The first time I heard of Sarkar Makhdum Shah was from a noble man, a good friend, who I call Captain P.

A devout Muslim, a very kind hearted man, he was undergoing the worst possible Karmic cleansing ever and getting the shit kicked out of him. He would spend hours at Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s Dargah.

One day I visited him at a friend’s place and he looked at me and said, “You look as though you have gone and done The Haj Pilgrimage”.

I kept silent. I physically had not done the Pilgrimage but a night prior, I had dreamt I was standing in front of the Holy Kabba.

Ok, before I narrate a few dreams and incidents, I would like to make it clear, I do so to share my experiences. I take no spiritual credit (I have none, the lawyers of my ex and my very family will vouch I have not a straight bone in my body) and I have no powers (If Sant Dyaneshwar could make a cow, buffalo or a bull, recite the Vedas, then, I guess I too can see a few dreams and experience few odd ball spiritual experiences).

Enough of my ramblings.

So, Captain P asked me to describe the dream and I did.

I was standing near The Kabba, and I could feel the texture of the cloth which covered the Holy Structure. There were two or three layers of shimmering cloth over It. I could feel the heat as it was summer. The lights that hit my eyes were blinding. I woke up after that and did what good men do after such dreams, scratched my head in wonder and lit a cigarette.

Captain P looked at me and said, “Tell me about the glare?”

I told him the lights were so bright that for a while I could not see.

He smiled and told me that only those who have done The Pilgrimage and are fortunate to be acquainted with those in power and in the know, can get so close to The Kabba and know about the various shimmering coverings on The Kabba and only those who have actually stood near The Kabba can mention about bright lights as truly with so many flash bulbs lit, for a while it is difficult to see.

 I began to go to Sarkar Makhdum Shah soon after and made it at least a monthly visit. Those days I had begun to do Trance Mediumship under the help of Meheru Gandhi. I was already into channeling since two years but wanted to experience Trance Mediumship.

I would go once a week, I think it was on a Tuesday or a Wednesday to Bandra, at Sorabh Adeshir’s house, and first I would do Mediumship of healing, where people would come for various physical and emotional health issues, and then I would sit along with one or two others who were getting ready for Trance Mediumship.

That particular day, I had done two hours or more of channeling at my parent’s home in Dadar. Then did an hour or more of very heavy healing sessions and They heal but that day I felt that my body had got affected. I could sense it in my gut that something had not gone right, so that day I decided not to sit for Trance Mediumship.

I told Meheru Gandhi if I could be excused for the day, but she shut her eyes and looked back at me and said that she had been told, “Yeh theek nahi hain”.

She told me They feel this is not the right attitude. What the good lady could not have known was that “Yeh theek nahi hain” could also have been interpreted as “This damn idiot isn’t well”.

I said fine let us do it. During the Trance Mediumship, first Sai Baba of Shirdi would come through. Then Avatar Meher Baba and then would come through this Powerful surge of Energy, only for emergencies and black magic and stuff like that. I never could figure who The Energy belonged too?

Meheru had said it belonged to Makhdum Shah.

Anyway I was feeling depleted. My breathing had become sort of irregular and I sat and we said our prayers and then Baba Sai came through just for a short time and then Sarkar came through. You must understand when in a Trance you really don’t know what’s going on. I would feel as though the voices were coming through a fog and could hear myself speaking and it would sound so unlike me. It is a surreal feeling.

It seems Sarkar Makhdum Shah fired the hell out of everybody present. Poor Meheru, got a real harsh scolding. It seems Sarkar told one and all that, “We told you he is not well and yet you all allowed him to go through the Mediumship. His very Praan (life) is at stake. There is a burn out taking place as We speak. Stop this now.”

Anyway I came back to my senses (or my non senses) and I looked around. Everybody who was around seemed rather shell shocked and worried. I really didn’t know what had happened. I looked exactly as how Adam, ‘The Genius with the unhealthy hots for The Apple’, must have appeared, when the good Lord, with His Holy Hands on His Holy Hips, tapping His Holy foot, watched our man go all out at the controversial Apple and between mouthfuls asked The Lord, “Now what have I done”.

I reached home, sleeping on the back seat in Yezad’s car. I got home and that night my entire mouth till my throat within had got covered with ulcers. It was a painful time. I could not talk (which for any married man is a rather normal state of affair), I couldn’t eat or drink or even swallow my spit /sputum. The worst part of it all was I couldn’t laugh. That hurt me.

Four days later I was asked to take a blood test. It was an expensive blood test and when the result came through, the doctor asked me to come over. The doctor was in Dadar so my dad came along with me. I was weak and felt feverish as I had not eaten for four days. The doctor asked me as to what my profession was. I told him I wrote books and articles. He lifted his one eye brow like any well trained Hindi movie heroine. I can never lift just one eyebrow. I am one-eyebrow-lifting-challenged- .

“Your body has an army within which protects one from diseases. The WBC’s protect the body. Your army seems to have gone mad and has begun to attack you.”

“This can only happen to my son. He gets the strangest illnesses.” My all knowing dad offered his medical diagnosis.

“I have researched this and have found soldiers fighting on the border experience similar situations. The body has been put through so much stress that it doesn’t know what to do.”

“Your body has gone mad my son.”

“I would require a biopsy to be done.”

My father’s face went pale. I nodded. That night in prayer Baba Sai told me to pack my bags for seven days and go off to Khandala. No medicines. Just His Udhi, to be taken thrice a day in little water and that’s that.

Next day we were in Khandala. Seven days later there was no sign of ulcers. I had lost fourteen kilos in twelve days. It took me six months or more to recover my strength. My inherent common sense never returned.

A few months later, I had another experience with Sarkar Makhdum Shah and I have mentioned this dream and incident before and it has been published in The Ramblings of the 110^th, but I rewrite it to make the reader have a personal connect with Sarkar Makhdum Shah.

One night I had a dream where I saw my son, Pashaan and I, in Hazrat Makhdum Shah’s Dargah (Shrine). The Sarkar’s Shrine is in Mahim, Mumbai.

Now, both, my son and I, were standing in the sanctum sanctorum, where The Mausoleum is placed. In the dream, I could hear Islamic prayers being chanted. Then the care takers began to usher everybody out of the sanctum sanctorum, but told us to wait. Then the doors were shut. The care takers of the Dargah, father and son were present. They began to clean the floor with rose water. I could smell the fragrance. Hear the chant. I usually don’t remember dreams but strangely I remembered and still remember it after twelve years or more.

 Once the floor was cleaned, they cleared The Holy Tomb off all the flowers and also the Holy Chaddar or Holy Cloth, offered by devotees that The Holy Tomb is covered with. Then they removed the top covering of The Tomb.

I always thought that The Master was placed in the wooden or marble casket which is covered with a Lid and that is then covered with the Holy Chaddar and then flowers over it. I was surprised to see that The Master’s Physical Body was placed way below in a crevice. I couldn’t see Hazrat Makhdoom Shah, as it was dark within but the care takers put my son and me inside the Tomb with The Master. Then, The Tomb was covered once again. I kept hearing the chants. I was within The Tomb, yet I could see all that was going on outside The Tomb. After a while, once again the Holy Chaddar was removed, the lid of The Tomb opened, my son and I were brought out and then the lid of The Tomb was put back.

I woke up then.

I had no idea what the dream meant. I mean I had just begun channeling. This whole world of spirits and energy and the occult was new to me. It still is.

I decided to take Pashaan to Hazrat Makhdum Shah and pay our respect and bow down in Love, sometime in the coming week.

While Praying at night I was told by Baba Sai of Shirdi to go to the bedroom and in a short while the boy got his first convulsion. Within a few minutes another convulsion.

 We rushed him to the hospital and into the emergency ward. With Baba Sai’s Grace he never got a convulsion en route. It didn’t rain too as we were on a bike. It was about one in the morning. The moment we told the staff, all young doctors, that he had suffered three convulsions so far and his fever was only rising, I could sense defeat in the eyes and mannerism of the doctors. It was as though they were going through the motions but weren’t all there.

They gave my son injections directly into his veins and even on his thigh. He began to have another convulsion and he was in my arms. I don’t know why but I knew I was going to lose him. I prayed to Baba Sai of Shirdi. Told Him that, “This is Your child, if You want him with You take him with grace, don’t let him suffer, that’s all I pray”.

Then my son exhaled. Have you ever heard the sound of death? It is terrifying. It is the loudest sound you will ever hear, the sound of the Soul exiting the body. My son rolled his eyes up and exhaled this sound. Then he went limp in my arms. The doctors stepped back. Nobody looked at me, leave aside looking into my eyes. My son, my little curly haired boy had left his father through the physical body forever. His mother fainted.

It was the longest half a minute ever.

Then like a swimmer coming out of the water, my son came back to life gasping for breath. The doctors for a few seconds didn’t know what was really happening. I told them, “Do something please”; and then they sprang back into action, confused, but I could sense more confidence now than before.

It struck me early morning that I had admitted my son into Hinduja Hospital. It is on the same road, a few minutes away from Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s Dargah.

My son was meant to pass over. Only those who have passed over, or as folks say, only those who are dead, are placed in a grave. My son, whose time had come, was placed, not in a grave, but in The Master’s Tomb, and then removed again, well and secure.

His time had come and the ceremony of passing over had taken place, and I had experienced it, but all in the dream state. In the astral world, my son was put down under, but for some reason, he was placed in The Master’s Lap, in The Master’s Tomb.

All The Masters are One. Thus, the chant; ‘La ilaha ill Allah’ in the dream, meaning, there is only One God.

Who is Sarkar Makhdum Shah? He has various titles, Qutb-E-Kokan, Hazrat Shaikh Makhdum Ali Paro Qutb-ul- Aqtab Qutb-e-Kokan, Al-Mahaimi of Mumbai, Hazrat Makhdum Shah Baba, and He was at birth given the name Shaikh Ali, but for some reason I have always called Him, Sarkar Makhdum Shah.

Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s lineage can be traced right back to Prophet Mohammed.

The earliest trace of Sarkar’s ancestors is Hazrat Jafar Taiyar who was Hazrat Ali’s cousin brother. Hazrat Jafar was called Taiyar as He was known to be like a ‘kind parent of the poor and the needy’. He must have been such a noble man that another very evolved soul, Hazrat Abu Huraira has been known to say that after Prophet Mohammed came Hazrat Jafar Taiyar.

So, Harzat Jafar Taiyar migrated to Ethopia or some African country, where He preached about Prophet Mohammed and Islam to the clueless African King. He came back to the Holy City in Saudi Arabia, Makkah Sharif. Prophet Mohammed was so pleased seeing Him that He kissed Harzat Jafar’s on His forehead and hugged the Latter close with a lot of love and affection. The Prophet then said the famous words, ‘Man is like fruits of different trees, but Hazrat Jaffer and I (The Prophet) are the fruits of one tree’.

So, one can imagine Sarkar Makhum Shah’s lineage, as He comes from the same tree.

Those days when The Prophet physically walked on Mother Earth, war was raging amongst the various tribes in Arabia. He made it clear that if anything were to happen to Commander Zaid Bin Haris, then Hazrat Jaffar Taiyar would take the Commander’s place and fight the war. Zaid bhai became a martyr and the Holy Flag was handed to Hazrat Jaffar Taiyar.

In the war the ensued Hazrat Jaffar’s right hand was cut off. Bleeding and badly injured, Hazrat Jaffar dropped His sword and held the flag in His left hand. Unarmed but still marching ahead, His left hand was chopped away too. When both His hands were cut, He knelt and picked up the flag by His chin and rested the flag on His chest with His neck holding the rod of the flag and marched on. He was killed at the age of forty one and is known as the first Martyr in Islamic Jihad and legend has it that instead of His arms, the Lord in His mercy, bestowed Hazrat Jaffar with wings studded with gems and pearls when He entered Paradise.

Sarkar’s forefathers came to India, like Zoroastrians, to flee from tyranny and to safeguard their religion and culture. Sarkar’s family belonged to a tribe called Naita and resided in Madina but had to flee due to the cruelty of Jajjaj Bin Yusuf. Mr. Jajjaj Bin Yusuf for some reason lost his head and went nuts and began to kill all saintly folks. In a fit of insanity he killed more than five thousand scholars and saintly folk and thus seeing no other option, many of the Naita tribe packed their belongings and came down to the mouth of the Indus River and made it their home. Those days Bombay or Mumbai consisted of a few islands, Mahim being one of them, and thus the Sarkar’s Tribe settled in Mahim, Mumbai, India in the ninth century.

Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s Parents were wealthy and also very pious. His father, Maulana Hazrat Shaikh Ahmad Sahib was a noble Man, a scholar and exceedingly spiritual. His Mother, Fatima Binte Nakhuda Hussain later on known as Maa Saab, was an exceedingly God fearing Woman, who was constantly in prayer, even while taking care of Her family. The impact both the Parents had on Sarkar Makhdum Shah is of great importance. It goes to show how Parents can take an uncut diamond and through dedication, love and wisdom, make the diamond shine, its luster gracing one on the physical plane as well as beyond the beyond.

Seeing the intelligence and spiritual inclination of Sarkar Makhdum Shah, both His Parents decided to dedicate Their lives in bringing up the Boy in a manner that He moved ahead spiritually. Thus, by the time Sarkar Makhdum Shah was nine years of age, He had been taught apart from the foundation of all education, complete knowledge and could recite the Holy Koran, with proper phonetics, understood the philosophy and the true meaning of the Koran. It was thanks to His Parents that He could divine the true essence and the very heartbeat of the Celestial Song given by Allah to Arch Angel Gabriel who gave it to Prophet Mohammed. Sarkar Makhdum Shah wrote more than hundred books in His physical life time and even now scholars all over the world acclaim the books as to bringing out the true essence of the Koran, the word of Prophet Mohammed and the Sufism of Islam. I guess if you remove Sufism from Islam, it is like removing the fragrance from a rose, the sigh from the heart, the glow from the Sun.

Seeing that the spiritual, intellectual, and moral foundation of His Son, was firmly entrenched and that His Boy would now only soar higher and higher, Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s Father, left His physical body.

Sarkar’s need to learn and acquire knowledge only grew. After a while when He could take it no more, He approached His Mother and seeked Her permission to travel all over the world in search of knowledge. Sarkar’s Mother was intensely in love with Her Son. She would have sacrificed anything for Him, but She was a wise Woman. She knew that what the world teaches is only surface matter, the thin film on water, to go within, swim deep within the cool water, and get the rarest of oysters and first of all to know where the oyster resides and then to learn how to remove the Pearl and then the wisdom as to what to do with the Pearl, no mortal can teach. This knowledge can only be imparted by Him and His merry band of winged scholars. So, She told Her Son that there was no need to travel. She would pray and The Teachers of Teachers, The One who would be able to impart the ocean of Knowledge would come and teach Her Son personally.

Sarkar could not see beyond His Mother. He agreed. That night Sarkar’s Mother, Fatima Maa, prayed with all Her love, devotion and faith.

The next morning, Sakar went for His usual walk by the sea and He saw an elderly Man sitting on a rock. Sarkar Makhdum Shah a young Lad greeted the Man and the Man returned His salaam’s. He smiled and told the young Lad that if He desired Divine Knowledge, there was no need to travel the world, the world to travel was within, where all the knowledge reposed, and that He would teach the young Lad all that which was needed and that, “I am the Khizr Alaih Salaam and Allah, The Highest of The High, has sent Me to teach You all that is needed but You will not talk about Me or Our meetings to another soul”.

Khizr is The Angel of Knowledge and Divine Mysteries. It is said that all those who have truly wanted Divinity to be revealed were blessed by Khizr’s Visit and Grace. Many are of the belief that Arch Angel Gabriel is Khizr.

So, every day Sarkar Makhdum Shah would wake up early, recite His morning prayers and then go to the sea shore to meet Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam and would be taught all that which is only worth knowing. The manner of teaching was different from the way we are taught by our esteemed schools and in a few days Sarkar Makhdum Shah was well versed with knowledge, both intellectual and spiritual.

One day His Mother asked Sarkar as to where He went each morning and spent a long time. Obviously nobody but Sarkar could see Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam. Sarkar was in a dilemma. He had promised Khizr that He would never divulge to anybody Their secret spiritual rendezvous but He could not bear to either lie or keep anything from His Mother. Thus, after a brief hesitation Sarkar told His Mother that He was being taught by Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam.

The next day when He went to the usual spot where His true education was under progress, He realised that Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam was not present. He realised He had broken His promise and that His beloved Teacher would no longer meet Him. He went back heartbroken and told His Mother that The Khizr would never ever meet Him. His Mother looked at Her heart broken Son and smiled and told the young Lad to leave all to Allah, The Highest of The High. If He wanted, Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam would have no option but to come back and resume His teaching.

That night again Fatima Maa prayed to Allah and am sure She must have beseeched Him and also scolded Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam for breaking the heart of Her son, Her very sigh of Her soul.

Next morning when Sarkar woke up and got ready for prayers, Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam met Him and smiled and took the young Lad to Their beautiful spot of education, a rock by the sea. Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam put something in His mouth, chewed it for a while, and then took out the morsel and fed the young Lad. “Because of the love and prayers of Your Mother, You have been blessed by the favour of Allah, The Highest of The High, with the Mastery of all branches of Knowledge.” Hazrat Khizr Alaih Salaam blessed Sarkar Makhdum Shah and disappeared.

That evening, after the sunset prayers, it was as though Sarkar’s heart had been wiped clean and every branch of knowledge known to man, Angel, Master and God, resided within Him.

So, how did the young Lad who at birth was named Shaikh Ali, got the name Makhdum Shah. Once again it was because of His mother. When Makhdum Shah was small, one night, after Her prayers, His mother, asked for a glass of water. She was tired and thirsty and not well. Her son went to get water for His mother. When He returned His tired Mother had gone off to sleep. When She woke up, She saw Her Son, standing by Her bedside, holding the glass of water, waiting for Her to quench Her thirst. She asked Him as to why He was standing with the glass of water in His hand and since how long. He told Her that as She was thirsty and had asked for a glass of water, He waited all night, as He didn’t want Her to wake up and not be able to quench Her thirst.

I mean who does all this except Those truly filled with love.

Her son said, “I wanted to serve You and do Your Khidmat (seva)”.

Hearing this from the deepest recesses of Her heart and soul, His mother blessed Him. “Due to Your Khidmat, I bless You that the world will know You as Makhdum (Devoted Servant) and Your love and devotion will make You a scholar of true wisdom.”

So, this is how Shaikh Ali was known as Makhdum Shah.

One of the first miracles performed by Sarkar Makhdum Shah was when He was ten years of age. He had a goat who He truly loved. One day the goat died and His Mother didn’t want Her young Son to go through the grief of burying the goat. So She buried the goat at the sea shore and when Her son inquired about the whereabouts of His goat, He was told that the goat had left the body. He was saddened and went to the spot where the goat was buried. The sand was still loose and He could see one of the legs of the goat. He went and said His prayers for the goat’s wellbeing and safekeeping with Allah.

His Mother had sent Her maid servant to keep a watch on Makhdum Shah. She was aware of His attachment to the goat and thus was worried that the loss should not trouble Her Boy. The maid was told by Him to stay away and knowing better to follow openly, stood behind a rock and saw the young Boy pray. After a while She nearly passed out. The leg of the goat trembled and then after a while the goat came out of its makeshift burial spot. Makhdum Shah held the goat by the ear, spoke something to it, and took it back home. It became obvious to one and all that this Child was filled with The Divine Spirit.

The most amazing thing was not about the goat. The maid, for some reason nobody seems to know her name, began to have great love and respect for Makhdum Shah. When She would wash His clothes the first rinse would be done only with water. She would drink this water and then begin to wash His clothes with whatever was used in those days. Slowly She too began to get spiritual powers and Divine Knowledge and spent Her entire life serving Makhdum Shah.

Once, Sai Baba of Shirdi to teach His devotees after eating an onion, vomited it out. The strange part was that He had eaten it with relish but when He vomited it out, the whole onion, was removed. A devotee standing by His side dived at the onion and quickly ate it up. First Baba Sai abused and thrashed the guy and then smiled and nodded. He was happy with the man’s devotion and love. The man evolved spiritually and became known for His powers and wisdom. A number of lepers would drink and apply the water which Baba Sai had bathed with and they were cured off leprosy and other ailments.

The power of The Giants is such that They need nothing to heal. It is the faith, love and devotion of the devotees and disciples that brings forth miracles and healing. All you need is love, love, love….love is all you need.

One day Sarkar Makhdum Shah told His maid to serve a Man who had entered the Mosque. He had seen the Man, realised who He was, and told the maid to make sure that the Man is fed. The maid got the food and searched the entire Mosque but could not find the Man. What to do? Sarkar had told Her to feed the Man. She was not going to disobey Her Master. She shut Her eyes, prayed and found Herself in Khana-e-Ka’aba in Mecca. How She had been transported only Allah and Her Master, Sarkar Makhdum Shah were aware. She found the Man, who Himself was a very evolved Soul, fed Him, no ifs and buts, You have to eat ji, I know You have eaten food but You have to eat….yes yes I know the food is pungent but You must eat, and She returned.

Sarkar Makhdum Shah was exceedingly generous. He loved to feed people. His home always seemed to be full of guests. The Hindus and Muslims loved Him. He was very liberal, unbiased and non judgmental.

It seems He loved fish, but when one day somebody wondered how a Man of God could live a life, with wealth, wear good clothes, stay in comfort and also enjoyed food, he followed Sarkar to the wash basin. One day this man was invited to join The Sarkar for a meal. Many had been invited and there was sumptuous food on the table and Sarkar made sure all ate to their hearts content and He personally served them and then ate along with them. The main delicacy was fish. Long before the others had finished the food, Sarkar got up and went to wash His hands. The man followed Him and He saw Sarkar put the fish bones in the wash basin. He washed His hands and left. The man went to see why the fish bones had been left in the wash basin and then saw the fish, nice, whole, overweight, swimming in the basin.

The Masters operate from a state of detachment. Give Them fish or dry bread They will eat it with equal detachment. Unless, you get a Master to eat food prepared by a few folks I know. It would take Them to muster all their detachment and spirituality to eat a morsel. Hmmmmm that’s another story.

So the man who doubted Sarkar went to apologize to Sarkar who told him something that truly makes all the sense. Spirituality, different kinds of wealth, are bestowed due to the wisdom of The One. What one deserves The One gives. His wealth, both material and spiritual, came from The One as per God’s mercy on Him.

 Even here Makhdum Shah didn’t talk about gaining wealth, worldly and spiritual, because of His past life good deeds. He felt if The One decides, then through His Love and Mercy one is Graced.

According to Sarkar Makhdum Shah, praying the Sura’ Fatiha and the Durood, both the smallest but the most powerful prayers in the Koran, could lead mankind to the warm embrace of the Creator. Baba Sai has often advised those suffering from ill health, black magic, hopeless situations, to pray the Sura’ Fatiha. The Durood is a prayer one says for Prophet Mohammed. Both are short prayers but work miracles and Sarkar Makhdum Shah would advise one and all to say these Prayers.

He would also often pray these words and it shows His humility, love and surrender to God.

“My Allah, You, alone, are my Nourisher. There is no God worthy of worship except You. It is You that have given birth to Me and I am your Slave. I shall remain firm on My promises to You to My level best. I seek Your shelter against My evil deeds and I do admit Your favours upon Me and I repent for My sins. You, please, forgive Me because no one will be able to forgive the sins except You”

Here, we have Sarkar Makhdum Shah, asking for forgiveness, calling Himself a slave and a sinner and One who has committed evil deeds. The touch stone of all Masters is not the miracles They perform, or the knowledge and wisdom They posses, but Their Humility, Their Love, Their Yearning for The One. They operate either as His/Her Slave, Servant, Sinner….when in a good mood They permit Themselves to be called The One’s Child……and when in a state of Oneness and only in that state of Oneness, They lose Their Individual Identity and then proclaim ‘I am The One’. But when They come back to the state of duality, They once again call Themselves Slaves, Servants, Sinners.

All the while Baba Sai of Shirdi would say, Allah Mallik and Raja Ram and that He was His servant and slave. Only when He merged into the stream of Oneness, then He would proclaim His Oneness and Godhood and then back to Allah Mallik, Raja Ram.

Sarkar had the habit of going into a meditative state to the extent that apart from His Mother’s voice He was lost to the world. He truly loved His Mother.

He performed innumerable miracles but His writings, more than a hundred works, are considered to be so profound, so simple, so beautiful that for many scholars His works brings forth the Divine Love, Compassion and Benevolence of God, Allah. He brought out the Sufism which is evident and still hidden in the Koran. His God was a benevolent God. If you loved Him, He reciprocated a hundred, nay a thousand fold. Thus, miracles on one side and His writings on the other made Him respected, loved, and popular, not only amongst the mango people of all religions, caste and creed (Aam Aadmi) but also with scholars and Men and Women intoxicated by God.

Sarkar Makhdum Shah is considered as an Awaisi. According to Sufis, the One who receives Divine Knowledge and can penetrate into the Divine World of Concealment without the help of a physical guide or Guru or Saint is called an Awaisi and is considered as an Elder in the Realm of Spiritual Hierarchy.

He is considered the patron Saint of the Mumbai Police, to the extent that there is a special room in the Mahim Police Station built by a senior British Police Officer, which is called the Makhdum Baba Room which has got His all the Holy relics like His bed sheets, shawls, dishes, and things used for Sandal. This room is not entered with shoes and the main Urs of Sarkar Makhdum Shah is undertaken by the Police. Whenever a police man or woman has an issue with law and order, a difficult case, even family issues that doesn’t permit him or her to perform his or her job with utmost sincerity and dedication, tensions of the jobs, eventually goes and puts his or her petition to the Sarkar.

When Sarkar Makhdum Shah was fifty nine years of age on a Friday night in the month of February in the year fourteen hundred and thirty one, He calmly shut His eyes and left His body. His mother Fatima Maa Saab for forty days and nights grieved for Her son and on the fortieth day She too left Her body to join Allah and Her very breath, Her son. Her Holy tomb is just next to Sarkar Makhdum Shah’s Holy tomb and thus they have never left each other’s side. The Maid’s Tomb is outside on the southern side of the Dargah. Nobody truly knows when the pious woman who served Sarkar and His Mother, passed away.

Sarkar Makhdum Shah lived His life, like most Masters, silently. Though He performed countless miracles, it really never is about miracles. It is about the love for God. It is about serving Him and Her and serving all creation in The Creator’s name. Miracles will follow just as fragrance from fresh roses is inevitable. We forget that Masters too are of the flesh. Their souls and spirit may be that of super humans and Demi Gods or Gods Themselves on earth, but Their body goes through the same wear and tear as any being made out of the five elements. They bear the pain and tribulations, the hardship and the ridicule, to carry our burden and to show us the way. It is thus Their humility, Their love, Their soul song, that shines through. They will live on much after we have destroyed our Mother Earth, long after the new cycle of life commences and even that withers away, Their Spirit, love, devotion and surrender will live beyond the beyond, for beyond eternity.

Be blessed.