Portal:Punjab/Selected biography/6

Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri (Punjabi: سید عبداللہ شاہ قادری) (Shahmukhi), ਸਈਅਦ ਅਬਦੁੱਲਾ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਕਾਦਰੀ (Gurmukhi); 1680–1757) popularly known as Bulleh Shah (بلھے شاہ (Shahmukhi); ਬੁੱਲੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ (Gurumukhi)), was a Punjabi humanist and philosopher. His first spiritual teacher was Shah Inayat Qadiri, a Sufi murshid of Lahore.

Bulleh Shah's writings represent him as a humanist, someone providing solutions to the sociological problems of the world around him as he lives through it, describing the turbulence his homeland of Punjab is passing through, while concurrently searching for God. His poetry highlights his mystical spiritual voyage through the four stages of Sufism: Shariat (Path), Tariqat (Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). The simplicity with which Bulleh Shah has been able to address the complex fundamental issues of life and humanity is a large part of his appeal.