Five hundred years old library of Och Sharif

Settled in 550 BC, the city of Ouch has always been the center of attention of conquerors and great personalities of knowledge and grace due to its tradition, nobility and spirituality, in view of its political, social and cultural importance in every era. Geniuses of knowledge and literature, Sadhus and post-Islamic saints visited this city.

Hazrat Syed Safiuddin Ghazrooni was the first Sufi sage who arrived in the subcontinent and after settling in Ouch at the age of 17, he founded the first Islamic University of the subcontinent, Jamia Firoziah, which was the first Islamic university in the subcontinent at that time. He fulfilled the duty of promotion of education when the atmosphere of India was not completely favorable for Muslims.

During the reign of Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha (607 AH to 625 AH), when Och was given the status of the capital of the Sultanate, this Jamia got a great rise. The famous Iranian historian, Qazi at the time Allama Minhaj Siraj like Jalil-ul-Qadr Alum was the president madrasa of Jamia Firoziah. Two and a half thousand students were studying in this madrasa at the same time, Al-Ilamish attacked Ouch and destroyed many madrasas and libraries, including this famous Zamana University.

In the 9th century Hijri, during the reign of the great Sufi saint of the subcontinent, Hazrat Ghous Bandi, the Gilani Library was founded, and efforts were made to renew and search for the lost civilization, greatness and intellectual heritage of Uch Sharif, the former state of Bahawalpur. Among the private libraries of Och Sharif, Gilani Library has been a Muslim in terms of its tradition, manuscripts and rare books.

In 1214 Hijri, many of the knowledge treasures of this great library could not be kept safe, however, Makhdoom Hamid Muhammad Shamsuddin Syed Sadus Gilani (1250 to 1303 Hijri corresponding to 1834 to 1886), the Sajjada Nashin of Dargah Qadriya Ghousia Aliya at that time, collected these books. Renovated the box.

Makhdoom Hamid Muhammad Shamsuddin Sadus Gilani was a distinguished scholar, scholar, poet and researcher of his time, who had access to about 30 sciences. He paid special attention to the Gilani Library, employing the best writers of his time and expert in their art, and got many rare and rare books and his poetry written.

Prominent researcher, writer and poet of Bahawalpur State, Syed Masood Hasan Shahab Dehlvi, first published the knowledge treasure in the form of rare books and manuscripts in the Gilani Library of Ouch Sharif under the name of “Manuscripts of Gilani Library Ouch” in the fifties. Highlighted in the figure, according to the first edition of the above-mentioned book published in 1959, the number of important Arabic and Persian written and printed manuscripts in the Gilani library is 390, while a large number of books on various topics in the Urdu language are also in the Gilani library. exists in

According to Makhdoom Syed Iftikhar Hasan Gilani, the great-grandson of Makhdoom Hamid Muhammad Shamsuddin Sadus Gilani, the present Sajjadhan of Dargah Qadriya Ghosia Aliya Ouch Sharif and Provincial Parliamentary Secretary, Makhdoom Syed Iftikhar Hasan Gilani, in terms of its stature and tradition, the importance of Gilani Library is like a treasure.

He said that Mufti Tanveer Madani, under the supervision of Riyaz Hussain Bhatta, edited, deleted and lost the rare manuscripts in order to present this library in a new format for the benefit of the Urdudan class associated with knowledge and literature and research and compilation. They are working on solutions to excesses and additions, distinguishing the same letters, writing margins, signs of development and symbols and abbreviations, etc. Hidden glories will be unveiled.