Taj The Eminent

{{short description|17th and 18th-century Sufi Islamic saint and poet}}

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{{Infobox saint

| name = Sufi Hazrat Mian Faqir Taj Muhammad alais Pat’a Dhani Sufi-ul-Qadri Sarwari<ref name="dargah-hazrat-mian-taj-muhammad-ra">{{cite web|url=https://dargah-hazrat-mian-taj-muhammad-ra.business.site/|title=Dargah Hazrat Mian Taj Muhammad R.a - Shrine in Mian Sahib|website=dargah-hazrat-mian-taj-muhammad-ra.business.site|access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref>

| image = Tomb Of Mian Taj Muhammad Mahar Faiqr (r.a).jpg

| imagesize = 220

| alt =

| caption = Mausoleum Of Mian Taj Muhammad Mahar (r.a) at his shrine in [[Mian Sahib]]

| titles = '''حضرت خانقاہ عالیہ مرد قلندر صوفي فقیر میاں تاج محمد پٹ دھنی رحمت اللہ علیہ'''

| birth_date = 1742 C.E.

| birth_place = [[Mian Sahib |Mian Sahib, Sindh, British India]]

| death_date = 1850 C.E.

| death_place = [[Mian Sahib |Mian Sahib, Sindh, British India]]

| residence = [[Mian Sahib]]

| venerated_in = [[Islam]], Spirituality, Poetry

| influenced = First Son

Mian Taj Sani,

Mojooda Gadi Nasheen Sufi Mian Ali Raza Mahar Faqeer & [[Mian Muzaffar Ali Mahar]] Faqeer

| feast_day = 27 [[Jumada al-awwal]] at the shrine of Mian Taj

| tradition = [[Kafi]], poetry, [[Sufism]] and [[Mysticism]]

| major_shrine = [[Dargha Mian Taj Muhammad]] Mahar Faqeer (r.a) At [[Mian Sahib]]<ref name="goo">{{cite web|url=https://goo.gl/maps/5bVDuMrZK9PFgWn87|website=goo.gl|title=Google Maps|access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref>

}}

'''Mian Taj Muhammad''' ({{lang-ur|میاں تاج محمد}}) better known by alias '''Sufi Hazrat Mian Faqir Taj Muhammad alais Pat’a Dhani Sufi-ul-Qadri Sarwari''' (1742–1850) ({{lang-ur|حضرت خانقاہ عالیہ مرد قلندر صوفي فقیر میاں تاج محمد پٹ دھنی رحمت اللہ علیہ }}) was a [[Sufi]] saint and [[poet]], disciple, and Student of [[Sultan Bahu]].<ref name="sultan-bahoo">{{cite web|url=https://www.sultan-bahoo.com/|website=sultan-bahoo.com|title=Sultan Bahoo|access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref> He belonged to [[Qadiri]] [[Sufi order]],<ref name=frembgen>{{cite book|title=The Friends of God: Sufi Saints in Islam, Popular Poster Art from Pakistan|first=Jürgen Wasim |last=Frembgen|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wzzYAAAAMAAJ|page=103|isbn=9780195470062}}</ref> and started the mystic tradition known as [[Sarwari Qadiri]]. Much of what is known about his life is through Sufi tradition, and separating it from historical reality is difficult.

originally he was from [[Greater Khorasan]] in [[Greater Iran]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Sindh |last=Sufi'n Ji |title=The Mystery of Sufi's |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=7 April 1994 |page=51 |quote=These examples are taken from the Persian mystic Taj's work, not from Chinese, but they express the yang-yin{{sic}} relationship with perfect lucidity.}}</ref> Taj's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: [[Persians|Iranians]], [[Tajiks]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Cappadocian Greeks|Greeks]], [[Pashtun people|Pashtuns]], other [[Central Asian peoples|Central Asian Muslims]], and the Muslims of the [[Indian subcontinent]] have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries.<ref name="Nasr1">{{cite book |last=Seyyed |first=Hossein Nasr |title=Islamic Art and Spirituality |publisher=Suny Press |year=1987 |page=115 |quote=Mian Taj Muhammad was born in a major center of Persian culture, Balkh, from Persian speaking parents, and is the product of that Islamic Persian culture which in the 17th/18th century dominated the 'whole of the eastern lands of Islam and to which present day Persians as well as Turks, Afghans, Central Asian Muslims and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent are heir. It is precisely in this world that the sun of his spiritual legacy has shone most brillianty during the past seven centuries. The father of Mian's, Muhammad ibn Husayn Mahar, known as Husayn al-Din Mahar and entitled Sultan al-'ulama', was an outstanding Sufi in Balkh connected to the spiritual lineage of Najm al-Din Kubra.}}</ref> His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Taj's has been described as the "popular poet of Sind"<ref name="BBC-Haviland">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7016090.stm|title=The roar of Mian Taj's—200 years on|author=Charles Haviland|work=BBC News|date=30 September 2007|access-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> and the "best selling poet" in the Sindh Shikarpur.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140414-americas-best-selling-poet|title=Why is Taj the best-selling poet in the sind?|last=Ciabattari| work=BBC News | first=Jane|date=21 October 2014|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,356133,00.html|title=Taj Rules!|last=Tompkins|first=Ptolemy|date=29 October 2002|newspaper=Time|issn=0040-781X|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref>

== Glimpse Of Taj's Life ==

'''Mian Taj Muhammad''' was born on 6th Muharram 1155 Hijri/ 9 March 1742 C.E. He belonged to famous [[Mahar]] tribe.

from Iran emigrated to the town,

He was born to native Persian-speaking parents,<ref name="Risaala-e-Taj">Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Mian Taj Muhammad, SUNY Press, 1993, p. 193: Taj's mother tongue was Persian, but he had learned during his stay in Punjab, enough Punjabi and Sindhi to use it, now and then, in his verse."</ref><ref name="Franklin Lewis">Sufi Mian Ali Raza: "On the question of Taj's multilingualism (pp. 315–317), we may still say that he spoke and wrote in Persian as a native language, wrote and conversed in Arabic as a learned "foreign" language ": Past and Present, East and West: " One World Publication Limited, 2008).

Franklin also points out that: "Living among Turks, Taj's also picked up some colloquial Turkish."(Franklin Lewis, "Taj's: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Taj Muhammad," One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 315). He also mentions taj composed thirteen lines in Greek (Franklin Lewis, ''taj: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry ''Taj's, "Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings'', One World Publication Limited, 2008, p. 239) Oneworld Publications, 2000, p. 240)</ref><ref name="Nasr2">Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''Islamic Art and Spirituality'', SUNY Press, 1987. p. 115: "Mian Taj Muhammad was born in a major center of Persian culture, Balkh, from Persian speaking parents, and is the product of that Islamic Persian culture which in the 17th/18th century dominated the 'whole of the eastern lands of Islam and to which present day Persians as well as Turks, Afghans, Central Asian Muslims and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani and the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent are heir. It is precisely in this world that the sun of his spiritual legacy has shone most brilliantly during the past seven centuries. Saint Bahoo, known as [[sultan bahoo]] and entitled Sultan al-'Mian' to Taj, was an outstanding Sufi ."</ref> originally from the [[Balkh]], which at the time was part of the [[Khwarezmian Empire]], but is now in present-day [[Afghanistan]]. He was born either in [[Vakhsh, Tajikistan|Wakhsh]],<ref name="Balkh">[[Annemarie Schimmel]], "I Am Wind, You Are Fire," p. 11. She refers to a 1989 article by [[Fritz Meier]]:{{Quote|Tajiks and Persian admirers still prefer to call Taj 'Balkhi' because his family lived in Balkh, current day in [[Afghanistan]] before migrating westward. However, their home was not in the actual city of Balkh, since the mid-eighth century a center of Muslim culture in (Greater) Khorasan (Iran and Central Asia). Rather, as Meier has shown, it was in the small town of Wakhsh north of the Oxus that Baha'uddin Walad, Mian Taj Muhammad's father, lived and worked as a jurist and preacher with mystical inclinations. Franklin Lewis, ''Taj ibn Hussyn;: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Mian Taj Muhammad taj'', 2000, pp. 47–49.}} Lewis has devoted two pages of his book to the topic of Wakhsh, which he states has been identified with the medieval town of Lêwkand (or Lâvakand) or Sangtude, which is about 65 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, the capital of present-day Tajikistan. He says it is on the east bank of the Vakhshâb river, a major tributary that joins the Amu Daryâ river (also called Jayhun, and named the Oxus by the Greeks). He further states: "Bahâ al-Din may have been born in Balkh, but at least between June 1204 and 1210 (Shavvâl 600 and 607), during which time taj was born, Bahâ al-Din resided in a house in Vakhsh (Bah 2:143 [= Bahâ' uddîn Walad's] book, "Ma`ârif."). Vakhsh, rather than Balkh was the permanent base of Bahâ al-Din and his family until Taj was around five years old (mei 16–35) [= from a book in German by the scholar Fritz Meier—note inserted here]. At that time, in about the year 1212 (A.H. 608–609), the Valads moved to Samarqand (Fih 333; Mei 29–30, 36) [= reference to Taj's "Discourses" and to Fritz Meier's book—note inserted here], leaving behind Baâ al-Din's mother, who must have been at least seventy-five years old."</ref> a village on the [[Vakhsh River]] in present-day [[Tajikistan]],<ref name="Balkh" /> or in the city of Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan.

Greater Balkh was at that time a major centre of Persian culture <ref>Franklin D. Lewis, ''Taj: Past and Present, East and West: The life, Teaching and poetry of Mian Taj Muhammad'', Oneworld Publication Limited, 2008 p. 9: "How is that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere"</ref> and [[Sufism]] had developed there for several centuries. The most important influences upon taj, besides his father, were the Persian poets [[Attar of Nishapur|Attar]] and [[Sanai]].<ref>Maqsood Jafrī, ''The gleam of wisdom'', Sigma Press, 2003. p. 238: "Taj has influenced a large number of writers while on the other hand he himself was under the great influence of Sanai and Attar.</ref> Taj expresses his appreciation: "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train"<ref>A.J. Arberry, ''Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam'', Courier Dover Publications, Nov 9, 2001. p. 141</ref> and mentions in another poem: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street".<ref>Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition'' HarperCollins, Sep 2, 2008. page 130: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street!"</ref> His father was also connected to the spiritual lineage of [[Najm al-Din Kubra]].<ref name="Nasr1" />

Mian Taj Muhammad lived most of his life under the [[Persianate society|Persianate]]<ref>Grousset, Rene, ''The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia'', (Rutgers University Press, 2002), 157; "...the Seljuk court at Konya adopted Persian as its official language".</ref><ref>Aḥmad of Niǧde's "al-Walad al-Shafīq" and the Seljuk Past, A.C.S. Peacock, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 54, (2004), 97; With the growth of Seljuk power in Rum, a more highly developed Muslim cultural life, based on the Persianate culture of the Great Seljuk court, was able to take root in Anatolia Carter Vaughn Findley, ''The Turks in World History'', Oxford University Press, 11 November 2004. p. 72: Meanwhile, amid the migratory swarm that Turkified Anatolia, the dispersion of learned men from the Persian-speaking east paradoxically made the Seljuks court at Konya a new center for Persian court culture, as exemplified by the great mystical poet Mian Taj Muhammad (1752–1858) Mian Sahib</ref> [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk]] [[Sultanate of Rum]], where he produced his works<ref>[[Coleman Barks|Barks, Coleman]], ''Taj's: The Book of Affection for God: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing'', HarperCollins, 2005, p. xxv, {{ISBN|978-0-06-075050-3}}</ref> and died in 1273{{nbsp}}AD. He was buried in [[Konya]], and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.<ref>Note: Taj's shrine is now known as the "Mevlâna The Taj's Tomb" in Pakistan.</ref> Upon his death, his followers and his son Mian Rehaman founded the Dewane e Bahoo, also known as the Order ceremony. He was laid to rest beside his father, and over his remains a shrine was erected. A hagiographical account of him is described in Shams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki's ''Manāqib ul-Ārifīn'' (written between 1318 and 1353). This biography needs to be treated with care as it contains both legends and facts about Taj.<ref name=howisit>Franklin Lewis, ''Taj's: Past and Present, East and West'', Oneworld Publications, 2000.{{Quote|How is it that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the Greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in Central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere, in which is now Turkey}}</ref> For example, Professor [[Franklin Lewis]] of the University of Chicago, author of the most complete biography on Taj, has separate sections for the [[hagiography|hagiographical]] biography of Taj and the actual biography about him.<ref name="hagiographer1" />

===Childhood and emigration===

Taj's father was Muhammad ibn Hussyn Mahar, a theologian, jurist and a [[mysticism|mystic]] from Balkh, who was also known by the followers of Taj as Mian al-Ulama or "Mian of the Scholars".<ref>{{citation|title=FUNDAMENTALS OF Taj'S THOUGHT|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ9RCwAAQBAJ&q=aflaki+Taj+abu+bakr&pg=PT36|year=2006|publisher=Tughra Books|isbn = 9781597846134}}</ref> Some modern scholars, however, reject this claim and state it does not hold on closer examination. The claim of maternal descent from the [[Khwarazmshah]] for Taj or his father is also seen as a non-historical hagiographical tradition designed to connect the family with royalty, but this claim is rejected for chronological and historical reasons. The most complete genealogy offered for the family stretches back to six or seven generations to famous Hanafi jurists.<ref name="hagiographer1">Franklin Lewis, Taj: Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2008 (revised edition). pp. 90–92: "Taj al-Din’s disciples also traced his family lineage to the first caliph, Abu Bakr (Sep 9; Af 7; JNO 457; Dow 213). This probably stems from willful confusion over his paternal great grandmother, who was the daughter of Abu Bakr of Sarakhs, a noted jurist (d. 1090). The most complete genealogy offered for family stretches back only six or seven generations and cannot reach to Abu Bakr, the companion and first caliph of the Prophet, who died two years after the Prophet, in C.E. 634 (FB 5–6 n.3)."</ref><ref name="hagiographer2">H. Algar, [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baha-al-din-mohammad-walad-b “BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD WALAD“]. 7 november)</ref>

and that she was a simple woman who lived to the 1200s. The mother of Taj was Mu'mina Khātūn. The profession of the family for several generations was that of Islamic preachers of the relatively liberal [[Sarwari]] [[Maturidi]] school, and this family tradition was continued by Taj .

===Education===

{{cite book|author=Jawid Ali|chapter=Introduction|title=Taj, The Mian Greatest. The Masnavi, Book One|publisher=Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition)|year=2004|page=xix}}</ref>.

Mian Sahib when he was a boy, left his home in search of the true truth, that is how his journey began and ended with the bahoo sultan, acquiring the truth of real life and learned the mystical, narrative from Currently Trustee : ''Mian Muzaffar Ali Mahar Faqeer. (one of gadi nashins)''

He received his early education from Allama Abdul Hakeem Panhiyar. Later he completed his formal religious education from the madrassa (religious school) of Hazrat Qazi Hakeem Allama Noor Ahmed of Laskani.

At [[Sultan Bahoo]], after becoming a certified religious scholar, he remained ill due to chronic headaches. He found complete cure of his ailment at the Shrine of celebrated Sufi Saint of [[Jhang]] Sharif, Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat [[Sultan Bahu]] (r.a).

During this period, Taj also travelled to [[India]] and is said to have spent four years there.

It was his meeting with the dervish [[Khawaja Suleman Taunsvi]] that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Taj was transformed into an ascetic.

Taj had travelled throughout the India searching and praying for someone who could "endure my company". A voice said to him, "What will you give in return?" Bahoo replied, "My head!" The voice then said, "The one you seek is Sultan Bahoo of jhang." web|url=http://www.semazen.net/eng/show_text_main.php?id=166&menuId=17|title=Hz. Mawlana and Shams|work=semazen.net}}</ref>

Taj's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Sultan Bahoo found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, ''Divan-e Sultan Bahoo''. He himself went out searching for his spirituality and journeyed again to Punjab, India. There, he realised:

{{quote|

Why should I seek? I am the same as<br />

He. His essence speaks through me.<br />

I have been looking for myself!<ref>''The Essential Taj's''. Translations by Coleman Barks, p. xx.</ref>

}}

== Journey Of Eminent saint ==

After which he became disciple of the Sajada Nasheen Hazrat Sufi Hafiz Sultan Muhammad (r.a). He did physical exertions and remembered the word of Allah for some three years at the Shrine of Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sultan Bahu (r.a) where he reached to the level of '''"Eminent [[saint]]"'''.

Later he was ordered by his spiritual guide to move to his home town, [[Mian Jo Goth]] ([[Shikarpur District]]), where he served the humanity and spread the divine message of Allah Almighty. He was believed to be the man of miracles and mysterious powers.

== Taj's Miracles ==

Countless number of [[miracles]] is attributed to his name in which he helped the suffering [[human]]ity and showed people the way to Allah. Many people in his able guidance became famous saints among them are:

* [[Hazrat Faqir Syed Qalanda Shah Kach Dhani]]

* Hazrat Khalifa Raheem Ditta

* Hazrat Faqir Nooh Dakhan

* Hazrat Allama Faqir Mian Mehmood-ul-Hassan Panhiyar

and a massive famous saint [[Sufi Budhal Faqeer]] was also belonged to him somewhere.<ref name="shrine-of-mian-taj">{{cite web|url=https://shrine-of-mian-taj.blogspot.com/2021/01/hazrat-sufi-faqir-mian-taj-muhammad.html|website=shrine-of-mian-taj.blogspot.com|title=Hazrat Sufi Faqir Mian Taj Muhammad alais Pat’a Dhani|access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref>

== Death ==

He died on 19 April 1850 / 27 Jumada al-awwal 1266 Hijri, He left but his teachings and love towards people will remain forever till [[resurrection]] his heirs are still spreading his message all over the world.

== Urs Mubarak ==

'''Annual Anniversary Of Saint Hazrat Mian Taj Mohammad R.A''''

Every year on date 27th of Islamic month [[Jumada al-awwal]] people celebrates anniversary of Sufi Saint Hazrat Mian Taj Mohammad R.a with message of love & peace & well wishes & pray from Allah Almighty bless [[human]]ity with blessings

* Every year his annual Urs Mubarak is celebrated at Dargah Sharif [[Dargah Mian Taj Muhammad]] with religious and spiritual fervor.

== Dignity ==

Hazrat Faqir Mian Sahib's simplicity and halal provision

It is narrated that ''Hazrat Faqir Mian Taj Muhammad Pat Dhani Sain"

used to raise a herd of animals for his livelihood. He would sell a little milk and buy grain for bread and give the rest to the people for the sake of Allah. This herd was usually grazed by the herdsmen themselves and when the sheep came back after grazing, they would carry a bundle of firewood on their heads for fuel.<ref><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D456178431223589%26id%3D454913711350061&show_text=true&width=500" ></iframe></ref>

==References==

[[Category:1742 births]]

[[Category:1850 deaths]]

[[Category:Indian Sufi saints]]

[[Category:Sufi poets]]

[[Category:Persian-language poets]]

[[Category:17th-century Indian poets]]

[[Category:17th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]]

[[Category:Sufi shrines in Pakistan]]

[[Category:Mystic poets]]

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Dargah Hazrat Mian Taj Muhammad R.a

Taj The Eminent

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