History
Born Jalal ad-Din 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-Mashaykh (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 Various traditions and historical documents differ.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 the minority 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 Islamic theology (Feqh). He achieved spiritual perfection (Kamaliyyat) after 30 years of study, practice and meditation
According to legend, one day his uncle, Sheikh Kabir gave Shah Jalal a handful of soil and asked him to travel to India. He instructed him to choose to settle and propagate Islam in any place in India where the soil exactly matches that which he gave him in smell and color. Shah Jalal journeyed eastward and reached India in c. 1300, where he met many great scholars and Sufi mystics. He arrived at Ajmer, where he met the great Sufi mystic and scholar, Pir Khawaja Gharibnawaz Muinuddin Hasan Chisty, who is credited with the spread of Islam in India. In Delhi, he met with Nizam Uddin Aulia, another major Sufi mystic and scholar.
During the later stages of his life, Shah Jalal devoted himself to propagating Islam.Shah Jalal became so renowned that the famous traveller Ibn Battuta, then in Satgaon made a one-month journey through the mountains of Kamarupa north-east of Sylhet to meet him. At the meeting in 1345 CE, Ibn Batuta noted that Shah Jalal was tall and lean, fair in complexion and lived by the mosque in a cave, where his only item of value was a goat he kept for milk, butter, and yoghurt.
The meeting between Ibn Batuta and Shah Jalal is described in his Arabic travelogue, Rihla (The Journey). Amir Khusrau also gives an account of Shah Jalal's conquest of Sylhet in his book Afdalul Hawaade. Even today in Hadramaut, Yemen, Shah Jalal's name is established in folklore.
The exact date of his death is debated, but he is reported by Ibn Batuta to have died on 20 Dhul Qadah 746 AH (15 March 1346 CE).[9] He left behind no descendants and was buried in Sylhet in his dargah (tomb), which is located in a neighbourhood now known as Dargah Mahalla
According to legend, Shah Jalal found a match to the earth his uncle once gave him, and according to his uncle's wishes, he settled down in Sylhet, near Choukidhiki. It is from here that he preached Islam and became a celebrated Muslim figure in Bengal. He and his disciples travelled and settled as far as Mymensingh and Dhaka to spread the teachings of Islam, such as Shah Paran in Sylhet, Shah Malek Yemeni in Dhaka, Syed Ahmad Kolla Shahid in Comilla, Syed Nasiruddin in the region of Pargana Taraf, Haji Daria and Shaikh Ali Yemeni.
The guardians of the shrine decide who may enter to view the tomb, and sometimes visitors are turned away if the guardians feel that they are dressed inappropriately, or for other reasons, as the tomb is viewed as a place of respect and admiration, not as one of the town’s tourist attractions. Visitors who are allowed to enter are advised to treat this privilege as a great honor.