Pir Meher Ali Shah
Encyclopedia
Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Gilani (Urdu: پیر مﮩرعلى شاه ) was born 14 April 1859 (1 Ramadan
, 1275 A.H.
) in Golra Sharif
, which is located midway between Rawalpindi
and Islamabad
, in present-day Pakistan
. The time just before his birth saw the Indian Rebellion of 1857
fought between the British
and the sepoy
s allied with seven of the Princely state
s. He is renowned as a Sufi
saint, a great Hanafi
scholar upholding the position of Hazrat Abdul Haqq Muhaddith Dehalvi
, and especially for being at the forefront of the anti-Ahmadiyya movement. He wrote several books, most notably Saif e Chishtiyai, (The Sword of the Chishtis
), a polemical work regarding the unorthodoxy and the heresy
of the Ahmadiyya
movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
.
.
at his family khanqah
(Sufi hospice) and was given classes in Urdu and Persian
in the local madrasah
. He completed his intermediate level religious education here. His stay in this madrasah was for about two and a half years.
After completing his education at Angah at the age of 15 from Mianwaddal family of Hafiz Rehmatullah, he decided to continue further studies in the United Provinces
(U.P) of India
. Therefore, Pir Meher Ali, in 1874 set out for higher education, to different parts of India such as Kanpur, Aligarh and Saharanpur
. His stay at Aligarh at the madrasah
of Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh was for two and a half years
, a few miles away from Golra Sharif.
اج سک متراں دی ودھیری اے
Why is my heart sadder today than ever before?
کیوں دلڑی اداس گھنیری اے
Why is my heart sadder today than ever before?
لوں لوں وچ شوق چنگیری اے
Why does longing penetrate every tissue of mine?
اج نیناں لائیاں کیوں جھڑیاں
And why are the eyes shedding tears like a shower of rain?
الطیف سری من طلعتہ
His shining face appeared to me in a vision,
والشذ و بدی من وفرتہ
And fragrance emanated in profusion from His tresses;
فسکرت ھنا من نظرتہ
I fainted from the sight of these visions;
نیناں دیاں فوجاں سر چڑھیاں
The hordes of his eyes overpowered me.
مکھ چند بدر شعشانی اے
His face shines like the full moon;
متھے چمکدی لاٹ نورانی اے
A brilliant light radiates from his brow;
کالی زلف تے اکھ مستانی اے
مخمور اکھیں ہن مدھ بھریاں
His hair is black, and his eyes are bewitching and intoxicated.
دو ابرو قوس مثال دسن
His two eye-brows are like cross-bows,
جیں تھیں نوک مژہ دے تیر چھٹن
Hurling darts of pointed eye-lashes (in all directions);
لباں سرخ آکھاں کہ لعل یمن
His lips are red like rubies of Yemen;
چٹے دند موتی دیاں ہن لڑیاں
His white teeth like a string of pearls.
اس صورت نوں میں جان آکھاں
I am not sure whether I should call his face the essence of life;
جانان کہ جان جہان آکھاں
Or life of the entire universe;
سچ آکھاں تے رب دی شان آکھاں
The truth is that it is (like) the glory of God,
جس شان تو شاناں سب بنیاں
From which all other (worldly) glories originated,
[ Note : This refers to the Holy Prophet's well-known hadith:
"Allah created (everything from my light, and I am from the Light of Allah"]
ایہہ صورت ہے بے صورت تھیں
This face (of the Prophet) emerged from the Faceless One (i.e., Allah);
بے صورت ظاہر صورت تھیں
The Faceless One manifests Himself through this face.
بے رنگ دسے اس مورت تھیں
The Colourless (Reality) has been revealing itself through this image,
وچ وحدت پھٹیاں جد گھڑیاں
Ever since Unity exploded into Diversity.
دسے صورت راہ بے صورت دا
It is this face (of the Holy Prophet) that guides (mankind) to the path of Faceless One (i.e., Allah);
توبہ راہ کی عین حقیقت دا
Nay (not the path only but) to the Ultimate Reality Itself.
پر کم نہیں بے سوجھت دا
However, understanding this (secret) is beyond the capacity of the simpleton;
کوئی ورلیاں موتی لے تریاں
Only the select few succeed in discovering and capturing the Pearl (of Truth).
ایہا صورت شالا پیش نظر
May this Face (of the Holy Prophet) remain before my eyes,
رہے وقت نزع تے روز حشر
In my last moments (of life) and on the Resurrection Day!
وچ قبر تے پل تھیں جد ہوسی گذر
Then (also) in my grave, and at the time of crossing the (razor-sharp) Bridge (on the Judgment Day as a test to separate the virtuous ones from the sinners);
سب کھوٹیاں تھیں سن تد کھریاں
Only then shall the fake ones become pure (in the sight of Allah).
یعطیک ربک داس تساں
Thou (O Holy Prophet) hast been blessed (by Allah) with the promise to grant thy desire (in full);
فترضی تھیں پوری آس اساں
And we (thy humble followers) have full faith in Allah's assurance that thou shalt be happy with the Bounty of Allah.
[Note: Reference here is to verse 5 of Surah XCIII of the Holy Quran:
"And presently (i.e., in the Hereafter, as also in this world) thy Lord shall grant unto thee
(O Prophet ! rich and abundant reward) so that thou shalt be well-pleased].
لج پال کریسی پاس اساں
The Gracious One (we hope) shall declare us successful (in the test of earthly life);
واشفع تشفع صحیح پڑھیاں
Because we have correctly understood the Divine words: "Intercede and thy intercession shall be accepted".
[Note: Here the reference is to the Prophet's divinely inspired hadith (hadith-e-Qudsi)in which Allah reassures the Prophet with the words i.e., his intercession for the
forgiveness of sinning believers shall be accepted by Allah on the Judgment Day].
لاہو مکھ تو مخطط برد یمن
Be gracious enough to remove from thy face the sheet of Yemen (O Prophet !),
من بھانوری جھلک دکھلاو سجن
And grant us a glimpse of thy endearing face.
اوہا مٹھیاں گالیں الاو مٹھن
Repeat once again those sweet words,
جو حمرا وادی سن کریاں
Which thou hadst uttered in the valley of Hamra.
حجرے توں مسجد آو ڈھولن
Come (once again) from thy cell to Mosque,
نوری جھات دے کارن سارے سکن
For everyone longs for a glimpse of thy image full of light;
دو جگ اکھیاں راہ دا فرش کرن
(And) denizens of both the worlds (i.e., this world and the Hereafter) are laying their eyes in thy path -
سب انس و ملک حوراں پریاں
Human beings, angels, the houris and the fairies.
انہاں سکدیاں تے کرلاندیاں تے
For the ones yearning and pining (for a glimpse of thine);
لکھ واری صدقے جاندیاں تے
Who are ready to sacrifice (their lives) for thy sake;
انہاں بردیاں مفت وکاندیاں تے
For these slaves ready to sell themselves out without any price (in thy path);
شالا آون وت وی اوھ گھڑیاں
May those moments of bliss come back once again!
سبحان اللہ ما اجملک
ما احسنک ما اکملک
Glory to Allah, who created thee (O Holy Prophet!) in the most beautiful, the best, and the most perfect mould.
کتھے مہر علی کتھے تیری ثنا
Who is (the humble) Meher Ali to chant thy praises;
گستاخ اکھیں کتھے جا اڑیاں
How (presumptuous and) impudent his eyes are to aspire to the heights of thy love!
Haji Imdadullah Muhaajir Makki, when he visited the latter in Mecca
. Hajji Imdadullah Mahajir Makki advised him to return to India, where a great storm was about to rise against Islam
, which Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Gilani must crush. Haji Imdadullah Mahajir Makki was of course predicting the Qadiyani heresy.
's ideology of Wahdat-ul-Wujood but he made a distinction between the creation and the creator (as did Ibn Arabi
). He also wrote a masterpiece explaining the Unity of Being doctrine of Ibn Arabi
.
Like his comrade, Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad
, he was an authority on Ibn Arabi
and his 37-volume masterpiece The Meccan Illuminations (Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya).
In 1933, Pir Meher Ali Shah was absorbed in his meditation and mystic trances. That year the great philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal had to give a lecture at Cambridge University on Ibn Arabi's concept of Space and Time. He wrote a letter to Pir Meher Ali Shah stating that now there was nobody in all of Hindustan
whom he could consult in this matter, and requesting him to tell about Ibn Arabi's concept of Space and Time. In this letter Sir Muhammad Iqbal stated with respect that he knew he was disturbing the learned Pir's meditations, but as his motive was the service of Islam, therefore he dared to ask him a question. Pir Meher Ali shah however, due to his meditation and bad health, could not reply.
Interestingly enough, the Deobandis still hold Pir Meher Ali Shah in high regard in spite of Pir Sahib's writing against him. They hold the claim that Pir Sahib did not write against the Deobandis, the opposite which is stated by Pir Meher Ali Shah's own grandson, The late Pir Abu Nizamuddin Mawlana Sayyid Nasiruddin Naseer Shah Golrawi, who states that he was told by Mawlana Abdus Shakur Hazarawi as well as Mawlana Muhib un-Nabi that he did not hold all Deobandis to be disbelievers unless they had committed acts of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad, which is an indirect reference towards Imam Ahmad Raza Khan's edict against the four Deobandis who had committed insults against the Prophet Muhammad.
Ramadan (calendar month)
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the month in which the Quran was revealed.Ramadan is the holiest of months in the Islamic calendar, and fasting in this month is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The month is spent by Muslims fasting during the daylight hours from dawn to...
, 1275 A.H.
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
) in Golra Sharif
Golra Sharif
Golra Sharif is a town situated near the Margalla Hills, in the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, at about above sea level, from the ancient city of Taxila.Golra Sharif is a shrine of the Sufi Mystic Pir Meher Ali Shah in Islamabad, Pakistan....
, which is located midway between Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
and Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, in present-day Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The time just before his birth saw the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
fought between the British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and the sepoy
Sepoy
A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...
s allied with seven of the Princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
s. He is renowned as a Sufi
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
saint, a great Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
scholar upholding the position of Hazrat Abdul Haqq Muhaddith Dehalvi
Abdul-Haqq Dehlavi
Sheikh Abdul Haq Muhaddith Dehlawi or Al Muhaddith Shaykh Abdul Haqq Dehlavi was an Islamic scholar.-Biography:He was born in 1551 in Delhi, hence the suffix Dehlavi to his name...
, and especially for being at the forefront of the anti-Ahmadiyya movement. He wrote several books, most notably Saif e Chishtiyai, (The Sword of the Chishtis
Chishti Order
The Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. The doctrine of the Chishti Order is based on walāya, which is a...
), a polemical work regarding the unorthodoxy and the heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
of the Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...
movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah , and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days...
.
Early childhood
Pir Meher Ali Shah reported that he loved seclusion since childhood, feeling uncomfortable in the midst of throngs of people, and finding deserted places serene. Quite often, he said, he would quietly leave the house at night after everyone else had gone to bed, and spend much of the night wandering the nearby wooded ravines. As he grew, he started experiencing a feeling of such unusual heat within his body that he was sometimes compelled — even on cold winter nights — to bathe in the ice-cold water of the canal, and also rub pieces of ice on his body. When he left his room late at night after finishing his studies, he used to experience the same kind of comfort from contact with the cold mountain air that a thirsty person normally derives from cool water at the height of summer. Sufis believe such heat is generated due to excessive amounts of Zikr or Dhikr, an Islamic practice that focuses on the remembrance of GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
Early education
Mehr Ali received his early education about the Qur'anQur'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...
at his family khanqah
Khanqah
A Khanqah, Khaniqah , ribat, zawiya, or tekke is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood, or tariqa, and is a place for spiritual retreat and character reformation...
(Sufi hospice) and was given classes in Urdu and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in the local madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
. He completed his intermediate level religious education here. His stay in this madrasah was for about two and a half years.
After completing his education at Angah at the age of 15 from Mianwaddal family of Hafiz Rehmatullah, he decided to continue further studies in the United Provinces
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
(U.P) of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Therefore, Pir Meher Ali, in 1874 set out for higher education, to different parts of India such as Kanpur, Aligarh and Saharanpur
Saharanpur
Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal Corporation in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur District as well as Saharanpur Division...
. His stay at Aligarh at the madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
of Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh was for two and a half years
Marriage
When Pir Meher Ali Shah returned home after completing his studies, he married the daughter of Syed Charagh Ali Shah who belonged to his mother’s family living in the town of Hasan AbdalHasan Abdal
Hasan Abdal is an historic town in Northern Punjab, Pakistan. It is located where the Grand Trunk Road meets the Karakoram Highway near the North-West Frontier Province province, northwest of Wah. It is 40 km northwest of Rawalpindi. It has a population of about over 50,000. It is famous for...
, a few miles away from Golra Sharif.
Works
- Tahqiq-ul-Haq Fi Kalima-tul-Haq (The Truth about Kalima-tul-Haq)
- Shamsul Hidayah
- Saif-e-Chishtiya
- I’la Kalimatillah Fi Bayan-e-Wa Ma Uhilla Bihi Legharillah
- AlFatuhat-us-Samadiyyah (Divine Bounties)
- Tasfiah Mabain Sunni Wa Shi’ah
- Fatawa-e-Mehria
- Mulfuzaat-e-Mehria (Sayings of Meher Ali Shah)
Poetry
Pir Meher Ali Shah was a famous Sufi poet. Most of his poetry is in the Persian and the Punjabi languages, with a few poems and couplets written in Urdu. The following poem, "Aj Sik Mitraan Di", is the most well-known of his writings.اج سک متراں دی ودھیری اے
Why is my heart sadder today than ever before?
کیوں دلڑی اداس گھنیری اے
Why is my heart sadder today than ever before?
لوں لوں وچ شوق چنگیری اے
Why does longing penetrate every tissue of mine?
اج نیناں لائیاں کیوں جھڑیاں
And why are the eyes shedding tears like a shower of rain?
الطیف سری من طلعتہ
His shining face appeared to me in a vision,
والشذ و بدی من وفرتہ
And fragrance emanated in profusion from His tresses;
فسکرت ھنا من نظرتہ
I fainted from the sight of these visions;
نیناں دیاں فوجاں سر چڑھیاں
The hordes of his eyes overpowered me.
مکھ چند بدر شعشانی اے
His face shines like the full moon;
متھے چمکدی لاٹ نورانی اے
A brilliant light radiates from his brow;
کالی زلف تے اکھ مستانی اے
مخمور اکھیں ہن مدھ بھریاں
His hair is black, and his eyes are bewitching and intoxicated.
دو ابرو قوس مثال دسن
His two eye-brows are like cross-bows,
جیں تھیں نوک مژہ دے تیر چھٹن
Hurling darts of pointed eye-lashes (in all directions);
لباں سرخ آکھاں کہ لعل یمن
His lips are red like rubies of Yemen;
چٹے دند موتی دیاں ہن لڑیاں
His white teeth like a string of pearls.
اس صورت نوں میں جان آکھاں
I am not sure whether I should call his face the essence of life;
جانان کہ جان جہان آکھاں
Or life of the entire universe;
سچ آکھاں تے رب دی شان آکھاں
The truth is that it is (like) the glory of God,
جس شان تو شاناں سب بنیاں
From which all other (worldly) glories originated,
[ Note : This refers to the Holy Prophet's well-known hadith:
"Allah created (everything from my light, and I am from the Light of Allah"]
ایہہ صورت ہے بے صورت تھیں
This face (of the Prophet) emerged from the Faceless One (i.e., Allah);
بے صورت ظاہر صورت تھیں
The Faceless One manifests Himself through this face.
بے رنگ دسے اس مورت تھیں
The Colourless (Reality) has been revealing itself through this image,
وچ وحدت پھٹیاں جد گھڑیاں
Ever since Unity exploded into Diversity.
دسے صورت راہ بے صورت دا
It is this face (of the Holy Prophet) that guides (mankind) to the path of Faceless One (i.e., Allah);
توبہ راہ کی عین حقیقت دا
Nay (not the path only but) to the Ultimate Reality Itself.
پر کم نہیں بے سوجھت دا
However, understanding this (secret) is beyond the capacity of the simpleton;
کوئی ورلیاں موتی لے تریاں
Only the select few succeed in discovering and capturing the Pearl (of Truth).
ایہا صورت شالا پیش نظر
May this Face (of the Holy Prophet) remain before my eyes,
رہے وقت نزع تے روز حشر
In my last moments (of life) and on the Resurrection Day!
وچ قبر تے پل تھیں جد ہوسی گذر
Then (also) in my grave, and at the time of crossing the (razor-sharp) Bridge (on the Judgment Day as a test to separate the virtuous ones from the sinners);
سب کھوٹیاں تھیں سن تد کھریاں
Only then shall the fake ones become pure (in the sight of Allah).
یعطیک ربک داس تساں
Thou (O Holy Prophet) hast been blessed (by Allah) with the promise to grant thy desire (in full);
فترضی تھیں پوری آس اساں
And we (thy humble followers) have full faith in Allah's assurance that thou shalt be happy with the Bounty of Allah.
[Note: Reference here is to verse 5 of Surah XCIII of the Holy Quran:
"And presently (i.e., in the Hereafter, as also in this world) thy Lord shall grant unto thee
(O Prophet ! rich and abundant reward) so that thou shalt be well-pleased].
لج پال کریسی پاس اساں
The Gracious One (we hope) shall declare us successful (in the test of earthly life);
واشفع تشفع صحیح پڑھیاں
Because we have correctly understood the Divine words: "Intercede and thy intercession shall be accepted".
[Note: Here the reference is to the Prophet's divinely inspired hadith (hadith-e-Qudsi)in which Allah reassures the Prophet with the words i.e., his intercession for the
forgiveness of sinning believers shall be accepted by Allah on the Judgment Day].
لاہو مکھ تو مخطط برد یمن
Be gracious enough to remove from thy face the sheet of Yemen (O Prophet !),
من بھانوری جھلک دکھلاو سجن
And grant us a glimpse of thy endearing face.
اوہا مٹھیاں گالیں الاو مٹھن
Repeat once again those sweet words,
جو حمرا وادی سن کریاں
Which thou hadst uttered in the valley of Hamra.
حجرے توں مسجد آو ڈھولن
Come (once again) from thy cell to Mosque,
نوری جھات دے کارن سارے سکن
For everyone longs for a glimpse of thy image full of light;
دو جگ اکھیاں راہ دا فرش کرن
(And) denizens of both the worlds (i.e., this world and the Hereafter) are laying their eyes in thy path -
سب انس و ملک حوراں پریاں
Human beings, angels, the houris and the fairies.
انہاں سکدیاں تے کرلاندیاں تے
For the ones yearning and pining (for a glimpse of thine);
لکھ واری صدقے جاندیاں تے
Who are ready to sacrifice (their lives) for thy sake;
انہاں بردیاں مفت وکاندیاں تے
For these slaves ready to sell themselves out without any price (in thy path);
شالا آون وت وی اوھ گھڑیاں
May those moments of bliss come back once again!
سبحان اللہ ما اجملک
ما احسنک ما اکملک
Glory to Allah, who created thee (O Holy Prophet!) in the most beautiful, the best, and the most perfect mould.
کتھے مہر علی کتھے تیری ثنا
Who is (the humble) Meher Ali to chant thy praises;
گستاخ اکھیں کتھے جا اڑیاں
How (presumptuous and) impudent his eyes are to aspire to the heights of thy love!
Sufi of the Chishti Order
Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Gilani was a disciple and Khalifa of Hazrat Shams-ud-din in the Silsila-e-Chishtia Nizamiyah. His biography, Meher-e-Muneer, records that he was also made a khalifa by HazratHadrat
is an honourific Arabic title used to honour a person. The literal translation of Hadrah is "Presence". In usage it is comparable to traditional Western honorifics addressing high officials, such as "your honour", "your majesty" or "your holiness".The term was also loaned into Turkish and...
Haji Imdadullah Muhaajir Makki, when he visited the latter in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Hajji Imdadullah Mahajir Makki advised him to return to India, where a great storm was about to rise against Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, which Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Gilani must crush. Haji Imdadullah Mahajir Makki was of course predicting the Qadiyani heresy.
- MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
- Ali Ibn-e-Abu Talib
- Hasan of Basra
- Abdul Wahid bin Zaid
- Fuzeel Ibn-e-Ayaaz
- Sultan Ibrahim Adham
- Sadeed-ud-din
- Ameen-ud-din
- Mumshaad
- Abi Ishaq Shami Chishti
- Syed Abi Ahmad Abdal Chishti
- Syed Abi Muhammad Chishti
- Syed Nasir-ud-din Chishti
- Syed Qutb-ud-din Maudud Chishti
- Makhdum Haji Sharif
- Usman Harooni
- Syed Moin-ud-din Chishti of Ajmer Sharif
- Syed Qutb-ud-din Bakhtiar Kaki
- Baba Fareed-ud-din Ganjshakar
- Syed Nizaam-ud-din Awlia
- Naseer-ud-din Charagh-e-Delhi
- Kamaal-ud-din
- Siraaj-ud-din
- I’lm-ud-din
- Mehmood Rajan
- Jamaal-ud-din Juman
- Jamaal-ud-din Hasan Muhammad Nuri
- Qutb Shams-ud-din Muhammad
- Muhammad
- Kaleem Ullah Jahanabadi
- Nizaam-ud-din Aurongabadi
- Fakhr-ud-din
- Nur Muhammad Mahaarvi
- Muhammad Sulaiman Taunsvi
- Shams-ud-din Sialvi
- Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Gilani
- pir Mobarak Ali Shah
- Chai Mohammad Siddik
- Abu Kashem Chishti
- Baba Abul Kashem Jahangir
Supporter of Wahdat-ul-Wujood (The Unicity of Existence)
Pir Meher Ali Shah was a supporter of Ibn ArabiIbn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Moorish Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī .-Biography:...
's ideology of Wahdat-ul-Wujood but he made a distinction between the creation and the creator (as did Ibn Arabi
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Moorish Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī .-Biography:...
). He also wrote a masterpiece explaining the Unity of Being doctrine of Ibn Arabi
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Moorish Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī .-Biography:...
.
Like his comrade, Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad
Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad
Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad , was an eminent legal scholar of Qur'an, Hadith, and the Hanafi school of Islamic law . As a master of all the branches of contemporary knowledge of Islam, he was an acknowledged authority on Muslim jurisprudence...
, he was an authority on Ibn Arabi
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Moorish Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī .-Biography:...
and his 37-volume masterpiece The Meccan Illuminations (Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya).
In 1933, Pir Meher Ali Shah was absorbed in his meditation and mystic trances. That year the great philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal had to give a lecture at Cambridge University on Ibn Arabi's concept of Space and Time. He wrote a letter to Pir Meher Ali Shah stating that now there was nobody in all of Hindustan
Hindustan
Hindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...
whom he could consult in this matter, and requesting him to tell about Ibn Arabi's concept of Space and Time. In this letter Sir Muhammad Iqbal stated with respect that he knew he was disturbing the learned Pir's meditations, but as his motive was the service of Islam, therefore he dared to ask him a question. Pir Meher Ali shah however, due to his meditation and bad health, could not reply.
Anti-Ahmadiyya preaching
Pir Meher Ali Shah got settled at Hijaz by the end of nineteenth century; Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki of Makkah appointed him to go back to India and to fight the new movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadyan. So he came back and played a role among the people against the Ahmadiyya movement, writing books such as Saif e Chistiya against the Ahmadiyya movement. Pir Meher Ali Shah also challenged Mirza Ghulam Ahmed to a public debate in Lahore. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had challenged him in writing a commentary of the Holy Quran.Relationship with the Deobandis
Pir Sahib also has written against the Deobandis. For example, he debated two Deobandis, Ahmad Ali Vabacharan and Ghulamullah Khan, and as per Mawlana Ghulam Mahmud Panpalawi, the student of Pir Meher Ali Shah, he endorsed Imam Ahmad Raza Khan's fatwa against the Deobandi school's four leaders (i.e. Ashraf `Ali al-Thanwi, Rashid Ahmad al-Gangohi, Khalil al-Ambethawi al-Saharanpuri, and Qasim al-Nanautawi).Interestingly enough, the Deobandis still hold Pir Meher Ali Shah in high regard in spite of Pir Sahib's writing against him. They hold the claim that Pir Sahib did not write against the Deobandis, the opposite which is stated by Pir Meher Ali Shah's own grandson, The late Pir Abu Nizamuddin Mawlana Sayyid Nasiruddin Naseer Shah Golrawi, who states that he was told by Mawlana Abdus Shakur Hazarawi as well as Mawlana Muhib un-Nabi that he did not hold all Deobandis to be disbelievers unless they had committed acts of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad, which is an indirect reference towards Imam Ahmad Raza Khan's edict against the four Deobandis who had committed insults against the Prophet Muhammad.