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About the Author

Born Khwaja Shamsuddin Ansari on October 17, 1927 in Siharanpur, U.P., India into a radical Sunni cleric household; young Shamsuddin saw firsthand the superficiality of the legalistic outward religion. Growing up he had several encounters that provoked his inter­ests in the esoteric religion. At the young age of twenty, he set out on the quest of finding a true murshid (Sufi Master). That nine-year journey took him from his native city to places like the Patiala State, India and then to Lahore and then to Sadiqabad, Pakistan. Finally in Karachi, he arrived at the doorsteps of the Syed Muhammad Azeem a.k.a. Qalandar Baba Awliya (1896-1979), founder of the Sufi Order of Azeemia and grandson of the famous Indian Sufi, Baba Tajuddin of Nagpur (1852?-1929).

The next fourteen years under his tutelage saw the transformation of this undereducated and functionally illiterate person into the author of around a dozen books and several articles on parapsychology, telepathy, and spirituality. In 1962, Shaykh Azeemi started writing articles on spir­ituality in various Pakistani newspapers and magazines. The most famous of them was his advice column Roohani Daak, in Urdu Daily Jung. People from all walks of life and faith would write to him for his advice on their problems. On average, Shaykh Azeemi received 3,000 nails it day. Because of its huge success, a monthly magazine Roohani Digest was launched in 1978. Shaykh Azeemi is the Editor in Chief of the magazine, which now has its own website www.roohanidigest.com. In 1979 before his physical death, Qalandar Baba Awliya designated Shavkh Azeemi as the Patriarch of the Sufi Order of Azeemia.

What sets this Sufi Order apart from most of the other Orders is that it is available to people from all the faiths. Hence, it number of Shaykh Azeemi's students are Hindus, Christians and Zoroastrian as well as members of other faiths. The main headquarters of the Sufi Order of Azeemia is its convent (khanqah) at Surjani Town, subdivision of Karachi, where Shaykh Azeemi still receives and gives free advice to peo­ple daily. The convent holds weekly Muraqaba  sessions as well as train­ing classes and hangar.

Since 2001, Shaykh Azeemi has delegated most of his editorial responsibilities to his eldest son and shaykh-designate Mr. Waqar Yousuf Azeemi. Mr. Waqar Yousuf Azeemi, himself an author, was recently elected the Finance-Secretary of the prestigious All-Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), an organization credited with upholding and striving for the freedom of the press in that country.

Syed Shahzad Reaz


MURAQABA

KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI

In the current information age, the very question of what Man is, and to what extent his abilities go, has gained prominence. Metaphysical knowledge tells us that Man is not just a mass of muscles and bones but in fact is a living universe or microcosm (a'lam asghar) itself. His life is primarily relying on information. As a matter of fact his life is nothing but a collection of thoughts and imagination. His every movement is influenced by information and thoughts. Every human achievement is circled around the unseen world of cognition, imagination and creative thoughts. By giving new meaning to this idea, Man creates and invents new things out of nothing.