MAKHDOOM BILAWAL BIN JAM HASSAN SAMO: THE HONORABLE SUFI SAINT OF SINDH

Makhdoom Bilawal Bin Jam Hassan Samo (1451-1523) was a renowned sufi saint, philosopher and poet from the Sindh province, Pakistan. He is also known as Makhdum Bilal or Bilali Makhdum. He belonged to Samma Royalty and was an active member of the ruling family of Thatta. He was ordered to be crushed alive in a seed grinder after the Battle of Talti for condemning the Arguns conquest of Sindh in the time period of 1522.

The shrine of Shaheed Makhdoom Bilawal Bin Jam Hasssan Samo is in Baghban village, 7 miles to the north of Dadu in Sindh province, adjacent to be Indus Highway. Near the shrine is a Jamia Masjid and a water pond. The mosque at his mausoleum was built by his devotee Sardar Mahboob Khan Wagan. In the vicinity of the tomb, there are also mazaars of very popular saints such as Makhdoom Danyal, who was a spiritual teacher of Makhdoom Bilawal

The annual urs of Makhdoom Bilawal (death anniversary) is held on the 30 Safar – the 2nd month of the Muslim lunar calendar.

Life of Makhdoom Bilawal Bin Jam Hassan Samo

He acquired his early education in Thatta, and gained further education in Talti under the tutelage of Makhdoom Muhammad Umar. He was married in Talal and made Talal his permanent home. He was an accomplished scholar of Hadith and interpreter of the Holy Quran. As his popularity spread far and wide in this capacity, individuals from distant places came to him to benefit from his learning. He also acquired a very elevated place as a mystic. He belonged to the Kibrvia branch of Suhrawardiyya order of Sufi.

Makhdoom Bilawal Bin Jam Hassan Samo put up a key opposition against the foreign aggression Shah Beg Arghun in the province of Sindh in the 15-16th century. Arghun Khan was the 4th ruler of the Mongol empire’s Ilkhanate, from the time period of 1284 to 1291 and was a devout Buddhist. In retaliation, Arghun started a plot against Bilawal, getting a clergyman to stitch a page of the Holy Quran inside his slippers. Bilawal Samo was asked what the punishment should be for a person who desecrated the Holy Quran and when he replied, “death,” showed the page of the Quran stitched in his slippers. Finally, he was ground to pieces in an oil grinder.