Khwaja Aziz-ul-Hasan Majzoob

Khwaja Aziz-ul-Hasan Ghori "Majzoob" (1884–1944), born 12 June 1884 at Orai in Jhelum district, U.P., was a Sufi poet of the Chishti-Sabiri tradition and an authorized disciple and khalifa of Ashraf Ali Thanvi. He first wrote under the takhallus "Hasan"; after coming under Thanvi's influence he became "Majzoob" — the absorbed one. Educated at Aligarh (B.A., LL.B.), he served first in the excise department and then seven years as deputy collector; finding the post against his temperament, he took a lower salary in the education department, where he served as deputy inspector of Islamic makatib and then Inspector of Schools (U.P.), retiring on pension. He had no ustad in poetry; his kalam — hamd, munajat, na'at, marsiya, ghazal, nazm — is suffused with spirituality and gnosis (irfan). Nearly two hundred khulafa of Thanvi recited his mystical verse with devotion, and it remains beloved in the Thanvi silsila to this day. Per his will his kalam was first published as Kalam-e-Majzoob and then continuously as Kashkol-e-Majzoob. In prose he compiled Ashraf-us-Sawaneh (4 volumes, 1935–1943), the first and most authoritative biography of his master. He died at Orai on 17 August 1944.