Giani Sant Singh Maskeen



Giani Sant Singh Maskeen (1934-2005) a famous Sikh theologian, was born in 1934 at Lak Marwat in District Bannu in present Pakistan. Giani ji was the only son of his parents and had lived at Alwar in Rajasthan for the last 57 years of his life. He was honoured by the Sikh community with the rare title of Panth Ratan for his services to mankind through the message of Gurbani. Giani Sant Singh Maskeen died on 18 February 2005 due to a massive heart attack while attending a marriage in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Giani Sant Singh ji spread the message of the holy Guru Granth Sahib in different countries including USA, UK, Canada, Middle East, Thailand and Singapore. His followers include many person who are not even from sikh religion.

Giani ji was very fluent in Punjabi , Hindi , Urdu , Persian besides the basic knowledge of English. Maskeen ji was secular from heart and once agreed to perform katha in a Muslim mosque in Rajasthan but some of the organiser did not want a non Muslim to enter the mosque.

Giani Maskeen ji was a very well read person and frequently used to quote Ghalib, UStaad Zauk, Bulle Shah and other noted poets.

Giani ji once promised a sikh high priest to come to Amritsar for doing katha every year during the month of Diwali and kept his words till the end of his life for almost over 25 years.

During the 300 yr celebration of the Khalsa Panth, Maskeen ji was invited by the then high priest of Akal Takht to perform katha, despite recovering from a heart problem in the USA and against the advise of the doctors, maskeen ji travelled to amritsar for performing katha.

Giani Sant Singh Maskeen was infamous for exposing scams and other wrong doings in Sikh Temples, he was known to publish books detailing how many temple's would keep a majority of the donations for them selves. His works created shock waves through Sikhism since such scams were being exposed, for this he won the admiration of many and the hatred from some.

During the early part of his life and lack of resources at that time, Maskeen ji used to walk long distances to reach remote places for spreading the message of sikhism. Maskeen ji always stayed away from politics and focused on spreading the message of Guru Nanak.

 
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