I often travel to Kaliyar Sharif, near Roorkie, where the dargah of Hazrat Alauddin Ali Ahmad Sabir stands. Popularly known as Sabir sahab, the dargah is a large serene compound that attracts pilgrims throughout the year.
After Sabir sahab’s father died, his mother Jamila Khatun had entrusted him in the care of Baba Farid, the great Chishti Sufi poet of Punjab, who happened to be her brother. Baba Farid put his nephew in charge of the community kitchen at his khanqah, hospice, at Ajodhan. After some years, Alauddin’s mother returned to find him extremely thin and weak. She asked her brother the reason for her son’s poor health.
Barring a few legends and anecdotes, little is recorded of Sabir sahab’s life. One Friday, when Sabir sahab went to the local mosque, the conspirators ensured that the mystic did not get a place to stand for prayer. Such was the magnitude of Sabir sahab’s wrath that the mosque collapsed, wiping out everything around it, except a gooler i.e. berry tree.
Subsequently, a plague gripped Kaliyar, taking a heavy toll on life and the city soon became deserted. On learning of its devastation, the Naseeruddin Mahmud Shah, the sultan of Delhi, pleaded with Baba Farid for protection from Sabir sahab’s wrath. Sabir sahab’s spiritual mentor advised the emperor to stay miles away from Kaliyar.
Sabir sahab meditated in a standing position under the gooler for 12 years. Baba Farid was worried about his disciple. Shamsuddin Turk, a mystic from Panipat, volunteered. Fearing Sabir sahab’s wrath, Turk stood at a distance and began to recite the Quran. Moved by the recital, Sabir sahab signalled him to sit down, but Shamsuddin replied, “How can I sit while an esteemed master stands?” Sabir sahab then let go of the tree’s bough and finally sat down.
The gooler stands in the same to this day. After spending over three decades in Kaliyar, Sabir sahab died in 1291. The location of his grave was unknown until 16th century, when it was discovered by the Chishti Sufi Abdul Qudoos Gangohi. Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi then built a mausoleum over the grave of the exalted mystic. Kaliyar is in Hardwar, where the Urs celebrations are held each year in Rabi ul awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar.
Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com
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