| Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) | |
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Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) |
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| Born | 27 April 1911 (27 Rabi' Al-Thani 1329 AH) East of Punjab (India) |
| Died | 26 January 1997 (16 Ramadan 1417 AH) Faisalabad, Pakistan |
| Title | Tajdar-e-Darul Ehsan, Muhajirilallah, Mutawakalilallah |
| Religion | Sufi Islam |
| Children | Five |
Hadrat Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianiwi (Quduus Sirruhul Aziz), also referred to as Babaji Sarkar by his disciples (27 April 1911 – 26 January 1997) was a Muslim Sufi saint who belongs to Qadri silsila of Hadrat Abdul-Qadir Gilani born in a small village of Brahmi in the Tehsil of Ludhiana in Northern India.
Hadrat is founder of the non-political, non-profit, religious organisation, Darul Ehsan.
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Hadrat was born into a Muslim family belonging to the Dhariwal Jatt ethnic group.[1] His father, Mian Nigahi Bakhsh, was an employee of the British Army.[2]
Like the other Muslims he learned the reading of the Qur'an 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 gave various interviews to Pakistan National TV Channel PTV[3]. On September 25, 2008 Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri praised the founder of Darul Ehsan, Barkat Ali and his work while talking to the participants.[4]
At the age of 19, he joined the Royal British Army as a commission officer in the engineering core on the 9 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 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.
Religious visits to Khanqah-e-Sabir (the Holy Sanctuary of Hazrat Sabir) at Kalyar some 6 miles (9.7 km) away from Roorki Cantt was a regular habit of Barkat Ali. He would often spend the night there in worship whilst employed in the army.
He married at the age of 16 with Barkat Bibi in August 1927, who died on 9 January 1978 and buried at Salarwala. His family consists of 5 daughters and one son. His son Mian Muhammad Anwar died at the age of 45 on 26 April 1981.
Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali (QSA) took allegiance (Bay'ah) at the hands of his Pir Hakeem Syed Amir-ul-Hassan Saharanpuri, whom he called the 'Sultan of Mysticism (Shah-e-Wilayat)'[5] on the 19 Rabi' al-thani 1363 A.H. at Peeran-e-Kalyar Sharif. His spiritual guide commanded him to migrate to Pakistan at the time of the partition of the Indo-Pak subcontinent and then the people started calling him as an emigrant to Allah (Muhajir-il-Allah).
He always guided his followers to perform three tasks which forms the basis of his preachings. These are:
Two free eye camps are held biannually at two different places: Darul Ehsan and a camp at Dalowal. Major operations, such as the removal of cataracts, are performed twice in a year with 100% success[2] by the Muslim doctors coming from all over the world at no cost. 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.[6]
His literary work is recognized well in the Muslim world and his name is also included in List of Muslim writers and poets. In order to convey the message of Allah and guidance of Muhammad to the whole world, he wrote more than 400 books on different themes including religion, ethics, metaphysics, hierology, philosophy and psychology. These books are distributed worldwide free of charge. His publications include:
Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, United States, Katherine Pratt Ewing, visited Darul Ehsan in 1977 for her research study wrote a tribute to the Shaikh: "The presence of a living representative of the sufi traditions, who possesses all attributes of the original sufi pirs further reinforces the position that the pirs were 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]
Hadrat Abu Anees Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianwi (QSA) died on 26 January 1997 (16 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, in Faisalabad and his mission is continuing through the efforts of his devotees.
The Urs Mubarak of Hadrat Abu Anees Sufi Muhammad Barkat Ali Al-Ludhianwi (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.
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