Abu Anees Barkat Ali: An Erudite Sufi Saint

A man well known as Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali, addressed lovingly as Babbaji,
was born in 1911 in the District of Ludhiana (East Punjab) 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 on the bank of a canal , some six miles due North-East of Roorkee. Having been
duly rewarded and blessed spiritually there, he took his baiyat (allegiance) at the hands
of a living Shaikh, Syed Amir Al-Hssan Ambalvi (d. 1955) whom Babaji often referred to
as Shah Walayat (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 where he founded an
institute called Dar-ul-Ehsan and wrote and published his master pieces:Kitab Al-Amal
Bis-Sunnah Al-Maroof Tartib Sharif Volumes 1-6; Makshoofat Man azil-I-Ehsan
Volumes 1-5 ; 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-Kalyaris , he founded after his still another migration in 1983 to an open
farraland on the bank of a canal situated some six, miles away form the City of
Faisalabad on Samundri Road.
Some of Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Alis
monumental works have already 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 interested non-
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 Irans roving
ambassador on Iranian Culture, and the author of several voluminous and celebrated
books on contemporary Islam, both visited him to pay their homage. Babaji wrote and
honoured Professor Hussain Nasr with a stunning spasname (welcome address) in
Persian that was also published in one of his monthly issues of Dar-ul-Ehsan. The
address portrayed Babajis deep devotion to and respect for the descendants of the
Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) on the one hand and appreciation of the Professors
contribution to Dawah-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 Spirit of the Faith, wearing the dans gown.
Professor Sayed Hussain Nasr currently holds the Chair of Cultural Studies in one of
the leading American Universities.
Dr Hakim Ghulam Muin-ud-Din Chisti, and American
convert to Islam and Shaikh Al-Chistiyyah of America, has
described Babajis religious practices in the following
words: He is truly the embodiment of heart and soul of
the Din of 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 to him 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 Babajis company I found myself spiritually invigorated and
physically elevated in peace with myself.
The sick were treated free of charge at Babajis hospitals 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 development
spirit, 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 other form, 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 the ailing 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 writings for the good of our souls and 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
study and 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 the same 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 uninterruptedly in his life time and still are at his seminaries and at the
households of some of his devotees. The dhikr has been commanded by Allah the
Almighty; 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 his friends and devotees, lived like birds with trust in 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 and abroad
thus paying homage to their dear mentor at the anniversary__contributed by Dr
Muhammad Iqbal, Senior Lecturer, The University of
Huddersfield United Kingdom.
Birth and
early life
Hazrat Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) was born in to a pious Muslim
family belonging to the Dhariwal Jatt ethnic group.
[1]
His
father, Mian Nigahi Bakhsh (RA), was an employee in the British
Army.
[2]

Like the other Muslims he learned the reading of the Holy Book of
God Al-Quran 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 has given various interviews to Pakistan Nation TV Channel PTV
[3]
. On September 25,
2008 Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri praises the founder of Darul
Ehsan, Hazrat Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali,and his work in great
words while talking to the participants.
[4]

Professional Life
At the age of 19, he joined the Royal British Army as a commission
officer in the engineering core on the 9
th
of 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 duty was meant for
efficiency, activeness and punctuality. 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.
Visits to Kalyar Sharif to Sabir Piya
Visits to Khanqah-e-Sabir (the Holy Sanctury of Hazrat Sabir (RA)) at Kalyar some 6 miles
away from Roorki Cantt was a regular habit of Hazrat Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA). He was
spiritually blessed by God for his efforts at Kalyar Sharif.

Married Life and Family
He married at the age of 16 with Barkat Bibi in August
1927, who died on 9 January 1978. Hazrat Babaji's
family consists of 5 daughters and one son. His
son Mian Muhammad Anwar died at the age of 45 on 26
April 1981.

Bay'ah
He took his Bay'ah at the hands of his Pir ('spiritual
guide') Hakeem Syed Amir-ul-Hassan Saharanpuri (RA)
on the 19
th
of Rabi' al-thani 1363 A.H. at Peeran-e-
Kalyar Sharif. His spiritual guide commanded him to
migrate toPakistan at the time of the partition of
the Indo-Pak subcontinent and then the people started
calling him as an emigrant to Allah (Arabic: 'Muhajir-il-
Allah').
Basic Teachings
He always guided his followers to perform three tasks
which forms the basis of his preachings. These are:
1. Dhikrullah (invocation or remembrance of Allah the
Almighty)
2. Dawat-o-tableeg-ul-Islam (invitation to and spread
of Islam)
3. Belaus-khidmat-e-khalq (selfless service to mankind)
He himself made the role model for his words and spent his whole life in the above mentioned
tasks.
Charity Works
Two free eye camps are held biannually at two different
places
1. Darul Ehsan
2. Camp - Dalowal
Following major operations are performed twice in a year
with 100% success by the Muslim doctors coming from all
over the world at no cost:
1. Removal of cataracts
2. The wretched eye ailment
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.
[5]

Literary Work
In order to convey the message of Allah and guidance of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) to the
whole world, Hazrat Babaji wrote more than 400 books on different themes including religion,
ethics, metaphysics, hierology, philosophy and psychology etc. These books are distributed
worldwide free of charge. Notable publications of Babajis work are listed below:
Makshoofat Manazal-e-Ehsan
[6]
, 5 volumes
Kitab-ul-Amal Bis-Sunnah
[7]
, 5 volumes
Asma-un-Nabi-ul-Kareem
[8]
, 6 volumes
Maqalat-e-Hikmat 30 volumes
Zikr-e-Elahi
[9]
, 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 (S.A.W.) madhabi,
Wahubbuhu millati,
Wa ta'atuhu manzili"
("Say: Devotion to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) is my Faith,
His love my way of life,
And obedience to him my goal.")
"Every city has a speciality. The speciality of Darul Ehsan is the remembrance of Allah."
"Everything revolves around an axis. The axis of Darul Ehsan is the love of the Holy
Prophet (S.A.W.) 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 Pakistan."
[10]

Tribute by Non-Muslims
Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, USA, Katherine Pratt Ewing,
visited Darul Ehsanin 1977 for her research study wrote a tribute to the Shaikh: "The presence of
a living representative of thesufi traditions, who possesses all attributes of the
original sufi pirs further reinforces the position that the pirswere 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."
[11]

Death
Hazrat Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) died on
Sunday the 26
th
of January 1997 (16
th
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 Faisalabad and his mission is continuing through the
efforts of his devotees.
Urs Mubarak
The Urs Mubarak of Hazrat Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali (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.