 Santa Shishunala Sharifa was born on 7 March 1819 in Shishuvinahala, a village in Shigganvi taluk (in Haveri district), Karnataka.He was the son of an Imam Saheb, who was a disciple of Hajaresha Qadri, whose dream it was to unite Hinduism I and Islam.Hajaresha Qadri used to give “Linga Deeksha”, or initiation by tying a linga around the neck of a disciple, as per the Hindu Lingayat tradition.