AHMAD, SHAIKH (1564-1624), celebrated Muslim thinker and theologian of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, was born on 26 May 1564 at Sirhind in present day Patiala district of the Punjab. He received his early education at the hands of his father. Shaikh `Abd al-Ahad, and later studied at Siaiko, now in

BASAWAN, SHAIKH, a ranked Muslim officer at Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s court, started his career as an assistant to Misr Beli Ram, who had entered the Maharaja`s service in 1809 and who in 1816 had become superintendent of the to shakhana or treasury. Basawan by dint of hard work gradually rose

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

GHULAM MOHIY UDDIN, SHAIKH (d. 1845), who rose to be governor of Kashmir in Sikh times, was the son of Shaikh Ujala, a munshi or accountant in the service of Sardar Bhup Singh of Hoshiarpur. At a young age, Ghulam Mohiy udDin took up service under Diwan Moti Ram, the

IBRAHIM, SHAIKH (Shaikh Farid of the Janam Sakhi), twelfth in succession from the famous Sufi saint, Shaikh Farid udDin GanjiShakar (1173-1266), held the seat of the earlier Shaikh at Pakpattan in the present Sahiwal (former Montgomery) district of Pakistan when Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was travelling in these parts. Shaikh Ibrahim,

IMAM UDDIN, SHAIKH (1819-1859), who succeeded his father, Shaikh Ghulam Mohly udDin, as governor of the Sikh province of Kashmir in 1845, had earlier served under Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh in the Derajat and had in 1840 assisted his father in the campaign against Mandi. In April 1841, when a

MTAN MIR, HAZRAT (1550-1635), well known Sufi saint of the Qadiriyah order, was a contemporary of Guru Arjan (1563-1606) and Guru Hargobind (1595-1644). His real name was Shaikh Mir Muhammad. He was born the son of Qazi Sayandanah (Sain Datta to some chroniclers) bin Qazi Qalandar Faruqi in 957

RUKN UDDIN. QAZI or QADI (Rukan Din of the Janam Sakhis), supposed to be a shrine caretaker, chanced to meet Guru Nanak during his visit to Mecca. The Purdtan Janam Sdkht narrates the story: "It had been inscribed in books beforehand that Nanak, a dervish, would come. Then water would

SAJJAN, SHAIKH, a resident of Makhdumpur, 20 km southwest of the ancient town of Talumbha or Tulambha, now in Multan district of Pakistan, was a thug or cutthroat who, according to the Janam Sakhi "tradition, was once visited by Guru Nanak. Sayan lived in apparent piety and prosperity and maintained

SLOKAS OF SHAIKH FARID. Baba Shaikh Farid GanjiShakar (1173-1264), the famous Sufi saint born in the Punjab, some of whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, was a poet whose Punjabi verses form the first recorded poetry in the Punjabi language. Guru Nanak himself seems to have

SUCHAJl (SUCHAJJI), literally, a woman of good manner and accomplishment, is the title of one of Guru Nanak`s compositions, in measure Suhi, in the Guru Granth Sahib. Antithetically, it follows another of his compositions called Kuchaji (literally, an awkward, illmannered woman). Suchaji (`sn`, meaning good or appropriate; `chaf meaning