Syed Bulleh Shah (1680-1758), was the most famous Sufi poet
of Punjab. Bullah asserted his commitment
forcefully and longed
for his visit so feelingly, as under :
You are just a herdsman for the folk,
People call you by the name of Ranjha.
But for me you are my religion and my faith.
O come and do enter my courtyard.
Bhullah''''s earlier
verses expressed theological ideas of Islam.
But when he turned a pantheist under the influence of Vedant
and Sikhism, he became so convinced of God''''s omnipresence
and "integrity of the universal soul" that he began
to experience and express that sort of "cosmopolitan
joy which knows no limits and divisions".
Bullha had also taken then the path of reconciliation and
talked of peace and unity among the adherents of various faiths
and denominations.
Syed Ali Haider (1690-1785) of Multan, was the first Sufi
who poetized Heer Ranjha in the form of a Qissa (long narration),
entitled Qissa Heer va Ranjha, and added thereby a
new tributary
to the stream of Punjabi Sufi poetry.
His Abyat (verses) are known for their grace, poetic flow
and play with words. The first letter of the alphabet, viz.
Alif, stands for God and the letter Meem for Muhammad, the
prophet. While Bullha talked of the agony of Punjab in some
of his verses, Haider grieved over the lot of Hindustan.
Referring to the invasion, slaughter and plunder of Nadir
Shah in 1739, he reproached and cursed all those who were
responsible for the loss and distress suffered by India and
Indians.
Fard Faqir (1729-1790) who lived during the same time in Gujrat,
also reproached the rulers of the day. But he did so, in verses
as the following, for their ill treatment of laborers and
workers belonging to various professions
Being rulers they sit on carpets
And tyrannize the people.
They call the workers ''''menials''''
And keep on even sucking their blood.
His kasab nama broke a new ground by describing the process
of wearing cloth for expressing his Sufistic ideas and beliefs.
In his Siharfi, Fard did not spare even the ever hostile Ulama
(doctors of law and religion) by expressing their hypocrisy
and observing that "it hardly avails if an ass is loaded
with books". Punjabi Sufi Poetry got a new fillips with
the advent of Syed Hashim Shah (1735-1843), a highly learned,
prolific and multilingual writer who flourished during the
Sikh supremacy in Punjab and who has been mentioned in terms
of esteem even by eminent Western scholars.
In Punjabi, he versified the popular love-tragedies of Punjab
to describe and acclaim the ''''Kamal Ishq'''' (perfect love) of
their heroes and heroines (viz. Sassi & Punnu, Heer &
Ranjha, Sohni & Mahiwal, Shirin