Makhdoom Ali Mahimi was a Muslim Scholar origin from the Konkan

Konkan

The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...

 in India, widely acknowledged for his scholarly treatises, liberal views and humanist ideals. Mahimi was born into a family of Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 travelers from Iraq who had settled down on the island of Mahim

Mahim

Mahim is a neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also the name of a railway station in Mahim area, on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Railway railway line. In ancient times, the area was known as Maijim, Mejambu, Mahikawati....

, one of the seven islands

Seven islands of Bombay

The seven islands of Bombay were an archipelago of islands that were, over a span of five centuries, connected to form the area of the modern city of Mumbai in India. The seven islands were gradually physically united through land reclamation projects...

 that later formed the city of Bombay (now Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

).

Not much is known of his early childhood. He later became the disciple of Mohiuddin Ibne Arabi, a Spanish Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 saint. Mahimi's reputation grew after the Sultan

Sultan

Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...

 of Gujarat, Ahmed Shah

Ahmed Shah of Gujarat

Ahmed Shah of Gujarat was a sultan of Gujarat's ruling Muzaffarid dynasty from 1411 until his death in 1442. Today, he is famously known as Ahmed Shah Badshah of Ahmedabad....

 of the Muzaffarid dynasty

Muzaffarid dynasty

The Muzaffarid dynasty were sultans of Gujarat in western India from 1391 to 1583. The founder of the dynasty was Zafar Khan Muzaffar who was governor of Gujarat under the Delhi Sultanate. Zafar Khan's father Sadharan, was a Jat convert to Islam...

, chose him to be the town's Qazi (the Head Muslim Judge/cleric of a town).

Mahimi was the first Indian scholar to write an exegesis on the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

, which gained critical acclimation from numerous Islamic scholars including Shah Waliullah

Shah Waliullah

Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi was an Islamic scholar and reformer. He was born during the reign of Aurangzeb. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power...

. Authoring a total of nineteen books, he was given the moniker Qutb-e -Kokan (Kokan's Pole Star

Pole star

The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...

). His commentary (tafseer) of the Nobel Quran in Arabic "Tayseer Al-Quran" is available in Al Azhar University, Cairo and Ummul-Qura University, Makkah.

Mahimi is revered by both the Muslims and Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

s, all Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 sects hold him in high esteem. After his death in 1431, he was buried in Mahim. The site later became a dargah

Dargah

A Dargah is a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Local Muslims visit the shrine known as . Dargahs are often associated with Sufi meeting rooms and hostels, known as khanqah...

 (shrine) for devotees.

Urs festival

During the annual ten day Urs festival celebrated on the 13th day of Shawwal

Shawwal

Shawwāl is the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Shawwāl means to ‘lift or carry’; so named because she-camels normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year.-Fasting during Shawwāl:...

 as per the Muslim calendar, millions of devotees visit his dargah.

The highlight of this is a procession of around eight thousand begins at the Mahim Police Station, believed to be the site of his residence. Two police officers from each of the eighty four city police

Mumbai Police

The Mumbai Police is the police force of the city of Mumbai, India. It has the primary responsibilities of law enforcement and investigation within the limits of Mumbai. The department's motto is ""...

 stations represent the police whose association with the saint dates back to the saint's era. A representative of the Mumbai police who is the first to offer the "chaddar" (shawl) at the tomb on the first day of the festival. Legend has it that it was a police constable who gave water to the dying saint from his cap. Another story points to some miraculous assistance police officers once received from an old man, whom they believed was the saint, in fighting smugglers.

A room adjacent to the office of the senior inspector of police station contains a steel cupboard that houses the saint's preserved belongings such as his chair, a pair of sandals and his hand-written Qur'an which is considered to be a calligraphic

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

 work of art. The room is opened once every year to the public. In 1920 the cupboard was purchased by a senior British police inspector, Raymond Esquire as a tribute to the saint he revered.

On 2005-05-21, the government of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 named the JJ Flyover after the saint as a tribute to the saint. The 2.1 kilometre flyover is the longest viaduct

Viaduct

A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

in the country.

Name And Lineage

His name is Ali as well as Alauddin. His surname is Abul Hasan and the title is Zainuddin. The tribes of Nawait familes were connected to the ‘Paro’ and the same that is ‘Paro’ was his family title. Being well versed in theology he was called Faquih and being a place of refuge to all and a competent authority he was called Makhdum.He was considered to be one of the saints. So, he was called, Shaikh’.

His respectable father’s name is Maulana Shaikh Ahmad rehmatullahi alaih who was a learned man of high grade and he was a genuine saint. He was considered to be one of the wealthy traders of Kokan.

His honourable mother’s name is Hazrat Fatima Bint (Daughter of) Nakhuda Husain Ankolia. It is said of his maternal grandfather that he was king of the traders. His venerable mother was a pious devout, an abstinent and she was very religious minded and god-fearing. She was a saintly woman.

1) He is Makhdum Ali Bin Ahmad rehmatullahi alaih and known as Ibn (son) of Bint (daughter of) Husain Nakuda Ankolia. This statement (opinion) has been adapted from a book namely Khatib Kalyani in an Arabic magazine Zamirul Insaan.

2) He is Ali Bin Hasan Bin Ibrahim Bin Ismail, the writer of ilhamur Rehman and Compiler of Tafsirur Rehman Bin Muhammad Bin Ahmad entitled Kodar. This opinion was found written at the end of ‘Shumailul Atqiya by the writer of this magazine. This book Shumail’, as per the writer of the magazine was written in his own handwriting by Hazrat Makhdum Ali Faquih Mahaimi rehmatullahi alaih. He writes, also that, the scholars of our times were fully sure that the second statement had been written by Hazrat Makhdum Ali Faquih Mahaimi rehmatullahi alaih himself at the end of the’ Shumail’.

Maulawi Late Muhammad Yusuf Khatkhate. referring to a passage of the handwritten book Tabsirur Rehman, has written that in this book as described, of Hazrat Makhdurn Ali rehmatullahi alaih, is Alauddin and as a matter of fact our forefathers and parents are related to Ali Paro Bin Ahmad Paro Bin Ali Paro Bin Ahmad Paro and as well as, ibn bint (D/O) Husain Nakhuda Ankolia . And probably it is the right one.

This hand-written copy of the book was copied down 133 years after the death of Hazrat Makhdum Ali Faquih Mahaimi rehmatullahi alaih any way, Hazrat Makhdum Ali was a son and decendent of a gentle and respectable family. And his predecessors were originally Arabs that is Naiti. In an ancient book. It is written that (Hazrat Makhdum Ali rehmatullahi alaih Maulana Shaikh Ahmad Mahaimi rehmatullahi alaih comes of a Nawait Clan. This word is on the metre (weight) of Thawabit. A certain community lived in the cities and towns of Southern India (The Deccan). Their description is available in the Persian books. An ancient written, Tabri has written in his historical book that Naita is a tribe of ‘Quraish who had fled from Madina Munawwara due to the fear of Hajjaj Bin Yusuf (who had killed five thousand scholars and saintly people without any pretext). And these people got down near about the mouth of the Indus River. and they made that territory their living place.