Minach Chaitwan nir rajim.
786
Speech for Zahurmian’ 'Urs
April 8th and 9th 2012
You may have heard these words – ‘Without a
vision the people perish!’
Today I want to talk about someone who had a
vision – that Divine Love could unite people from
different backgrounds, cultures, religions, colours
and classes in such a way that the quality of life of
each and all could be greatly enhanced. Further than
that, that the vision incorporated the belief that
what had held good for so many centuries in the
countries of East could be applied to the
cosmopolitan world of today. In fact, that by means
of Divine Love that both individuals and society
could progress to achieve their potential – a
potential that was given to man by Allah and which
man has so often failed to realise; the potential to be
fully human in the highest sense of that world. The
word used in Arabic is Insaan but to realise Insaan is
not a small task in a world of so many different
cultures and conflicting views and interests.
So this was not a mean ambition it was a great one.
To maintain that vision in the modern world full of
division, of mutual distrust, enmity, prejudice,
narrow mindedness, materialism, selfishness and all
the other ills of the modern world - required
someone of great character, fortitude, patience and
insight and above all a man imbued with the spirit
of love for all and hatred for none. ‘
‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’. Dr Zahurul
Hasan Sharib rose to that task but he was not a lone
figure, behind him stood the souls of his spiritual
ancestors, whose bodies were at rest but whose
souls remained very much alive. They held that
service to mankind was the best expression of
service to Allah and their guidance to and concern
for mankind remains their undying concern.
Those ancestors can be traced back to the blessed
messenger of Allah himself, great Mohammed
(saw) and to the Baraka or blessings bestowed on
the incomparably lion hearted Hazrat Ali Murtaza
(ra).
Today is dedicated to Dr Zahurul Hasan Sharib
Gudri Shah Baba IV who passed into the Mercy of
Allah on this day in 1996 (how quickly flows the
stream of time).
Zahurmian, as he was usually known belonged to
the Gudri Shah Order of Sufis, which, as you know,
is based in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Ajmer is world
famous as the resting place of the great mystic and
Saint Khawaja Muinuddin Hasan of Sanjar, better
known as Khawaja Gharib Nawaz (ra). It is the
awe inspiring influence of the great saint Khawaja
Muinuddin Hasan Chishti that so permeated
Zahurmian that he was able to overcome
disappointments and obstacles placed in his way by
the vile lower nature of man – man’s ‘Nafs al
Amarah’, and to emerge like a swimmer from the
sea of confusion, chaos and doubt, to realise the
vision.
Khawaja Saheb was in himself evidence enough
that one man can make a difference. He himself had
to overcome great difficulties to fulfil the mission
entrusted to him by Rasul Allah. He arrived in a
subcontinent full of feuding petty dynasties. People
in that country had many beliefs, many competitor
gods, many languages, and a lot of superstition as
well. The fabulous wealth of the country was held
by a very few and long hard labour under a cruel
caste system was the lot of the common man and
woman.
Khawaja Saheb was charged with a great mission,
to bring light into the darkness to convey Truth to
the struggling people. This could not be done by
philosophy alone, (India was rich with
philosophers), or even by preaching his very
presence could change the minds and the thinking
and the actions of people for the better.
Khawaja Saheb, after many years of training by his
guide Khawaja Uthman Harooni (ra) was just such
a person. To convey the spiritual realities to the
people he used the music which was a popular
means of expression and established the Sama as a
way to bring people closer to the Truth. He is a
towering figure in the spiritual world – so much so
that if you or I were compared to a small house he
would appear as a great skyscraper.
It so happened at the end of the 19th century that a
saint living in Baghdad called Hazrat Mustapha,
who belonged to the Qadiri Order of Ghaus Pak
(ra), sent one of his disciples to Ajmer. He was a
man of great asceticism who was used to living in
the wilderness. Saeenji Saheb, as he is popularly
known, settled there and became greatly enamoured
of Khawaja Saheb; so much so that by means of
this connection, which is known as ‘Uwaisi’, he
founded a branch of the Chishti shilsilla which
became known as Gudri Shahi, after the patched
coat that he wore.
During the 20th century this order grew in number
and influence under Hazrat Qazi Saheb and then Hz
Muhammed Khadim Hasan. In 1973 when he
passed the succession of the Order to Zahurmian
the world had become a very changed place and
ordinary people from around the world were
beginning to explore the subcontinent and its
fascinating cultures. Nawob Saheb gave Zahurmian
a task - to ensure that the Order was made available
to people from very many and very different
cultures.
Few, if any visitors, from abroad had been received
in Ajmer at that point and Zahurmian must have
wondered, as to how the mission was to be
accomplished. Nevertheless people from various
countries and cultures did begin to arrive at his
door, and a trickle fast became a flowing stream.
The same question faced by Khawaja Saheb arises
again. How to give access to the deep knowledge
of Truth to the people? The desire to do this
springs from having true charity of heart, in this life
and in the world unseen.
Music was a most potent tool that had been
established by the Khawaja Khawajagan to enable
the people to gain immediate insight into the divine
realities. This was an example of the Sufi ability to
adapt to new situations. As was the open door
philosophy of Khawaja Saheb which did not
preclude people of any background – ‘Come one,
come all’.
Zahurmian translated this for the modern world by
focusing on the idea of ‘quality of life’ as his central
theme. Quality of life is a human potential available
to everyone.
Now most people take quality of life to mean how
much money or possessions a person owns, but
Zahurmian thought differently. For him quality of
life came in the form of the richness of human
interactions when they are coloured by divine love.
He often called it humanism, because it regards man
as the vice-regent of God and values above all the
quality of being fully human, irrespective of creed,
religion, class or caste or colour or culture.
The holy Qur’an talks of ‘Laqad Khalqnal fii ahsani
Insanu Takwim’ and goes on to say that man was
abased to be the lowest of the low. To aspire to
return to that state in which man was first made, (in
other words to be to be truly human), must be
regarded as the most important thing we can do
with our life.
The values espoused by Zahurmian’s humanism, or
you could say by his sense of humanity or Insaan,
are those common to all religions and even held by
those who profess no particular religion. They
include, brotherhood, tolerance, mutual respect,
charity of heart, compassion, purity of intention,
morality, and above all love which is panacea for
the ills of man like no other.
Zahurmian did not seek to make converts, nor did
he see things in the light of some sort of fanatical
Jihad. He merely allowed the power of the love that
was in him, which he had been blessed with by the
saints, to have its effect on people who met him.
His son and successor Hz Inaam Hasan, runs a Sufi
school for poorer children from all backgrounds and
religions, and he told me recently that the teaching
of religion was not carried on in the school at all;
only the nurturing of universal values. One might
say the children along with their skills are
encouraged in the development of good manners
and a sense of morality based on the teachings of
Khawaja Saheb and emphasising tolerance towards
all. Inaam said that the children would learn religion
and make their choices when they were old enough
to understand the issues.
You know, when a person is focused on the love of
God, profoundly and wholeheartedly, it is
impossible that people in contact with that person
will not be influenced and benefited in some way.
The way that it manifest in any particular individual
depends on their circumstances – the Shaykh is like
a gardener who waters, feeds, and cultivates the
plants, he does not try to make a daffodil into a rose.
The saints are like mirrors. When the sun shines on
a clear mirror it is reflected; only a fool thinks the
mirror is the sun. So it is with the Light of God.
When the individual’s heart becomes clean it begins
to reflect the light of divine truth. Those who look
on the mirror see themselves in that light. Each
understands it a little differently according to their
nature, culture and background - but the light is
One. In the light of the sun things which were
hidden by darkness become visible. Thus each
individual sees in his own way his need to submit
the individual will to the Divine Will.
We are each given a will though our will is
circumscribed and limited by circumstance. The
Will of Allah is not so circumscribed. The highest
achievement of man is to unite his will with the
Divine Will. This is Islam at its most pure and it is
True Religion that has no colouring of sectarianism
in it. It applies to all mankind not merely to those
brought up learning Namaz or fasting. It is the
fundamental need of all mankind and each man
woman and child to acknowledge in their deepest
soul their Creator. It is a great challenge to
everyone irrespective of their culture or background
or professed religion.
Khawaja Saheb is like a great mirror of immense
dimensions and those who live close to him in their
heart are like many smaller mirrors surrounding a
great one.
The holy Qur’an speaks of those whose ‘love of
God is overflowing’. This light we speak of is the
gift of Divine love to us.
Zahurmian became one such mirror showing people
their own nature and how to improve it. Those who
really knew and loved him did so because he
reflected that divine light into the darkness in their
hearts and thus they came to know themselves, not
by thought or intellect or speculative fancy or
imagination, but in a way that can only really be
known by direct experience. To truly know oneself
in the divine light is to change one’s self from
within.
Now the vision that Zahurmian had of a better
quality of life provides a framework for enabling
people from many different backgrounds and
cultures to mature, to be fully human, in that light.
It enables them to be flowers of different kinds who
share the same garden. It does not seek to change
people from outside by changing how they think or
their religion or their values by argument or
discussion, but from inside – thus the change
involves them finding themselves changing from
within. God guides those he loves to His light.
In Zahurmian’s heart his followers became his
family; a family that has many different
personalities within it, as it should; a family with
people of different qualities, but a family
nevertheless; and founded on the purest and deepest
kind of love, which surpasses the understanding of
that word in most peoples experience like the sun
surpasses the moon and stars.
The saints are a gift of Allah to man.
Thus it is with Zahurmian’s tolerant and accepting
approach of the ways of people in the modern
world. He saw deeply into the hearts of people he
did not regard what they said, or thought, but their
potential to realise their humanity. To realise the
potential of life to be lived as it should be lived,
which is to say, well.
Zahurmian wrote a poem which goes:
Let love in, around, and above you grow,
Let kindness and generosity from you flow,
Patience and courage, in all situations, ever show,
In forgiving and forgetting do not be slow.
When love enters our heart truly and deeply it flows
from us to others around us – we cannot help it. We
just cannot stop loving.
Here is part of a short poem I wrote trying to
explain what I believe to be ‘the Zahuri way’ - as I
like to call it. It is addressed to Zahurmian and one
verse goes like this -
.... that worshipping is not just declaring,
And fasting, and praying, and giving -
It is living each day like you, with grace,
Wisely and well, a member of the human race,
Lovingly.
The Unseen world where Zahurmian now lives
permanently is a reality! The world we think we
know, the material universe, is its shadow, so I am
sure by the Grace of God, he is here with us now;
but don’t look round, you won’t see him with these
eyes – look with the eye of the heart, listen with the
ear of the heart.
Our real salaam to him on the occasion of his ‘'Urs
must also come from the heart, but I will give voice
to it here and now and say:-
Salaam Aleikum Zahurmian, Salaam Aleikum my
dear master. ‘Urs Mubarak.
Give your blessings I pray,
On all in our company today.
Turn your mirror in this way
That each may receive a divine ray.
Amin