Shah Jalal

Shah Jalal
Entrance of Shah Jalal Mazar
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sufi
Personal
Born	1271 CE Konya, Sultanate of Rum (now in Turkey)
Died	1346 (aged 74–75) Sylhet, Bengal (now in Bangladesh)
Senior posting
Based in	Sylhet
Title	(المجرد) (شيخ المشايخ) Shaykh-al-Mashāykh, Al-Mujarrad Khalifa
Period in office	Late 13th century to early 14th century
Predecessor	S. Ahmed Kabir
Successor	Shah Paran
Religious career
Post	Sufi scholar and mystic

Shāh Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Mujarrad al Naqshbandi, popularly known as Hazrat Shah Jalal (Arabic: شاه جلال الدين‎‎, Bengali: শাহ জালাল), (1271 CE – 15 March 1346 CE) is a celebrated Sufi Muslim figure in Bengal. Jalal's name is associated with the spread of Islam into north-eastern Bengal (Sylhet) through Sufism, part of a long history of travel between the Middle East, Persia, Central Asia and South Asia. According to a tablet inscription found in Amber Khana, he arrived at Sylhet in 1303. The largest airport in Bangladesh, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, is named after him.

His biography was first recorded in the mid 16th century by a certain Shaikh 'Ali (d. 1562), a descendant of one of Shah Jalal's companions. Thus there is a gap of several centuries between the life of the saint and that of his earliest biographer. According to this account, Shah Jalal had been born in Turkestan, where he became a spiritual disciple of Saiyid Ahmad Yasawi, one of the founders of the Central Asian Sufi tradition. Therefore, although his existence is not debated, much of his life story is debated.

Born Jalāl ad-Dīn bin Mahmoud and became a makhdoom, teacher of Sunnah and, for performing prayers in solitary milieu and leading a secluded life as an ascetic, al Mujarrad was postfixed to his name. He was conferred with the title of Shaykh-ul-Mashāykh (Great Scholar). Shah Jalal's date and place of birth is not certain. Various traditions and historical documents differ. A number of scholars have claimed that he was born in 1271 CE in Konya in modern-day Turkey (then in the Sultanate of Rûm) and later moved to Yemen either as a child or adult while many believe he was born in a village called Kaninah in Hadhramaut, Yemen. His mother, Syeda Hasina Fatimah, and his father, Mahmoud bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim, were descendants of Hashemite dynasty of Quraysh of Mecca. His father was a Muslim cleric, who was a contemporary of the Persian poet and Sufi mystic, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. Shah Jalal was educated and raised by his maternal uncle Syed Ahmed Kabir in Mecca. He excelled in his studies; became a hafiz and mastered fiqh. He achieved spiritual perfection (Kamaliyyat) after 30 years of study, practice and meditation.