Ali Hajweri

Saint ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī (ابوالحسن علی بن عثمان الجلابی الھجویری الغزنوی)
A miniature of ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī (date unknown)
Mystic, Theologian, Codifier, Jurist; Lion of Sufism
Born	c. 1009 Hajvare, near Ghazni, now Afghanistan
Died	c. 1072-77 Lahore, Ghaznavids Empire, now Punjab, Pakistan
Venerated in	By all those traditional Sunni Muslims who venerate saints
Major shrine	Data Darbar, Lahore, Pakistan
Feast	18th/19th/20th Safar (urs)
Patronage	Lahore, Pakistan
Tradition or genre	Sunni Islam (Jurisprudence: Hanafi)

Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAlī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-Hujwīrī (c. 1009-1072/77), known as ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or al-Hujwīrī (also spelt Hajweri, Hajveri, or Hajvery) for short, or reverentially as Shaykh ʿAlī al-Hujwīrī or as Dātā Ganj Bakhsh by Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, was an 11th-century Ghaznian-Persian Sunni Muslimmystic, theologian, and preacher who became famous for composing the Kashf al-maḥjūb (Unveiling of the Hidden), which is considered the "earliest formal treatise" on Sufism in Persian. Ali Hujwiri is believed to have contributed "significantly" to the spread of Islam in South Asia through his preaching, with one historian describing him as "one of the most important figures to have spread Islam in the Indian subcontinent."

In the present-day, Ali Hujwiri is venerated as the patron saint of Lahore, Pakistan by the traditional Sunni Muslims of the area. He is, moreover, one of the most widely-venerated saints in the entire Indian subcontinent, and his tomb-shrine in Lahore, popularly known as Data Darbar, is one of the most frequented shrines in South Asia. At present, 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, meanwhile, continues to remain a "household name" in the daily Islam of both India and Pakistan. 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.