FARID, SHAIKH (569-664 AH/AD 1173-1265), Sufi mystic and teacher, who is also known to be the first recorded poet in the Punjabi language. His father Shaikh Jamaluddin Sulaiman whose family related, according to current tradition, to the rulers of Kabul by ties of blood, left his home in Central Asia during the period of Mongol incursions in the course of the twelfth century. Seeking safety and some place to settle in, he came into the Punjab where already under Ghaznavid rule several Muslim religious centres had developed and sizeable Muslim populations had grown, particularly in the areas now included in West Punjab (Pakistan). To Shaikh Jamaluddin Sulaiman was born in 569 AH/AD 1173 in the month of Ramadan a son, the future Shaikh Farid.
GORDON (d. 1837), often miscalled Canon, an Anglo Indian, entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1820 as an infantry instructor on a salary of Rs 500 per month. Later, he was put in command of a battalion of artillery. In July 1822, his battalion received approbation from Allard and Ventura and was ultimately incorporated in the FaujiKhas. Gordon was now charged with raising a new cavalry regiment to be called Akal Regiment.
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