab is as follows:
1. Hazrat Umar Bin Khattab, second Caliph 2. Abdullah (Bin Umar) 3. Nasir 4. Sulaiman 5. Adham, King of Balkh and Bukhara 6. Ibrahim Bin Adham aka Abou Ben Adham 7. Ishaq 8. Abul Fatah 9. Abdullah Waa'iz Kobra 10. Abdullah Waa'iz Soghra 11. Masood 12. Sulaiman 13. Ishaq 14. Mohammad 15. Naseeruddin 16. Farrukh Shah Kabuli, King of Afghanistan 17. Shahabuddin Kabuli 18. Mohammed 19. Yousuf 20. Ahmed, died fighting Hulagu Khan 21. Shoaib 22. Jamaluddin Sulaiman 23. Baba Fareed Gunj Shakar
Bābā Farīd received his early education at Multan, which had become a centre for education; it was here that he met his master murshid, Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, a noted Sufi saint, who was passing through Multan, from Baghdad on his way to Delhi. ^[7]. Upon completing his education, Farīd left for Sistan, and Kandahar and went to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage aged 16.
Once his education was over, he shifted to Delhi, where he learned the doctrine of his Master, Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī. He later moved to Hansi, Haryana.^[4][10]. When Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī died in 1235, Farīd left Hansi, and assumed the role of spiritual successor to his Master, though he did not settle in Delhi but in Ajodhan ^[11] (the present Pakpattan, Pakistan). On his way to Ajodhan and passing through Faridkot, he met the 20-year old, Nizāmuddīn, who went on to become his disciple, and later his successor (khalīfah).
Bābā Farīd married Hazabara, daughter of Sulṭān Nasīruddīn Maḥmūd. The great Arab traveller, Ibn Baṭūṭah visited him. He says that he was the spiritual guide of the King of India, and that the King had given him the village of Ajodhan. he says that Shaikh Farīduddīn, as he calls him, was so careful about purity, that if his clothes touched those of another person he used to wash them. He also met Bābā Farīd's two sons. When Ibn Baṭūṭah was due to leave the Shaikh bade him farewell from the top floor of his house, and sent him some sugar as a parting gift. He died on the fifth of Muharram ^[7], Tuesday, 7 May 1266 CE (679 Hijri) during Namaz. His shrine (darbār) is in Dera Pindi, and his epitaph reads, "There is only one Farīd, though many spring forth from the bud of the flower".
Bābā Farīd's descendants, also known as Fareedi, Fareedies and Faridy, mostly carry the name Fārūqī, can be found in Pakistan, India and the diaspora. His decendants include Sheikh Salim Chishti whose daughter was Emperor Jehangir's foster mother. Their decendants settled in Sheikhupur, Badaun and the remains of a fort built by them can still be found

Poetry

• Farīdā bhumi rangāvalī manjhi visūlā bāg

'Fareed, this world is beautiful, but there is a thorny garden within it'.

• Farīdā jo taīN mārani mukīāN tinhāN na mārē ghumm

'Fareed, do not turn around and strike those who strike you with their fists'.

• Farīdā jā lab thā nēhu kiā lab ta kūṛhā nēhu

'Fareed, when there is greed, what love can there be? When there is greed, love is false.'
One of Farīd’s most important contributions to Punjabi literature is his development of the language for literary purposes. Whereas Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish and Persian had historically been considered the languages of the learning, the elite and in monastic centers, Punjabi was generally considered a lesser refined folk language. Although earlier poets had written in a primitive Punjabi, there was little beyond Punjabi literature besides the range of traditional and anonymous ballads. By using Punjabi as the language of poetry, Farīd laid the basis for a vernacular Punjabi literature that would be developed later.
Amongst, famous people who visited his shrine over the centuries, are the famous scholar-explorer, Ibn Battuta, who visited in 1334 ^[12], and the Founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, who met the then head of the shrine, Sheikh Ibrāhīm, twice, and his meeting lead to the incorporation of 112 couplets (saloks), and four hymns by Bābā Farid, in the Sikh Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib, by the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev in 1604 ^[4].Guru Nanak was familiar with the verse of Bābā Farīd, and not only includes these verses in the Holy Book, but even comments on some of them.^[13] These verses are known to the Sikhs as the Farīd-Bānī; Guru Arjan Dev also added eighteen saloks from the Sikh Gurus, which add commentary to various of Bābā Farīd's work.^[14]
The city of Faridkot bears his name. According to legend, Farīd stopped by the city, then named Mokhalpūr, and sat in seclusion for forty days, near the fort of King Mokhal. The king was said to be so impressed by his presence that he named the city, after Bābā Farīd, which today is known as Tilla Bābā Farīd. The festival Bābā Sheikh Farād Āgman Purb Melā' is celebrated in September, each year, commemorating his arrival in the city ^[15][16]. Ajodhan ^[17] was also renamed as Farīd's 'Pāk Pattan', meaning 'Holy Ferry'; today it is generally called Pāk Pattan Sharīf.^[12].
Faridia Islamic University, at Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan is named after him ^[18], and in July 1998, the Punjab Government in India, established the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at Faridkot, the city which itself was named after him ^[19][20].
Various accounts are related as to why Bābā Farīd was given the title Shakar Ganj^[21] ('Treasure of Sugar'); one legend tells how his mother used to encourage the young Farīd to pray by placing sugar under his prayer mat. Once, when she forgot, the young Farīd found the sugar anyway, an experience that gave him more spiritual fervour and led to his being given the name. ^[4].
Other accounts and legends also says that Baba Farid once a caught a bolt of thunder with his bare hands and placed it into a pot which saved the lives of many civilians.Baba Farid was true lover of one god and a true muslim.

 Shrine

His mazar/mazār(shrine) is located in Pakpattan/Pākpattan Sharīf.Saint Nizamuddin Auliya/Khawaja Nizamuddin Aulia constructed his tomb. The tomb is made of white marble.The shrine has two doors, namely the Nūrī Darwāza or 'Gate of Light' and the Bahishtī Darwāza, or 'Gate of Paradise'.Charity food(langar)is distributed all the day by visitors and Auqaf Department which administrates the shrine.Shrine is open all the day and night for visitors.The shrine has its own huge electricity generator that is used whenever there is power cut or loadshedding.So the shrine remains bright all night, all the year round.There is no separation of male and female areas but a small female area is also there.There is a big new mosque in the shrine.Thousands of people daily visiting shrine for their wishes and un-resolveable matters,for this they vow to give some charity when thier wishes or matter will solve.When their matters are solved they bring charity food for visitor and poor,and drop money in big money boxes that are kept for this pupose.This money is collected by Auqaf Department that looks after the shrine. A village hospital,Ganj Shakar Trust Hospital,9-km on Sahiwal road from Pakpattan city is run by a local NGO Baba Farid Ganj Shakar Educational and Welfare Trust Pakpattan.

 urs

Every year annivarsary of this great Saint is marked in the first Islamic month of Muharram.The Bahishtī Darwāza/Gate of Paradise is opened once a year, during the time of urs/fair.Hundreds of thousands pilgrims/visitors and faith fowollers from all over the country and from world come every year to pay homeage this great Saint. The door of Bahisti Darwaza is made of silver, on which floral designs are inlaid in gold leaf.This "Gate to Paradise' is pad locked all the year and only opened for ten day in the month of Muharram.This is open from sunset to sunrise during these ten days and is pad locked all the day.The fowollers believe by crossing this door all of your sins are white washed.Some critics say its unholy to pass this door with this intention but believe its sanctity.Critics argue that it is good to pass this door with a resolution not to do sins in future life.During the oppening of this Gate of Paradise,a large security arrangements are done to protect people from stampede.Once in 2001,27 people were crushed to death and 100 were injured because of stampede.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1254207.stm .There is also big brick made tomb adjacent to main tomb,this brick tomb is the graveyard of the Saint Farid' siblings. ^[3]. Thousands of devotees come to visit this white marbled shrine daily from within the country and from abroad. His 'urs (death anniversary) is celebrated every year on the fifth, sixth and seventh of the Islamic month of Muharram.