Ali al-Hujwiri | |
|---|---|
علی الھجویری | |
 Remains of Ali al-Hujwiri at his shrine in Lahore | |
| Personal | |
| Born | c. 1009 |
| Died | c. 8 August 1072 Lahore, Ghaznavid Empire |
| Religion | Islam |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Main interest(s) | |
| Notable work(s) | Kashf al-Mahjub |
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Uthman al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri (Persian: ابو الحسن علی بن عثمان الجلابی الھجویری, romanized: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿUthmān al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī; c. 1009-1072/77), known reverentially as Data Ganj Bakhsh (Persian: داتا گنج بخش, romanized: Dātā Ganj Bakhsh), was an Islamic scholar and mystic who authored Kashf al-Mahjub, the earliest treatise on Sufism in the Persian language. Born in the Ghaznavid Empire, al-Hujwiri is believed to have contributed "significantly" to the spread of Islam in South Asia through his preaching.
Al-Hujwiri is venerated as the main saint of Lahore, Pakistan by the Sufis of the area and his tomb-shrine, known as the Data Darbar, is one of the most frequented shrines in South Asia. At present, it is Pakistan's largest shrine "in numbers of annual visitors and in the size of the shrine complex," and, having been nationalized in 1960, is managed today by the Department of Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Punjab. The mystic himself remains a "household name" in the daily Islam of South Asia. In 2016, the Government of Pakistan declared 21 November to be a public holiday for the commemoration of the commencement of Ali Hujwiri's three-day death anniversary.
| Part of a series on Islam Sufism |
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