Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari

Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari Biography

Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari was a Muslim Hanafi scholar, writer, religious scholar and politician. He has been associated with Khatme Nabuwwat literary movement, and was one of the founding members of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam. As a member of Ahari movement, he was associated with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his establishment of an independent Pakistan. He was a well-known orator, poet, political activist, historian and writer who lived during 23 September 1892 – 21 August 1961. He spent his later years in Pakistan, and he was buried in Multan, Pakistan.

Syed Ata Ullah Shah was born on 23 September 1892 in Patna, British India. The place now belongs to Bihar state. Since young he received religious education from the different parts of the country. At the age of 22, he migrated to Amritsar, where he began his career as a religious preacher in a small mosque. He taught the Quran for the next 40 years in this mosque. Though he shared friendship with a section of socialists and communists, he didn’t blindly accept or follow their ideology. Once he was imprisoned for an anti-government religious speech.

Moved to Amritsar in 1914, his career as a religious leader and politician began two years later. He was known to be a very powerful orator which highlighted the sufferings of poor sections of the society. He was a crowd puller with his influential speeches. With early 1920s, he got attached with Indian national congress and started participating in political movements for freedom. He also wrote poetry in Persian language. His poetic verses was compiled by his eldest son Syed Abuzar Bukhari in 1956, and released as Sawati-ul-ilham. He died 5 years later in 1961.

Published: October 15, 2018

Updated: October 15, 2018