Farid, Khwaja Ghulam
(1845–1901), South Asian Sufi poet. Khwaja Ghulam Farid was a great Sufi poet, mystic, and literary figure who remains revered and beloved by millions to this day all over the India-Pakistan subcontinent. Khwaja Ghulam Farid composed in the kaafi, the favored poetic genre of his native Multan in present-day Pakistan, to bring spiritual enlightenment to Muslim contemporaries, considered during that period to be in the throes of political, economic, and spiritual decline that manifested itself in widespread drug use, social ills, superstition, and debased religious practices.
Farid's poetry reflects his great love and knowledge of music and his homeland. He chose to compose in the regional language of Siraiki rather than Persian or Urdu, the courtly and scholarly languages of the time. He added a romantic, ecstatic flavor and new musicality to the more ascetic devotional poetry of his predecessors. Effortlessly he takes the reader/listener through explanations of the highest mystical matters as well as charming depictions of everyday lives of simple folk. As a result, to this day, his mystical expressions of wonderment, love, humility, and gnosis bring delight to both the lover of poetry and the illiterate villager, while edifying the student of theology.
Like other Sufis of the subcontinent, Farid's expansive spirit of tolerance endeared him to Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh alike. Even today, his shrine in Kot Mithan is visited by thousands each year on the occasion of his urs (death anniversary).
Further Reading
Durrani, Jamilah. (1996) Khwaja Ghulam Farid: shakhs aur sha'ir (Khwaja Ghulam Farid: The Man and His Poetry). Jampur, Pakistan: Kitab Sarai.
Haq, Mehr Abdul. (1988) Fard-e-Fareed: Hazrat Khwaja Ghulam Farid ke kaam-o-paigham ka tehseeni ja'izah (The Unique Individual: Critical Appreciation of Hazrat Khwaja Ghulam Farid's Work and Message). Multan, Pakistan: Saraiki Adabi Board.
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