Pir Meher Ali Shah (Urdu: پیر مہر على شاهؓ; 14 April 1859 – May 1937), was a Punjabi MuslimSufi scholar and mystic poet from Punjab, British India (present-day Pakistan). Belonging to the Chishti order, he is known as a Hanafi scholar who led the anti-Ahmadiyya movement. He wrote several books, most notably Saif e Chishtiyai ("The Sword of the Chishti Order"), a polemical work criticizing the Ahmadiyya movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.[1][2]
He received his early religious education at the Khanqah (school at the mausoleum) and was given classes in Urdu and Persian in the local Madressah.[4] After completing his education at Angah at the age of 15, he decided to continue further studies in the United Provinces (U.P) of India present day Uttar Pradesh. He therefore set out for higher education in different parts of India such as Lucknow, Deoband, Rampur, Kanpur, Aligarh, Delhi and Saharanpur, which were the then known major centers of religious education. His stay at Aligarh at the madrasah of Lutfullah of Aligarh was for two and a half years.[5] During his stay in Delhi, Meher Ali Shah studied under famous scholar Syed Nazeer Husain.[6]
Meher Ali Shah in middle age
Works
Mausoleum of Meher Ali Shah with Mosque of Golra Sharif
Tahqiq-ul-Haq Fi Kalima-tul-Haq (The Truth about Kalima-tul-Haq)[7]
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)
Fight against Ahmaddiya Movement
Religious beliefs
Pir Meher Ali Shah with Khawaja Muhammad din Sialvi of Sial Sharif
Shah was a disciple and Khalifa of Khawaja Shams-ud-din Sialvi of Sial Sharif in the Silsila-e-Chishtia Nizamiyah.[8][9] His biography Meher-e-Muneer records that he was also made a Khalifa by Haji Imdadullah, when he visited the latter in Mecca.
Shah was a supporter of Ibn Arabi's ideology of Wahdat-ul-Wujood but he made a distinction between the creation and the creator (as did Ibn Arabi).[10] He also wrote explaining the "Unity of Being" doctrine of Ibn Arabi.
In 1933, Shah was absorbed in his meditation and mystic trances. That year the philosopher Muhammad Iqbal had to give a lecture at Cambridge University on Ibn Arabi's concept of Space and Time. He wrote a letter to the Shah stating that now there was nobody in all of Hindustan whom he could consult in this matter, and requesting him to tell about Ibn Arabi's work. The Shah however, due to his meditation and bad health, could not reply.[11]
In the old city of Rawalpindi, a historic Mughal style mosque (Central Jamia Masjid) was built in 1903 as a symbol of Muslim unity in the Potohar region with donations by Rawalpindi's Muslim community. This mosque was completed in two years and was inaugurated by the Sufi saint of Golra Sharif, Pir Meher Ali Shah along with the deposed king of Afghanistan Ayub Khan who was living in Rawalpindi at the time.[12]
In the early part of the month of Safar 1356-A.H (April 1937), he had an attack of cold, which soon developed into typhoid fever, which lasted for several days. His condition grew worse during the last days of Safar. On the morning of 29 Safar (11 May 1937), the pulse became irregular and the body temperature also underwent sudden changes. Just before the arrival of the final irrevocable moment, he pronounced the words “Allah” from the deepest recesses of his heart in a manner which sent a shudder throughout his body from head to foot, and the reverberation of which was felt by every one who happened to touch the body. The next moment, he repeated the word “Allah” a second time and then turned his head towards the Qibla, thus signaling that the end had finally come.[13]
His three-day Urs (annual death anniversary) is held every year from 27th to 29th Safar. Thousands of devotees come from all over Pakistan to visit the tomb of this early twentieth century Punjabi mystic sufi poet, Pir Meher Ali Shah.[14]
