brief biographical sketch of him is found in "Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature" (1987), which reports C. L. Osborne as the pioneer to write an English monograph on Bulleh Shah's life and work. Poetry Bulleh Shah lived after the Punjabi Sufi poet and saint Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179–1266) and lived in the same period as other Punjabi Sufi poet Sultan Bahu (1629–1691). His lifespan also overlapped with the Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722–1799), of Heer Ranjha fame and the Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahab (1739–1829), better known by his pen name Sachal Sarmast. Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived 400 miles away from Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810) of Delhi. Bulleh Shah practised the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1629–1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640–1724). The verse form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is the Kafi, popular in Punjabi and Sindhi poetry. His poetry is a mixture of traditional mystic thought and intellectualism. Many people have put his Kafis to music, from humble street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Fareed Ayaz, Pathanay Khan, Abida Parveen, the Waddali Brothers and Sain Zahoor, from the synthesised techno qawwali remixes of UK-based Asian artists to the Pakistani rock band Junoon. Among the most distinguished persons to be influenced by Bulleh Shah's poetry had been Sir Muhammad Iqbal. It is maintained that Iqbal took his last breath while listening to his kafi. He is the "most famous and celebrated" Punjabi poet and is widely recognized as "poet par excellence". Philosophy and views Bulleh Shah's non-orthodox views and simple language played important role in popularization of his poetry. It has been noted in literature that "one reason for his all-time popularity is relatively modern vocabulary." Among the core tenants of his philosophy includes humanism, equality, tolerance, rejection of double standards and defiance of the authority of Ulama and blind faith in their authority. For his criticism of replication of beliefs (blind faith and following), the "Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare" compared Bulleh Shah with Percy Bysshe Shelley. Among major taboos in his philosophy was reciting words without comprehending them. He was a reformer with very much conscious of the contemporary religious, political and social situations. In Bulleh Shah's poetry, Sufism can be seen as an indigenous philosophy of political activism and class struggle and resistance to powerful institutions like religion and imperialism. Through his poems he