Amir al Millat Hadrat Pir Sayyid Jamaat Ali Shah Sahib quds-sirruhu
(c.1840 -1951) of Alipur Sharif, Sialkot, Pakistan. The Shaykh was one
of the great saints of the Punjab and a sayyid also from both maternal
and paternal sides of his family. His ancestors, all sufi masters
themselves, hailed from Shiraz in Iran and came to the Subcontinent when
one of them accompanied Emperor Humayoun back to Delhi after his exile
in Iran where Humayoun had originally met him. The Shaykh's ancestors
honoured the court of Humayoun with their presence but when Akbar began
to deviate from the religion of Islam and announced his 'Din i Ilaahi'
they left the imperial court in protest.
Akbar was loathe to see such
saintly persons go but they were adamant and so he granted them a piece
of land in Alipur area as a parting honour. Here the Shaykh's ancestors
settled in the subcontinent and their descendants have remained there
ever since.Hadrat Jama'at Ali Shah sahib was renowned for his
saintliness even as a young child and after completing his religious
studies (he was an expert in all of the branches of fiqh but especially
in the sciences of hadith) he went throughout the width and breadth of
the subcontinent working tirelessly for Islam and the Muslims.
He laid
the foundation stones--and funded-- hundreds of mosques throughout the
Subcontinent from Peshawar to Hyderabad, Deccan. He was a leading
personality in all of the major movements of that time such as the
Khilafat movement and he was especially active against the Arya Samaj
movement and helped to save the iman of countless Muslims with his
tireless efforts. He also was one of the key defenders of the Ahl
as-Sunnah faith against the rise of Qadianism and also was an opponent
of the reform movements like that of the Wahabis.
He had a wonderful,
awe-inspiring personality and was gentle and loving towards all, yet was
afraid of no one when it came to defending the religion of Allah's
Messenger sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam; this is demonstrated by his
leadership of the Muslims during the Shahid Ganj Mosque incident where
the Shaykh led the opposition to the plans of the British rulers in
Lahore as well as his refusal to pray behind the official Wahabi Imams
in the Haramain appointed by King Saud and his refusal to visit the King
when he was ordered to do so to explain: "I am a faqeer, he is a king"
was his famous reply.
In the end it was Saud who relented and allowed
the Shaykh to pray by himself! He received medals from the Sultan of
Ottoman Turkey for his services to Islam and for his amazing generosity
in helping the people of Madina during a drought there for which he
received the title "Abu'l Arab".However, apart from his vast learning,
it was as a Sufi shaykh that the saint was loved by the populace and it
is estimated that he had over 1 million murids [disciples] from
Afghanistan to the southern tip of India; he received the khirqa [cloak]
from his Shaykh very soon after taking bayah [pledge of spiritual
allegaince] and was thus the representative of his Shaykh early on. He
was authorized to accept murids into many Sufi Orders but it was as a
Naqshbandi Master that he is famous for, carrying the great secret of
this Order.
He transformed the lives of countless people and sinners
repented at his hands by the thousand and many others themselves reached
the highest levels of spiritual development by his attention. His
karamaat [miracles] are too many to recount and there are many
eye-witnesses to them.
He was extremely generous and magnanimous towards
all, especially the poor, and he would not eat alone and the poor had
been invited to share his table with him. Though possessing great family
wealth the Shaykh spent it all on Islam and the poor, himself living
frugally in the manner of the great Naqshbandi Sufis of the past.He was a
big supporter of the Pakistan movement and amongst his admirers was one
Muhammad Iqbal, the poet.
Also, he wrote many letters to Quaid e Azam
offering advice and support and he was instrumental in getting the
populace to vote for the Muslim League: he issued a fatwa saying that he
would not read the janazah prayer of anyone of his mureeds who did not
vote for Pakistan. He sent a tasbih and prayer mat to the Quaid too and
asked him to pray regularly. As a Sufi he occupied the status of a
Perfect Master and he was loved by all and sundry.
It is for his love of
the Beloved Prophet of Allah alayhi salaat o salaam that he is
especially famous for. He passed onto his Creator in 1951 but until the
very end he stuck passionately to the commands of the Shar'iah, never
missing a prayer and often he would pray all night long. Inna lillaha wa
inna ilayhi raaj'iun.
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