Ali al-Hujwiri

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 Sahib (Persian: داتا صاحب, romanized: Dātā Ṣaḥib), 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 primary 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. Currently, 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.

He migrated to Punjab from Khorasan and transmitted Islam to a land where majority of the people were Hindus. Ali Hujwiri was born in Ghazni, in present-day Afghanistan, in around 1009 to Uthman ibn Ali or Bu Ali. His claimed genealogical chain supposedly goes back eight generations to Caliph Ali, though this claim is considered to be generally scientifically impossible. According to the autobiographical information recorded in his own Kashf al-maḥjūb, it is evident that Ali Hujwiri travelled "widely through the Ghaznavid Empire and beyond, spending considerable time in Baghdad, Nishapur, and Damascus, where he met many of the pre-eminent Ṣūfīs of his time." In matters of jurisprudence, he received training in the Hanafi rite of orthodox Sunni law under various teachers. As for his Sufic training, he was linked through his teacher al-Khuttalī to al-Husrī, Abu Bakr al-Shibli (d. 946), and Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 910). For a short period, the mystic is believed to have lived in Iraq His brief marriage during this period is said to have been unhappy. Eventually, Ali Hujwiri settled in Lahore, where he died with the reputation of a renowned preacher and teacher. After his death, Ali Hujwiri was unanimously regarded as a great saint by popular acclaim.

Ali Hujwiri described the first caliph of Islam Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) as "the Greatest Truthful," and deemed him "the leader (imām) of all the folk of this Path." Eulogizing Abu Bakr's piety, Ali Hujwiri praised him for how "he gave away all his wealth and his clients, and clad himself in a woolen garment, and came to the Messenger Muhammad " and stated elsewhere that he "is placed by the Sufi shaykhs at the head of those who have adopted the contemplative life." In conclusion, Ali Hujwiri stated: "The whole sect of Sufis has made him their patron in stripping themselvesan of worldly things, in fixity, in an eager desire for poverty, and in longing to renounce authority. He is the leader of the Muslims in general, and of the Sufis in particular."

Al-Hujwiri described the second caliph of Islam Umar (r. 634–644) as one "specially distinguished by sagacity and resolution," and said that "the Sufis make him their model in wearing a patched garment and rigorously performing the duties of religion." He further praised Umar for his "very exalted station" in combining a life of worldly duties with intense and consistent spiritual devotion.

Regarding the third of the Rightly Guided Caliphs of the early Islamic community, Uthman (r. 644–656), al-Hujwiri stated that the "Sufis take Uthman as their exemplar in sacrificing life and property, in resigning their affairs to God, and in sincere devotion."

With respect to the fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs of Islam, Ali (r. 656–661), al-Hujwiri stated: "His renown and rank in this Path were very high. He explained the principles of Divine Truth with exceeding subtlety.... Ali is a model for the Sufis in respect to the truths of outward expressions and the subtleties of inward meanings, the stripping of one's self of all property either of this world or of the next, and consideration of the Divine Providence." He also approvingly cited Junayd of Baghdad's saying: "Ali is our Shaykh as regards the principles and as regards the endurance of affliction."

Regarding the grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali, Hasan ibn Ali (d. 670), Ali Hujwiri described him as one "profoundly versed in [spiritual truths]" and as one of "the true saints and shaykhs" of the Islamic community.