Allah Almighty loved mankind – His divine concern for His creatures prompted Him to send ambassadors of love bearing the message – His Prophets. From Adam to Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H), the last in line, the message centered around “the Oneness of Allah” and “the true path of righteous deeds”. This was to be the nucleus of success both herein and hereafter. The “light of peace and harmony” as the word “Islam” stands for, emanating from Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H) the last torch bearer, reached and enlightened the darkest corners of the world – in geographic terms as well as the spiritual sense. After him, his Holy companions and later, “Awlia-e-Allah”, the loving friends of Allah, kept the torch burning. Love, compassion and understanding for all shaped and practiced out of sincere and selfless devotion marked their preaching of the divine message. Irrespective of caste, colour or creed, regardless of rigid socio-economic disparities or similar myopic barriers, these friends of Allah, the Holy Saints, reached out to mankind in general, from Central Asia to the far flung areas of the globe. Hazrat Ghaus-e-Azam (R.A) (Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani), Hazrat Daata Ganj Bukhsh (Ali Hajveri) (R.A) , Hazrat Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chishti (R.A), Hazrat Khwaja Qutb-ud-din (R.A) , Hazrat Baba Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar (R.A), Hazrat Khwaja Nizaam-ud-din Awlia (R.A) , Hazrat Nasir-ud-din Charagh-e-Delhi (R.A) , Hazrat Shahaab-ud-din Suharwardi (R.A) , Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) , are just a few to mention, the list runs endlessly. They spread Islam through compassion not by force or sword. They conquered the human heart and purged it of varying fake ideologies. One such highly eminent of the Awlia-e-Allah of his time was Ala-Hazrat Syedna Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) of Golra Sharif, the subject of this website. A friend of Allah who provided leadership to the Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent in their efforts against “self proclaimed prophethood” and negative agendas of communities working against the solidarity of the Islamic Ummah. This website offers a comprehensive life-sketch of Ala-Hazrat Syedna Pir Meher Ali Shah (R.A) of Golra Sharif. The memoirs of Hazrat Babuji (R.A), the illustrious son of Hazrat (R.A) and also the brief memoirs of the Lalajees are included in this website. Poetry of Hazrat Syedna Pir Meher Ali Shah Sahib (R.A) along with a set of photographs related to the Golra shrine are also offered in it. This website aims at providing and making relevant information accessible to those interested in the lives and achievements of the Holy Saints – the friends of Allah. May Allah accept this humble service (Amen).
Hadrat Pir Meher Ali Shah Of Golra Sharif
One of the most illustrious of such Islamic scholars and Sufis in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent was Hadrat Sayed Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra, District Rawalpindi (now Islamabad. Born in 1859, the period of Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah’s mission spanned nearly half a century until his passing away in 1937. During this period, he attained rare scholarly and spiritual heights, imparted religious knowledge and guidance to thousands of their seekers, and provided solace and prayers to the myriad others that thronged to him for this purpose. The remainder of this booklet describes the salient attributes and achievements of this great man and his mission. Ancestry and birth
Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah was a direct descendent, from the side of both of his parents, of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) of Islam, and of his son-in law and principal spiritual successor, fourth Righteous Caliph ‘Ali. The fact that all the illustrious prophets of God during the past three thousand years or so, including Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), were descendents of Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim), underscores the importance of lineage in matters religious and spiritual. While personal qualities and effort are as essential in these fields as in any other, chaste lineage and family environment undoubtedly provide the backdrop in which piety and virtue can geminate and thrive. This in no way contravenes the principle of equality at the general human level which Islam so strongly stresses. In the 25th generation, Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah descended from a scholar and sage of unequalled renown in the Muslim world, namely, Hadrat Shaikh ‘Abdul Qadir Gilani. Widely acknowledged as the greatest Sufi divine of all time, Shaikh ‘Abdul Qadir was born in Gilan (Iran), but received his religious and spiritual education at Baghdad, which was then the foremost Islamic centre of learning, and spent the rest of his life teaching and dispensing spiritual guidance there. The Shaikh is popularly known as the Ghauthul A’zam (The Great Helper), Mohyuddin. The Reviver of Religion), and Piran-e-Pir. The Pir of Pirs). These titles signify, respectively, the Shaikh’s outstanding spiritual capacity to give succour to those in distress, his great services in revitalizing Islam and its hold on the minds and actions of his contemporaries, and his ascendancy over other sufi masters of his own and other generations. The Shaikh’s shrine in Baghdad is a place of pilgrimage for sufis and non-sufies alike from all parts of the Muslims world. The ancestors of Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah had migrated in the mid-fifteenth century A.D. from Baghdad to the Province of Bengal in India, whence their offspring later moved to other parts of the Subcontinent and finally settled down at Golra in the province of Punjab towards the end of the 18th century. Here it was that Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah was born on the first day of Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month) in 1275 A.H. His family had been known for piety and saintliness even before him. His father, Sayyid Nadhar Din Shah, during his youth, had been condemned to be publicly burnt alive by the local Sikh ruler providentially vindicated when the fire blazing all around him failed to touch his person a miraculous incident that had added greatly to the family’s prestige and veneration. Nevertheless, it was only with the advent and rise to eminence of Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah that the family as well as its abode, Golra, acquired wide and enduring fame. The early years and education
Hadrat Meher ‘Ali Shah, to be referred to henceforth mainly as “Hadrat”, was a uniquely endowed child, possessing extraordinary intelligence, memory, physique, and other qualities of head and heart. His birth had been spiritually foretold much in advance, and many portents testified to his being a born wali (saint). His early religious education was arranged by his parents and elders under carefully selected and eminent local teachers. Later, he himself sought out the best available teachers in remote parts of the Sub-continent, and traveled to their schools to complete his education. Hadrat’s rare intellect, his thirst for learning, and his single-minded devotion to studies enabled him to cover all known fields of Islamic religious education, and to start teaching himself at Golra, by the relatively early age of 20 years. His phenomenal memory enabled him to memorize the entire Qur’an just by reading it several times, and without any conscious or systematic effort towards that end. His teachers included, among others, Maulana Lutfullah of Aligarh and Maulana Ahmad Ali of Saharanpur, both of country-wide contemporary fame. He also tried to join the school of another famous scholar and teacher, Maulana Ahmad Hasan Muhaddith of Kanpur, but the latter could not admit him because of his impending journey to the Hedjaz for Haj (the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Holy Ka’bah, the House of God, at Makkah) – a journey that used to take months in those days of relatively slow transport. Many years later, when Hadrat’s own fame spread far and wide, Maulana Ahmad Hasan used to regret his having turned away a pupil of such outstanding caliber and potential. He in fact once traveled to Pakpattan, the resting place of Hadrat Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar, another very great name among the Muslim sufis of the Sub-continent, on the occasion of the latter’s annual ‘Urs which Hadrat used to attend regularly, solely to earn the privilege of meeting him.
