Sufi Barkat Ali
Encyclopedia
Hadrat Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianiwi (Quduus Sirruhul Aziz), also referred to as Babaji Sarkar by his disciples (27 April 1911 – 26 January 1997) was a Muslim
Sufi saint who belongs to Qadri silsila
of Hadrat Abdul-Qadir Gilani born in a small village of Brahmi in the Tehsil
of Ludhiana in Northern India
.
Hadrat is founder of the non-political, non-profit, religious organisation, Darul Ehsan
.
Jatt ethnic group.
His father, Mian
Nigahi Bakhsh, was an employee of the British Army
.
Like the other Muslims he learned the reading of the Qur'an
in his village Brahmi and then went for education to the nearest available schools in the towns of Halwara, a famous town for its Indian Air Force base
and Rai Kot.
He gave various interviews to Pakistan National TV Channel PTV
. On September 25, 2008 Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri praised the founder of Darul Ehsan
, Barkat Ali and his work while talking to the participants.
as a commission officer in the engineering core on the 9 April 1930. A special certificate of education from Dehradun, Academy India was awarded to him along with the selection of “Voy cadet” in Military Academy
. His tenure in the army was spent in the Roorki Cantt. He served the Royal Engineering Core for thirteen years only and was boarded out honorably in 1945.
Religious visits to Khanqah
-e-Sabir (the Holy Sanctuary of Hazrat Sabir) at Kalyar some 6 miles (9.7 km) away from Roorki Cantt was a regular habit of Barkat Ali. He would often spend the night there in worship whilst employed in the army.
. His family consists of 5 daughters and one son. His son Mian
Muhammad
Anwar died at the age of 45 on 26 April 1981.
) at the hands of his Pir
Hakeem Syed Amir-ul-Hassan Saharanpuri, whom he called the 'Sultan of Mysticism (Shah-e-Wilayat)' on the 19 Rabi' al-thani
1363 A.H. at Peeran-e-Kalyar Sharif. His spiritual guide commanded him to migrate to Pakistan
at the time of the partition of the Indo-Pak subcontinent and then the people started calling him as an emigrant to Allah (Muhajir-il-Allah).
and a camp at Dalowal. Major operations, such as the removal of cataracts, are performed twice in a year with 100% success by the Muslim
doctors coming from all over the world at no cost. The hospital area is about one hundred and twenty five thousand square feet of space affording some twelve hundred beds. Between the two hospitals hundreds of thousand more procedures have been undertaken during the last decade.
and guidance of Muhammad
to the whole world, he wrote more than 400 books on different themes including religion, ethics, metaphysics, hierology, philosophy and psychology. These books are distributed worldwide free of charge. His publications include:
at Duke University
, United States
, Katherine Pratt Ewing, visited Darul Ehsan
in 1977 for her research study wrote a tribute to the Shaikh: "The presence of a living representative of the sufi traditions, who possesses all attributes of the original sufi pirs
further reinforces the position that the pirs were not mysterious, magical figures of the mystical past, but were pious men. They performed for their era what living sufis can do to day for ours."
and his mission is continuing through the efforts of his devotees.
Mubarak of Hadrat Abu Anees Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianwi (QSA) is held every year on the 16th of Ramadan ul Mubarak at Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan Chak # 242 RB (Faisalabad
, Pakistan
) with attendance in the tens of thousands.
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...
Sufi saint who belongs to Qadri silsila
Silsila
Silsila is a 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.-Plot:...
of Hadrat Abdul-Qadir Gilani born in a small village of Brahmi in the Tehsil
Tehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....
of Ludhiana in Northern 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...
.
Hadrat is founder of the non-political, non-profit, religious organisation, Darul Ehsan
Darul Ehsan
Dar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
.
Birth and early life
Hadrat was born into a Muslim family belonging to the DhariwalDhariwal
Dhariwal are a clan of Jats found in both India and Pakistan.- History :One branch of the Mudgals was called Dharan. Later on, these people were known as Dhariwals....
Jatt ethnic group.
His father, Mian
Mian
Mian is family name and a title of nobility used by Muslims in the Punjab region of South Asia.-Mian Khan Pashtuns:The Pathans of Bihar , have a large community of Pashtuns in the state of Bihar in India, who are said to have settled in the region from the 13th Century onwards...
Nigahi Bakhsh, was an employee of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
.
Like the other Muslims he learned the reading of 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...
in his village Brahmi and then went for education to the nearest available schools in the towns of Halwara, a famous town for its Indian Air Force base
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
and Rai Kot.
He gave various interviews to Pakistan National TV Channel PTV
Pakistan Television Corporation
The Pakistan Television Corporation is Pakistan's national television broadcaster. The first live transmission of PTV began on November 26, 1964, in Lahore...
. On September 25, 2008 Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri praised the founder of Darul Ehsan
Darul Ehsan
Dar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
, Barkat Ali and his work while talking to the participants.
Professional life
At the age of 19, he joined the Royal British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
as a commission officer in the engineering core on the 9 April 1930. A special certificate of education from Dehradun, Academy India was awarded to him along with the selection of “Voy cadet” in Military Academy
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
. His tenure in the army was spent in the Roorki Cantt. He served the Royal Engineering Core for thirteen years only and was boarded out honorably in 1945.
Religious visits to 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...
-e-Sabir (the Holy Sanctuary of Hazrat Sabir) at Kalyar some 6 miles (9.7 km) away from Roorki Cantt was a regular habit of Barkat Ali. He would often spend the night there in worship whilst employed in the army.
Married Life and Family
He married at the age of 16 with Barkat Bibi in August 1927, who died on 9 January 1978 and buried at SalarwalaSalarwala
Salarwala , is located in Faisalabad District, Punjab, Pakistan. Latitude 33.66; Longitude 73.28. It is a town situated on the Faisalabad to Lahore railway section. It is one of the oldest railway stations of pre-partition days. Many people have used it as a starting point for a railway journey...
. His family consists of 5 daughters and one son. His son Mian
Mian
Mian is family name and a title of nobility used by Muslims in the Punjab region of South Asia.-Mian Khan Pashtuns:The Pathans of Bihar , have a large community of Pashtuns in the state of Bihar in India, who are said to have settled in the region from the 13th Century onwards...
Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |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...
Anwar died at the age of 45 on 26 April 1981.
Bay'ah
Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) took allegiance (Bay'ahBay'ah
Bay'ah , in Islamic terminology, is an oath of allegiance to a leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
) at the hands of his Pir
Pir (Sufism)
Pir or Peer is a title for a Sufi master equally used in the nath tradition. They are also referred to as a Hazrat or Shaikh, which is Arabic for Old Man. The title is often translated into English as "saint" and could be interpreted as "Elder". In Sufism a Pir's role is to guide and instruct his...
Hakeem Syed Amir-ul-Hassan Saharanpuri, whom he called the 'Sultan of Mysticism (Shah-e-Wilayat)' on the 19 Rabi' al-thani
Rabi' al-thani
Rabī’ al-Thānī is the fourth month in the Islamic Calendar. It is also known as Rabī` al-Ākhir .-Timing:The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year,...
1363 A.H. at Peeran-e-Kalyar Sharif. His spiritual guide commanded him to migrate to 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...
at the time of the partition of the Indo-Pak subcontinent and then the people started calling him as an emigrant to Allah (Muhajir-il-Allah).
Basic Teachings
He always guided his followers to perform three tasks which forms the basis of his preachings. These are:- DhikrDhikrDhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...
ullah (invocation or remembrance of AllahAllahAllah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
the Almighty) - Dawat-o-tableeg-ul-Islam (invitation to and spread of IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
) - Belaus-khidmat-e-khalq (selfless service to mankind)
Charity works
Two free eye camps are held biannually at two different places: Darul EhsanDarul Ehsan
Dar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
and a camp at Dalowal. Major operations, such as the removal of cataracts, are performed twice in a year with 100% success by the 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...
doctors coming from all over the world at no cost. The hospital area is about one hundred and twenty five thousand square feet of space affording some twelve hundred beds. Between the two hospitals hundreds of thousand more procedures have been undertaken during the last decade.
Literary works
His literary work is recognized well in the Muslim world and his name is also included in List of Muslim writers and poets. In order to convey the message of AllahAllah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
and guidance of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |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...
to the whole world, he wrote more than 400 books on different themes including religion, ethics, metaphysics, hierology, philosophy and psychology. These books are distributed worldwide free of charge. His publications include:
- Makshoofat Manazal-e-Ehsan , 5 volumes
- Kitab-ul-Amal Bis-Sunnah , 5 volumes
- Asma-un-Nabi-ul-Kareem , 6 volumes
- Maqalat-e-Hikmat 30 volumes
- Zikr-e-Elahi , 1 volume
- Yusaloona-alan-Nabi, 1 volume
- Altobato Wal Astaghfar, 1 volume
- Al-Sammat, 1 volume
- Jism-ul-Wojood Al Barkat Ali, 1 volume
Famous sayings
- "Qul ishqu Muhammadin madhabi, wahubbuhu millati, wa ta'atuhu manzili" ("Say: Devotion to the 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...
(sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) is my Faith, his love my way of life, and obedience to him my goal.") - "Every city has a speciality. The speciality of Darul EhsanDarul EhsanDar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
is the remembrance of Allah." - "Everything revolves around an axis. The axis of Darul EhsanDarul EhsanDar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
is the love of the Holy Prophet and the unity of the Muslims. And this is the call of the time." - "The time is not far off when the decisions of the world will based on the 'yes' and 'no' of PakistanPakistanPakistan , 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...
."
Tribute by non-Muslims
Assistant Professor of Cultural AnthropologyCultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Katherine Pratt Ewing, visited Darul Ehsan
Darul Ehsan
Dar ul Ehsan is a Sufi tariqa founded by Sufi Barkat Ali, with world headquarters located in Faisalabad, Pakistan.-External links:* *...
in 1977 for her research study wrote a tribute to the Shaikh: "The presence of a living representative of the sufi traditions, who possesses all attributes of the original sufi pirs
Pir (Sufism)
Pir or Peer is a title for a Sufi master equally used in the nath tradition. They are also referred to as a Hazrat or Shaikh, which is Arabic for Old Man. The title is often translated into English as "saint" and could be interpreted as "Elder". In Sufism a Pir's role is to guide and instruct his...
further reinforces the position that the pirs were not mysterious, magical figures of the mystical past, but were pious men. They performed for their era what living sufis can do to day for ours."
Death
Hadrat Abu Anees Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianwi (QSA) died on 26 January 1997 (16 Ramadan-ul-Mubarak 1417 A.H.) at the time of Zuhr salah, aged 85 years and 9 months. He is buried at Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan, Chak # 242 RB, in FaisalabadFaisalabad
Faisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...
and his mission is continuing through the efforts of his devotees.
Urs Mubarak
The UrsUrs
Urs is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, usually held at the saint's dargah . South Asian Sufis being mainly Chishtiyya, refer to their saints as lovers and God as beloved...
Mubarak of Hadrat Abu Anees Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianwi (QSA) is held every year on the 16th of Ramadan ul Mubarak at Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan Chak # 242 RB (Faisalabad
Faisalabad
Faisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...
, 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...
) with attendance in the tens of thousands.
External links
- http://www.darulehsan.org/
- http://www.daar-ul-ehsaan.org/
- http://www.darulehsan.net/multimedia/video/DarulehsanVideoPlayer.php?id=50 (an official video clip from the Urs celebration at Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan in 2008).