Early
Education and Childhood
Birth
Hazrat
Syed Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) was born on Monday, 1st Ramadan, 1275 A.H
(14th April 1859 A.D) in Golra Sharif.
The
birth of this greatest eminent scholar proved to be the dawn of Muslim Ummah.
The time before Hazrat’s birth saw the war of independence of 1857 being
fought between the British and the Muslims. After that unsuccessful war of
independence, there was need for supporting the cause of Islam and the need to
retain the light of true religion that was constantly being diminished by the
wrong doings of the Muslims of the sub-continent. As said in the Holy Quran
“We have, without doubt, sent down the message and we will assuredly guard
it”.
Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah - a Born Wali
Hadith
(tradition of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) is the most reliable source of
guidance along the Holy Quran for the Muslims. According to an
authentic hadith of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) traced to Abu Huraira (R.A):
“Abi Huraira (R.A) narrates that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) said as follows: Verily Allah shall send to this Ummah, at the extremity of each Hijrah century, a person who will renew its din (i.e., religion) for it.”
Most of the eminent muhaddithin (masters of the science of hadith) have interpreted the word "extremity" as implying the concluding part of each part of Hijrah century, i.e., the concerned personality should be born towards the end of the Hijrah of each century. They conclude, furthermore: (i) that he should be well-versed in all the outer as well as the inner religious sciences; (ii) that a large body of people should derive abundant benefits from his teachings, writings, and preaching; (iii) that he should actively devote himself to the revival of the Prophet's sunnah (pattern of conduct) among people and elimination of "bid'at" (novel practices deviating from those approved and adopted by the Prophet (P.B.U.H) himself); and finally, (iv) that he should have an established renown for scholarship and erudition, and for having conferred religious benefits on the people in general belonging to the end of one century and the beginning of the next. Anyone not fulfilling these conditions would not qualify to be called a "Mujjadad".
In
the light of this Hadith if we see the years of birth of the greatest Sufi
saints
a)
Hazrat Ghaus-e-Azam Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani of Baghdad born in 471 A.H (After
Hijrah), died 562 A.H.
b)
Hazrat Shaikh Ahmad Sirhandi, alias Mujjadad Alf-e-Sani born in 971 A.H, died
1034 A.H.
c)
Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra Sharif born in 1275 A.H., died 1356 A.H.
All
these Sufi saints were born at the extremity of each Hijra’s year. On that
account too, Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah can be clearly entitled as a person who
renewed the religion Islam, i.e. Mujjadad.
Portents
Heralding Hazrat’s Arrival
Predictions
about Hazrat’s birth had been current in his family circles well before his
actual arrival on the scene. Further more an aged Majzub (A dervish
“absorbed” in ecstasy) had come and stayed in the khankah of Golra a few
days before Hazrat’s birth and often talked about of being blessed soon with
the sight of an approved one of Allah Almighty. When Hazrat was born, he
visited the outer Veranda of the family residence; called for Hazrat who was
newly born, kissed his hands and feet, and then left the place and was never
seen again.
Early Childhood
Hazrat
Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) narrated himself that during his childhood, he used to feel
uncomfortable in populated areas and found deserted places providing much
serenity. Quite often, he said, he used to quietly leave the house at night
after everyone else had gone to bed, and to spend much of the night wandering
among the nearly bushes, trees and ravines. As he grew, he said, 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
canal water out in the open and also to rub pieces of it 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.
In
his book, Saif-e-Chishtiyai (The Chishtia sword) and Malfoozat-e- Mehria
(Compilation of Hazrat's own sayings), Hazrat has stated that at the age of seven he had
fought a duel with Satan (Shaytan) in a dream. After several ups and downs
Hazrat kept repeatedly reciting the words:
Translation: "There is no power and no strength save in Allah the Most High, the Supreme".
Finally,
Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) defeated Satan (Shaytan) by reciting the above-mentioned verse.
Early Education
Hazrat
received his early education of the Holy Quran at the Khankah and was given
classes in Urdu and Persian in the local Madressah. Allah blessed Hazrat Pir
Meher Ali Shah (R.A) with tremendous mind abilities. Being very young, he had to be
carried to and from the school by a domestic servant. The same was done at the
time of final examination, which was held in Rawalpindi, a few miles away. The
examiner put the first question to Hazrat, which was answered correctly by him.
Seeing that so very young a child had given a correct answer to his questions,
the examiner concluded that the concerned teacher was providing really good
education to his students and decided to promote the entire class.
Hazrat
(R.A) had such a phenomenal memory that he could memorize his daily lessons of Quran
immediately after reading. As soon as Hazrat completed his oral reading of
Quran, the entire Holy Book became embedded in his memory without any conscious
effort by him towards that end. Once Hazrat’s teacher asked him to memorize a
portion of a religious book which had become badly moth-eaten with the passage
of time. Hazrat pointed out that the relevant portion of the book had been
almost completely destroyed due to worn-out condition of those pages, and it was
impossible to read. The teacher refused to accept any apologies and insisted on
his order and warned Hazrat of the punishment if it was not done. The next day,
Hazrat, went out and sat under the shadow of the tree where he usually sat for
studying purpose. He tried to read the misprinted lines but in vain. Finally he
looked heavenwards fervently implored Allah Almighty to let him know the
contents of the passage so as to save him from the teacher’s punishment.
Suddenly a greenish writing appeared among the leaves of the tree, and after
remaining there long enough for Hazrat to commit it to memory, vanished as
suddenly as it had appeared.
Hazrat
immediately went back to his teacher and read the passage out to him. There upon
the teacher sought out an un-mutilated addition of the book in question from
Rawalpindi, and was astonished to find that the related passage tallied
completely with that with Hazrat had read out to him.
Sometime
after this incident, Hazrat’s teacher Maulvi Ghulam Muhyuddin advised Hazrat
Nazruddin Alias Ajji Sahib (Hazrat’s father) and Hazrat Fazal din (Hazrat’s
Uncle) to place the young Meher Ali under the care of a more learned teacher as
he had done whatever he could do in educating him as much as he could do and
that he deserved to be trained by a truly distinguished teacher. Accepting this
advice, Hazrat was admitted to the Madressah of an eminent scholar Maulana
Muhammad Shafi Qureshi in the village Bhui, near Hasan-Abdal.
Hazrat
completed his intermediate level religious education here. His stay in this Madressah
was for 2 –21/2 years.
Completing
the intermediate level education, Hazrat’s return home coincided with the
annual festival of Eid-ul-Fitr. After the Eid prayers Hazrat decided to proceed
for higher studies and for this he chose Angah, which is about 100 miles away
from Sargodha. Hazrat’s teacher at that Madressah was Maulvi Sultan Mehmood.
Hazrat's
visit to Sial Sharif
Hazrat’s
teacher at Angah was a disciple of Hazrat Khwaja Shamsuddin Chishti of Sial
Sharif, District Sargodha. Hazrat Khwaja Shamsuddin was a great Sufi saint of
his time. Hazrat Sahib (Hazrat’s Pir Meher Ali Shah's (R.A) teacher) used to visit to Sial Sharif
to pay his regards to his venerable Murshid and
Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah used to accompany him during these visits. This
eventually resulted in Hazrat Syedna Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) also becoming a disciple of Hazrat Khwaja
Shamsuddin (R.A).
Quest for higher education
After
completing his education at Angah at the age of 15 years, he decided to continue
further studies in the United Provinces of India (U.P). Therefore, Hazrat Pir
Meher Ali Shah Sahib, in 1290 A.H set out his quest for higher education, to
different parts of India such as Lucknow, Deoband, Rampur, Kanpur, Aligarh,
Delhi and Saharanpur , which were the then known major centers of religious
education. Hazrat got education from the best of the religious scholars of that
time.
Hazrat’s
stay at Aligarh at the Madressah of Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh was 21/2
Appreciation of a European examiner
During
Hazrat’s stay at Aligarh, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the celebrated educationist of
India and the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University, had drawn up a plan for
the reform of the Arabic religious madressahs found lagging behind in quality
education and thereby decided to close them down. The money was to be diverted to
the college at Aligarh. As a part of this project, Sir Syed suggested to Maulana
Lutfullah to conduct an annual examination at his madressah, with a view to both
testing the standard of education and providing an incentive for hard work among
the students. Since a large number of students at the madressah were Punjabis or
Pathans, and were not well versed in writing , Maulana Sahib was somewhat
reluctant to accept this suggestion. Hazrat however, assured him that he and his
schoolmates were ready to undergo any type of test, oral or written, and that he
should therefore accept Sir Syed’s suggestion without hesitation. So Maulana
Lutfullah gained some confidence and accepted the proposal.
So
for this purpose a high-class scholar from Europe was invited to Aligarh by Sir
Syed to give the required
examination. A day before the exam, the Maulana himself gave a proficiency test
to the students in Euclidean Geometry in order to judge their ability in that
subject. In his answer to the question prescribed in the test paper ,Hazrat
first wrote down the solution that was contained in the Euclidean text. He
followed this up by raising certain objections and reservations about the
solution given in the text, and answering the same objections himself. Maulana
Sahib was so deeply impressed by this display of insight and perspicacity that
he placed Hazrat’s answer sheet in an envelope, sealed it and sent it to the
European examiner who had also arrived in Aligarh. The next day, all the
students kept waiting for the examiner to come but he didn’t show up. When Sir
Syed was informed of this, he intimated that the examiner had gone back home
during the night, and had left a note to effect that he found himself unable to
give a test to students who had the ability to raise objections to the views of
Euclid. Maulvi Sahib was very happy that his madressah had been saved from
possible closure because of Hazrat’s brilliant academic performance.
Combination of strong physique with mental and spiritual excellence
Allah
Almighty blessed Hazrat with a strong physique and a highly cognitive and
spiritual excellence. Most of his time was spent in the pursuit of education,
and he took no exercise other than horse riding. His health remained as strong
as those taking regular exercise, even at the advanced age of 60 years.
Usually
Hazrat’s class fellows used to seek help in their studies from him and Hazrat
always helped them out in their problems.
Charity and Munificence
The
money, which Hazrat received from home as monthly subsistence, used to be
distributed by him among the poor and needy school-mates, with himself either
fasting or otherwise going without food. In moments of extreme hunger, he
collected and ate crumbs left over by fellow students. These expressions of
charity, self sacrifice, and voluntary hardships deeply impressed everyone
around and many of them became his admirers and devotees.
Aversion to sport and petty amusements
Due
to his serious and sober outlook on life, Hazrat never developed any real
interest in sport or petty entertainment. Fairs and exhibitions of different
kinds held in Saharanpur from time to time had no attraction for him. These
included a major fair held in that city on the eve of British Viceroy’s visit
there. Hazrat did, however enjoy listening to good devotional music, which
struck a responsive chord in his spiritually inclined heart.
Return home
After
completing his religious education from Aligarh, Hazrat Syedna Meher Ali Shah Sahib
(R.A) was
awarded certificates by Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh. These certificates
certified the completion in the following branches of Islamic learning, along
with permission to teach these subjects to others and to otherwise make use of
them for scholastic and exposition purposes as and when required.
i)
The Holy Quran, its translation and commentaries
ii)
All the authentic compilations of the Prophet’s Hadith, including the
Sihah Sittah
Marriage
When
Hazrat 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.
Passing away of Ajji Sahib (R.A) and Hazrat Fazal Din (R.A)
Soon
after Hazrat’s marriage Hazrat Fazal Din Shah, the maternal uncle of
Hazrat’s father Ajji sahib and Hazrat’s Murshid in the Qadriyah School,
passed away in 1311 A.H (1892 A.D) and so did Hazrat Ajji sahib (Hazrat’s
father) himself in 1323 A.H (1904-05 A.D).