Abdul Hamid Baba

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Abdul Hameed Masho Gagar.ماشوگاگر
Died circa 1732
Residence about 14 km from Peshawar City on Kohat Road
Ethnicity Pashtun
Known for Pashto Poetry
Religion Islam

Abdul Hameed Mashokhel (Pashto: عبدالحميد ماشوخېل‎ - also known as Abdul Hamid Baba), was a Pashtun poet and Sufi figure.[1]


Abdul Hameed Masho Gagar was born in the second half of the 17th century at Mashu Gagar, a small village controlled by the Kudrizi branch of the Mohmand clan, a Pashtun tribe. Hameed travelled to Peshawar, where he undertook his education, and became a priest. At this point, Hameed was a man of considerable stature among intellectuals, and students from a number of surrounding districts came to receive instruction from him.[2]

Hameed's poetry was written primarily in the Pashto language. His poems generally had a moral to them, and were often tinged with tones of contempt for the world and its lack of virtue. The morals of his poems were based on Sufism, as a large proportion of other Muslim poetry was. Hameed's poetry was popular even in Persia, where he was dubbed "Hameed the Hair-splitter". Hameed's major works, Love's Fascination, The King and the Beggar and Pearls and Corals have all been translated into English.[2]

Hameed's exact death date is not known, but it is thought by those in his home village that he died around the year 1732. He died in the same house that he had lived in for most of his life.[2]


  1. ^ "18th century Sufi poet’s grave in ruins". The Express Tribune. 
  2. ^ a b c "Abdul Hameed Baba". Dawatan.com. December 29, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2011. 

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