In the subcontinent, Islam was spread due to special and sincere efforts of saints, who lived their lives according to teaching of Holy Quran, Sunnah and Ashab-e-Suffa, which made them spiritually strong and helped them turn the hearts of their followers from this temporary world to eternal Allah. In fact, they revolutionised the society of sub-continent, which was chained by infidelity and these saints came forward as saviors to liberate their acolytes from those unwanted and gratuitous chains.
Like every year, this year too, the Urs of Saint Hazrat Mehboob Alam known as Hazrat Peer Shah Jewana will be observed with same zeal and gusto at his shrine, which is located around 30 kilometre in north Jhang. Hundred thousand devotees across from the country and especially from far-flung areas pay visit to this great saint to seek the holy blessings. Former federal minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat is a ‘Sajjada Nasheen’, the descendant of Hazrat Shah Jewana.
Hazrat Shah Jewana was from the family tree of Hazrat Jaffar Tuwab bin Imam Ali Naqi. Hazrat Qutbuddin Bukhtiar Kaki and Khawaja Nizamuddin Aulia Dehlvi were also part of this pedigree, which shows that Hazrat Shah Jewana belonged to the same lineage of the mentioned great scholars of the Subcontinent.
Hazrat Shah Jewana’s grandfather Makhdoom Syed Jalaluddin Surkh Bukhari migrated to the Subcontinent from Bukhara in the reign of slave dynasty. The great saint also moved to subcontinent to preach and promote Islam in this region. The contemporaries of his era were Hazrat Ghous Bahawal Haq Zikriya Multani, Hazrat Khawaja Fareed-ud-din Ganj Shakar and Shahbaz Qalandar.
Likewise, Hazrat Shah Jewana’s another ancestor Makhdoom Jahanian Jahan Ghasht’s caliph Hazrat Madad Alaf Sani’s grandfather was Rafi-ud-din, which shows that the holy shrine of Hazrat Shah Jewana was among one of the greatest shrines of the Subcontinent.
Makhdoom Jahanian Jahan Ghasht breathed his last in Uch (Bahawalpur). After his death, the forefathers of Hazrat Shah Jewana moved from Uch to Qanuj (India), where Peer Shah Jewana was born in 1493 in the reign of King Sikandar Lodhi. His father Syed Sadar-ud-din Shah Kabeer was a great saint and was also among the advisors of King Sikandar Lodhi.
Syed Mehboob Alam (Shah Jewana) learnt the religious knowledge from his home where his father used to teach him while he spent most of his life (almost 66 years) in Qanuj. He got education in the languages of Arabic and Persian and also studied Quran and its Tafsir, Hadith and Islamic jurisprudence from his teacher Qazi Bahauddin and thus became a prominent scholar of his time.His great pettiness and simplicity was the main reason of his fame which was spread to far-flung areas and many great scholars and saints of his era used to pay visits to him to get knowledge and blessings from him.
Hazrat Shah Jewana had witnessed the eras of Sultan Sikandar Lodhi, Ibrahim Lodhi, Zaheeruddin Babar, Naseeruddin Babar and Jalaluddin Akbar.
He started preaching Islam from Qanuj, where he struggled really hard to complete his noble task. There is a town ‘Jewn’ associated with his name in the tehsil Jalalabad of district Qanuj. Tehsil Jalalabad is also linked with the name of his ancestor Makhdoom Jalaluddin Jahanian Jahan Ghasht, while in district Qanuj, Saadat Shah Jewana’s colonized towns – Siray-e-Miraan, Uch, Bibiyan Jalalpur, Makhdoom Pur, Laal Pur (associated with the name of Saint Laal Bukhari) are still populated areas of the city. Siray-e-Miraan is the town where Shah Jewana used to teach religion to their students, who used to come in great number.
The miracles of Hazrat Shah Jewana were very famous not only in Qanuj but also to its adjacent areas. His patients used to get recovered when he used to recite holy verses upon them while many disturbed and restless followers used to get relief from their worldly as well as spiritual problems. Not only this, his big miracles were also very popular. In fact, he followed basic philosophy of the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
Once, when he was in Qanuj, when the son of the then Raja was killed with a knife while playing with his peers. On the request of Raja, he prayed to Allah Almighty and recited some verses from Holy Quran and put his hand on the place of wound. By grace of Almighty, the boy opened his eyes. This miraculous act of Shah Jewana impressed the Raja so much that he, along with thousands of other Hindus, embraced Islam.
The spiritual of Hazrat Shah Jewana was inherited from his ancestors. According to book ‘Hadiqatul Auliya’ page No 50, the miracle of his grandfather Makhdoom Jalaluddin Surkh Bukhari was evident that in his teenage, he was playing with his friends, a funeral was brought but he stopped the people there to bury the dead body.
He pronounced Allah is great and addressing the dead body, he asked to be alive on the order of Allah, in a few seconds, the person was alive and lived 40 more years after this miracle. Likewise, it was also mentioned in book ‘Anwaar-ul-Auliya’ about his ancestor Makhdoom Jalaluddin Jahanian Jahan Ghasht that once he went to perform Haj, and when he was staying at Jeddah for some time, a funeral of Shaikh Badar-ud-din Yamni was brought in a mosque. He recited a holy verse from Quran and Badar-ud-din, by the grace of God, opened his eyes and later, everyone present there offered their Zuhr prayer in his Imamat.
In 1558, Peer Shah Jewana left Qanuj and migrated to Peel Padhrar for the preaching of Islam. Peel Padhrar was an acidic area without any vegetation at that time but his feet on that place made it populated as well as fertile. Through his miracles and noble deeds, he impressed the people so much that they started embracing Islam in a huge numbers.
He prayed for blessings of Allah for this area, which was granted by the grace of God, and the proof of Shah Jewana’s blessings on this area also exists even today. This well is known as ‘Peer’s well’ and people used its water to cure their physical and spiritual ailments.
From Peel Padhrar, he left for a town ‘Shah Jewana’ which is located near Jhang. It was also a deserted place but his arrival filled it with blessings of God. Hazrat Shah Jewana was a simple but pious and generous saint, who always remained busy in helping the mankind and teaching and preaching Islam and ways of Quran and Sunnah to his followers as well as to other people.
The great saint had firm belief in the injunctions of Holy Quran and was emotionally attached to Holy Prophet (PBUH), his love with the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) of Allah can easily be gauged from the fact that he made Surah Muzammil, the integral part of his life. Due to reciting Surah Muzammil 10 million times in the Bela of Chenab River, he was also known as ‘Peer Croriya’ (Crore). He always used to wear green cloak and used to offer late-night prayers. But a very important aspect to be noticed in the teachings of Hazrat Shah Jewana was that he always rejected monasticism and never preached renunciation of this world.
Pir Shah Jewana left this temporary world in 971 Hijri (1569) in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jalal-ud-din Akbar. At that time, Ba-Yazeed was in power in Sindh, Fareed-ud-din Bukhari in Punjab and Syed Abdul Wahab Bukhari in Delhi. It is said that all these great saints along with Emperor Akbar might have attended the funerals of Pir Shah Jewana and also used to pay visit to this great saint.
Even after the many years of passing away of Hazrat Shah Jewana, a great number of devotees of this saint every year come from far-flung areas to pay homage to this holy saint and remember his services for Islam.
They not only feel great honour by visiting the holy shrine of Peer-e-Kamil but also earn inner peace in return. In this age of technologies, when everyone is anxious and looking for peace, the message of Hazrat Shah Jewana shows him the right path which leads his followers to the inner peace and satisfaction.
