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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
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.