Baba Farid Shakar Ganj

Baba Farid was born around 1170 in Afghanistan. He was the descended of Farrukh Shah, King of Afghanistan and Ghazni. Baba Farid 's great grandfather was the son of Farrukh Shah. He was killed along with most of his family members when the Mongol hordes invaded Kabul. Baba Farid's grandfather Shaykh Shoaib left Afghanistan and settled in Punjab in 1125.


Shaykh Shoaib then went to Multan where he established in Kothiwal a private college for religious instruction and attracted much attention. His eldest son Jamaluddin married Bibi Mariam, daughter of Syed Muhammad Abdula Shah - a descendant of Imam Ali. Bibi Mariam had three sons, Khwaja Azizuddin, Fariduddin Masaud (Baba Farid) and Khwaja Najibuddin, and one daughter Khatun Jamila.


When Baba Farid was a few years old his mother taught him his prayers. The boy asked her what was gained by prayer. His mother replied sugar. Accordingly, she used to hide some sugar under his prayer rug and when he would finished his prayers he would find the sugar-candy hidden inside the rug. One day his mother forgot to put the sugar-candy but she was surprised to see that there was sugar-candy under the rug. From that day on, Bibi Miriam started calling her son Shakar Ganj, or the treasury of sugar in Farsi.


He went to Delhi and was initiated into the Sufi order by Shaykh Bakhtiar Kaki. When Khwaja Qutub-ul- Bakhtiar Kaki died at Delhi Baba Farid assumed the mantle of his late spiritual guide. He ultimately left it in the keeping of Jamaluddin of Hansi and thence proceeded to Ajodhan, the present day Pak Pattan.

Shaykh Farid made Pak Pattan a great center of Sufi thoughts. People from all over India and Middle East would come to see him He generally rejected offerings of money, but would accept gifts of food, etc for public kitchen. Baba Farid went to Delhi again and was received with a most hospitable reception. Emperor Nasiruddin Balban introduced him to his family. Baba Farid looked to Emperor's daughter Hazabara and asked Emperor to marry her to him. Thus Hazabra was married to Baba Sheikh Farid, but only after Emperor Balban promised not to give any costly gifts, Baba Farid distributed all her dowry to the needy.


Baba Farid ji died of Pneumonia on the fifth day of the month of Muharram in 1266. He was buried outside the town of Pak Pattan at a place called martyrs grave. Baba Farid was also a poet and a large part of his poetry is included in the Holy book of Sikhism, Guru Garanth Sahib