Meher Ali Shah (Urdu: پیر مہر على شاه), formally referred to as Huzoor Qibla e Aalam Tajdar-e-Golra Ala Hadrat Syedna Pir Meher Ali Shah Sahib, born 1 Ramadan 1275 A.H., i.e., 14 April 1859 in Golra Sharif, was a Sufi scholar from Pakistan belonging to the Chishti order. He is known as a Hanafi scholar leading 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.Shah was a descendant, on his father Nazr Din Shah's side, of Abdul Qadir Jilani in the 25th generation, and of Muhammad through Hassan Ibn-e-Ali in the 38th generation. On the side of his mother Masuma Mawsufa, he descended from Abdul Qadir Jilani in the 24th generation and from Muhammad through Hussain Ibn-e-Ali in the 37th generation.
Education
He received his early religious education at the Khankah[further explanation needed] 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. He therefore set out for higher education in different parts of India including Kanpur, Aligarh, and Saharanpur. His stay at Aligarh at the madrasah of Lutfullah of Aligarh was for two and a half years.
Religious beliefs[edit]
Shah was a disciple and Khalifa of Khawaja Shams-ud-din Sialvi of Sial Sharif in the Silsila-e-Chishtia Nizamiyah. [7][8] His biography Meher-e-Muneer records that he was also made a khalifa by Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, 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).[9] He also wrote explaining the "Unity of Being" doctrine of Ibn Arabi.
Like his comrade Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad, he was an authority on Ibn Arabi and his 37-volume work The Meccan Illuminations (Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya).
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.[1
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