Pir Meher Ali Shah

"'Syed Pir Meher Ali Shah" was born on AD 14 April 1859(Monday, 1st Ramadan, 1275 A.H) in Golra Sharif ["Mehr Muneer" Biography of Pir Meher Ali shah] . Golra sharif is located midway between Rawalpindi and Islamabad, in present-day Pakistan. The time just before his birth saw the war of Independence of 1857 fought between the British and the Muslims. 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-Ahmedi movement. He wrote several books most notably "Saif e Chishtiyai", [the Sword of the Chishtis] proving the unorthodoxy and the heresy of the Ahmedi/Qadiyani movement of Mirza Ahmed Qadiyan.

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/Dhikr [lit. remembrance of God, usually taking the form of repeated Qur'anic formulas] .

Early Education

Mehr Ali received his early education of the Holy Quran at his family Khaneqah [Sufi hospice] and was given classes in Urdu and Persian in the local Madrassah. He completed his intermediate level religious education here. His stay in this Madressah was for about 2 and(1/2) years.

After completing his education at Angah at the age of 15, he decided to continue further studies in the United Provinces of India (U.P). 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 Madressah of Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh was for 2 1/2 years

Marriage

When Pir Meher Ali Shah returned home after completing his studies, his marriage took place with the daughter of Syed Charagh Ali Shah who belonged to his respected mother’s family living in Hasan-Abdal Town, a few miles away from Golra.

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")

As a Sufi of the Chishti order

Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah Sahib was a disciple and Khalifa of Hazrat Shams-ud-din (R.A) in the Silsila-e-Chishtia Nizamiyah. [ [http://www.thelightofgolrasharif.com/ Pir Meher Ali Shah's Official Website] ] His biography, Meher e Muneer, records that he also received a "Khilafat" [i.e. was made a khalifa] by Hazrat Hajji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (R.A), when he visited the latter in Makka. Hajji Imdadullah advised him to return to India, where a great storm was about to rise against Islam, which Hazrat Meher Ali Shah must crush. Haji Imdadullah was of course predicting the Qadiyani heresy.

#Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (Peace Be Upon Him)
#Hazrat Ali Al-Murtaza (Karam-Allah-o-Wajho)
#Hazrat Khwaja Hasan Basri (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Abdul Wahid bin Zaid (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Fazeel Ibn-e-Ayaaz (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Sultan Ibrahim Adham (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Sadeed-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Ameen-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Mumshaad (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Abi Ishaq Shami Chishti (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Abi Ahmad Abdal Chishti (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Abi Muhammad Chishti (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Nasir-ud-din Chishti (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Qutb-ud-din Maudud Chishti (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Makhdum Haji Sharif (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Usman Harooni (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Moin-ud-din Chishti of Ajmer Sharif (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Qutb-ud-din Bakhtiar Kaki (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Baba Fareed-ud-din Ganjshakar (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Syed Nizaam-ud-din Awlia (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Naseer-ud-din Charagh-e-Delhi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Kamaal-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Siraaj-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja I’lm-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Mehmood Rajan (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Jamaal-ud-din Juman (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Jamaal-ud-din Hasan Muhammad Nuri (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Qutb Shams-ud-din Muhammad (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Muhammad (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Kaleem Ullah Jahanabadi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Nizaam-ud-din Aurongabadi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Fakhr-ud-din (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Nur Muhammad Mahaarvi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Muhammad Sulaiman Taunsvi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Shams-ud-din Sialvi (R.A)
#Hazrat Khwaja Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A)

As Supporter of Wahdat-ul-Wjood

Pir Meher Ali Shah was a supporter of Ibn Arabi's ideology of Wahdat-ul-Wjood but he made distinction between the creature and creator (as did Ibn Arabi). ["Mulfuzaat -e- Mehrya" by Pir Meher Ali shah] He wrote a masterpiece explaining the Unity of Being doctrine of Hazrat Ibn Arabi.

Wahdat Ul Wujood & Its Evidences In Quran

Before the evidence is presented, readers must note that evidence is of two guides:

* Explicit
* Indirect

The words, Wahdat Ul Wujood, will not be in the quotations but the doctrine which these words express will be in the quoted verses.

* Surah Noor {24} Verse 35: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth."

* Surah Al Baqarah {2} Verse 115: "To Allah belong the east and the West: "Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah." For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing."

* Surah Al Hadid {57} Verse 3: "He is the First {awal} and the Last {akhir}, the Evident {zahir} and the Immanent {batin}:" and He has full knowledge of all things."

The creation of Allah exists and the creation is not part of Allah nor Allah is part of creation because Allah says "lysaka misli shai" {there is nothing like Him}.

Allah Subhana Wa Tallah's existence is absolute on whoes existence all the creation exists and the real {haqiqi} existence is of Allah's.

If the '{"haqiqi"} existence' is defined as:

"Qul hu'wAllahu Aa'had, Allahu Samad, Lamya lid Wa lamyu'lad, Wa lamyaqulla'hu kufu'wan ahad. Hu wal aw'walu wal'akhiru wa'zahiru wal'batinu wahuwa bikulli shayin AAaleemun. Alhamdu lillahi rabil alameen ...""

Then its apparent that nothing exists as such, thus nothing fullfils the criteria being in existence other than Allah's Wahdat, Allah's Ahadi'at, {"Allah's Unity, One'ness"}, and only He is the one who exists {"as defined above"} and all existence of creation does not exist when it is compared to Allah's existence {"as defined above"}.

Wahdat Ul Wujood is ultimate realisation of Tawheed, Wahdat Ul Wujood is the realisation of Tawheed on a level which neither can be discovered by reading texts nor understood by listening to speeches, its source of knowledge is Shahood {Witnessing} of Tawheed, being witness to the One's One'ness. And when Witnessing His Holy Being, there can be no trace of creation in Him nor around Him, neither he co-exists in creation, nor creation co-exists with Him. One who witness's the golary of Allah, He witness's Him as if there is no other creation in existence, cause Allah's existence is limitless, and its not possiable to conceive when Witnessing the Limit-less {Allah} that Limited {Creation} ones do exist as well.

Seikh Muhi'ud Din Ibn Arabi rahimullah alayhi tallah, explained his spiritual journey, which lead to this realisation, and the realisation was based on Shahood, hence he described it in terms as he saw it.

The ignorant ones, of little intellectual ability, ones who have no knowledge of deen, neither those who have understood the Quranic verses have objected to this doctrine of Wahdat Ul Wajood, but their objection demonstrates their lack of understanding Tawheed e Wahdat Ul Wujood.

Notes