Abu Anees Barkat Ali (R.A) - Sufism Biographies

The saints and seers of the caliber and stature of Ali Ibn Uthman
Al-Hujiwiri Al-Jullabi (d.107 CE) who founded a tariqa (wufi order),
discharged ta'lim (teaching), initiated murid (disciples or novices),
performed dhikr (remembrance of God), proffered spiritual healing,
conducted islah (reformation) and aboveall had spirituality reigning
most high in his being would not be born every so often. Al-Hujwiri
left the common legacy of his tantalizing and memorable Kashf
Al-Mahjub, the oldest text book par excellence on mystical dimension
ofIslam in Persian laguage,also available in major laguage of the
world especially Professor Nicholson's most readable translation
intoEnglish. He has these days the traditional fivefold role of the
khanqah (convent or lodge), ziyarat (shrine), masjid (mosque)
madrassah (school) and the guest house all adumbrated and imbuedin his
seminary in Lahore.
A man well known as Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali, addressed lovingly
as Babbaji, was born in 1911 in the District of Ludhiana (EastPunjab)
and died on 26th January 1997. He was an embodment of all the
qualities and character-traits of the great sufi masters and the pious
of the past (salf salehim). Once again he revived, practised and
displayed the essential of the Faith,living the while a simple and
meaningful life that his devotees take pride in. As a young army of
ficer in Royal Indian Engineers (Roorkee Cantt) he served for thirteen
years only and was boarded out honorably in 1945 for his hermetic
practices that he had sensed and perceived irretrievably form Makhdum
"Ala-ud-Din "Ali Ahmad As-Sabir (d. 1290 CE) by his regular attendance
at his khanqah in Kalyar onthe bank of a canal , some six miles due
North-East of Roorkee. Having been duly rewarded and blessed
spiritually there, he tookhis ba'iyat (allegiance) atthe hands of a
living Shaikh, Syed Amir Al-Hssan Ambalvi (d. 1955) whom Babaji often
referred to as ShahWalayat (Sultan of Mysticism), reaping and
enhancing further his erudition and knowledge under his tuition and in
his company. Command by his Sahikh, Babaji and his family migrated to
the new homeland in Pakistan in 1947 and after initial wanderings for
a year or so finally settled at Salarwala in District Faisalabad
wherehe founded an institute called Dar-ul-Ehsan and wrote and
published his master pieces:Kitab Al-Amal Bis-Sunnah Al-M'aroof Tartib
Sharif Volumes 1-6; MakshoofatMan azil-I-Ehsan Volumes1-5 ; Asma'
Al-Nabi Al Karaim (PBUH). He completed his saying, Maqalat-I-Hikmat
volumes 1-30, at Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan, an other convent, a prototype of
his mentor Al-Kalyari's , he founded after his still another migration
in 1983 to an open farraland on the bank ofa canal situated some six,
miles away form the City of Faisalabad on Samundri Road.
Some of Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali's monumental works havealready
been translated into English and are published and distributed free of
charge by Dar-ul-Ehsan Publications based in Huddersfield, UK, and
registered as an international religious charity with the Charity
Commission (London). The books in Urdu, Arabic and Persian original
have been scanned on to CDs and DVDs for wider distributions to the
benefit of the Muslim Ummah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in particular
and interestednon-Muslims in general
Even during his life time his publication reached all over the world
and people visited him from far and wide. His scholarship was
acclaimed by leading scholars of his time. Dr Abdul Alim, the Rector
of Al-Azhar University (Cairo) and Professor Hussain Nasr, the
Vice-Chancellor of Tehran University in 1387 AH, later on the Shah of
Iran's roving ambassador on Iranian Culture, and the author of several
voluminous and celebrated books oncontemporary Islam, both visited him
to pay their homage. Babaji wrote and honoured Professor Hussain Nasr
with a stunning spas'name (welcome address) in Persian that was also
published in one of his monthly issuesof Dar-ul-Ehsan. The address
portrayed Babaji's deep devotion to and respect for the descendants of
the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) on the one hand and appreciation of
the Professor's contribution to Da'wah-o-Tabligh Al –Islam on the
other. One of the couplets of the address reads thus.
"A voice came to me from the quarters unknown;
'Beware! O the dwellers of (Pakistan) the land renown,
The Honorable visitor, the offspring of the Prophets' Crown (PBUH),
Is Hussain Nasr, the Spiritof the Faith, wearing thedan's gown.'"
Professor Sayed Hussain Nasr currently holds the Chair of Cultural
Studies in one of the leading American Universities.
Dr Hakim Ghulam Mu'in-ud-Din Chisti, and American convert to Islam and
Shaikh Al-Chistiyyah of America, has described Babaji's religious
practices in thefollowing words: "He is truly the embodiment of heart
and soul of the Dinof Islam, and all people should strive to emulate
him as he is one who comes so to fulfilling the sunnah of our beloved
Prophet (PBUH). "It was much less to do with his clairvoyance and
miraculous utterance than his magnetic person and charming disposition
that people visited him. His was so captivating a smile that a visitor
said goodbye tohim alright, but left his heart and mind behind with
Babaji, longing to come back for his blessings again and again. When
another American visitor was asked, he replied: "In Babaji's company I
found myself spiritually invigorated and physically elevated in peace
with myself."
The sick were treated free of charge at Babaji'shospitals where he
administered at both Camp and Dar-ul-Ehsan campuses twice a year eye
camps for hundreds of thousands blinds suffering from cataract fand
other eye ailments. The hospitals are carrying out un-stintingly and
continually the selfless and free services to the less privileged,
deprived and disadvantaged members of the public. To this kind of
community developmentspirit, Babaji alludes in his foreword to The
Book of Sufi Healing: "Not even the highest degree of dedication to
worship may earn anybody the claim of divine forgiveness or recompense
in any otherform, yet there is one thing that everybody should make
sure of, which shall not go unrequited under any circumstances by
Allah the Almighty, and that is the selfless service to theailing
humanity.
Babaji set up a madrassah in his sanctuary for the education of the
children of the new converts to Islam. He devised courses and wrote
primers/books of his own which are these in wide use in mosque
schools. For the converts themselves, who were primarily nomads, he
had the houses built with the moneys received from his friends. His
life has been an exemplary model of the fiscal propriety in Islam for
emulation by individual and collective life stances in Pakistan.
These words in his memory are our token of love for him as also
invitation to the readers to delve into his writingsfor the good of
our soulsand welfare of the collective life in the motherland whose
security and prosperity were upper in his mind and embedded deep in
his heart. A couple of years before his demise, he is on record with
the Pakistan TV interview, having prayed passionately for the good of
Pakistan, her integrity, prosperity and glory amongst the comity of
world nations.
For those who had a calling for it, Babaji imparted spiritual
knowledge in some fourteen different mystical Orders, including most
importantly the Mustafwiyyah and Qadariyyah. His scholarship would
have us believe his deep studyand reading of the mystical literature.
For example, the sufi masters in the mystic orders stand divided over
the Nature and Dhat (Being) of Allah the Almighty the one called the
Wujudiyyah (everything is with Him) and the other the shuhudiyyah
(everthing is with Him). Muhiyyid-din Muhammad Ibn Al-Arabi(d. 1240
CE), the Shaik Al-Akbar of Sapin, is the well-known exponent of the
former and Shaikh Badar-ud-Din Ahmad As-Sirhindi (d. 1624 CE),
Mujaddad Alif-Thani, of the latter. Reconciling the two Babaji writes
that it is the same light (nur) of Allah the Almighty that permeates
and pervades the dry blade of grass as it does in a rose referring at
thesame time to the saying of the Holy Messenger (PBUH) 'ponder over
the shuyunat (qualities/attributes) of Allah the Almighty and not His
Dhat). He laid a great deal of stress on character building and strong
moral ethics. In this regard, his Makshoofat Manzal-Ehsan is a dossier
and sum total of Maqaram Al-Akhlaq (the praise worthy morals) and
Makhraj Al-Akhlaq (the desultory or derogatory conduct)
In fulfillment of the fivefold cardinal sufic parameters above the
daily sessions of dhikr ere held uninterruptedlyin his life time and
still are at his seminaries andat the households of some of his
devotees. The dhikr has been commanded by Allah theAlmighty; the Holy
Prophet (PBUH) performed it as it is the cure for the ailments of
physical body and ills of the society. Babaji ate and slept little,
dressed simply and wrote profusely. He gave away by the evening the
daily donations and presents that he received from hisfriends and
devotees, lived like birds with trustin Allah the Almighty. He died on
16th Ramadan Al-Mubarak, the day when his shrine in Camp Dar-ul-Ehsan
is jam packed with thousands of his devotees from throughout Pakistan
andabroad thus paying homage to their dear mentor at the anniversary

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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