Baba Bulleh Shah, whose real name was Abdullah Shah, was a Punjabi Sufi poet and humanist. He is believed to have been born in the small village of Uch, Bahawalpur in modern day Pakistan. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan, in 1680. At the age of six months, his parents relocated to Malakwal. There his father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a preacher in the village mosque and a teacher. His father later got a job in Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of Kasur. Bulleh Shah received his early schooling in Pandoke, and later moved to Kasur for higher education, to become a student of the prominent professor, Ghulam Murtaza.
Baba Bulleh Shah was a direct descendant of Muhammad through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad.
A large amount of what is known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn't even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some "facts" about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other "facts" seem to have been passed down through oral traditions.
Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 -- 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 -- 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 -- 1724).
Bulleh Shah lived in the same period as the famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 -- 1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 -- 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the famous Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahad (1739 -- 1829), better known by his pen-name, Sachal Sarmast ("truth seeking leader of the intoxicated ones"). Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived a mere 400 miles from Mir Taqi Mir (1723 -- 1810) of Agra.
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