Peer Syed Abdul Latif Kazmi Qadri, often referred to as Barī Imām or Barī Sarkār (1617 – 1705), was a 17th-century Punjabi Muslim

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

ascetic. He is venerated as the patron saint of Islamabad,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Born in Karsal,

Chakwal District Chakwal District () is a district located on the Pothohar Plateau in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern area of the Punjab province, bordered by Talagang to its west, Rawalpindi to its northeast, Jhelum to its east. The distr ...

, he is one of the most prominent Sufis of the

Qadiriyya The Qadiriyya () or the Qadiri order () is a Sunni Sufi order (''Tariqa'') founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated ''Jilani''), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order, with its many sub-orders, is widesp ...

order of the Islamic spirituality and within this order is addressed as the Master (

Murshid ''Murshid'' () is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Spiritual director, spiritual guide. The term is freque ...

) of the Hazrat Ishaans of the

Naqshbandiyya Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophe ...

sub branch of the

of whom the patron saint is Sayyid Mir Jan. Today, he is widely visited by those Sunni Sufi Muslims (especially in Pakistan and South Asia) who venerate saints.(Associated Press of Pakistan
Security plan chalked out for Bari Imam Urs
The Nation (newspaper), Published 20 May 2015, Retrieved 5 January 2021 The life of Bari Imam is known essentially through oral tradition and hagiographical booklets and celebrated in

Qawwali Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in the Indian subcontinent. Originally performed at Sufi shrines throughout the Indian subcontinent, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has ...

songs of Indian and Pakistani Sufism. Landscape6

Biography

Bari Imam was eight years old when his family migrated from Karsal in Chakwal District to what is now Aabpara, Islamabad in Pakistan. Additionally, Syed Kasran in the Tehsil of Gujjar Khan is considered to be his Birthplace. His father, Syed Mehmood Shah, was a farmer. So he helped his father with farming and with his herd of animals until he was 12 years old. Then Bari Imam was sent to Ghorghushti in Campbellpur (now known as

Attock Attock ( Punjabi, ), formerly known as Campbellpur (Punjabi, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 36th largest city in the Punjab and 61st largest c ...

, Punjab, Pakistan) where he stayed for two years to learn

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

, logic, and other disciplines related to Islam, because at that time Ghorghushti was a renowned seat of Islamic learning. According to some sources, he later married and had one daughter, though both his wife and daughter are said to have died prematurely. After their deaths, Bari Imam began wandering the forests of the

Hazara district Hazara District was a district of Peshawar Division in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It existed until 1976, when it was split into the districts of Abbottabad and Mansehra, with the new district of Haripur subsequently splitti ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

, where he spent twenty-four years as an

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

. Shah Abdul Latif also went to Central Asian states of that period and to the Islamic holy cities of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and

Madinah Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

to learn about Islam and perform

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

. After his return to the Indian subcontinent, he then decided to settle in the Noorpur Shahan area (now Noorpur Shahan in Islamabad). At that time, this area was known to be a dangerous place (locally known as Chorpur (place of thieves) due to its reputation as full of bandits and killers who used to attack and rob trade caravans passing through this area headed towards Central Asian countries. Over time, he succeeded in teaching these people about love, peace and harmony. Later Shah Abdul Latif came to be known as "Bari Imam".(Mohammad Yousaf Khokhar
Shah Abdul Latif, Nurpur Shahan and Islamabad
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Published 28 July 2002, Retrieved 5 January 2021 Because Bari Imam Sarkar did not transmit any of his doctrines to writing; as such, it may be rightly presumed that he bequeathed all of his teachings orally. Bari Imam was renowned in his own life for being an ascetic who subjected himself to great self-humiliation in the public sphere, "living among the pariahs and consciously exposing himself to the disdain of the people." A celebrated

miracle worker Thaumaturgy () is the practical application of magic to effect change in the physical world. Historically, thaumaturgy has been associated with the manipulation of natural forces, the creation of wonders, and the performance of magical feats t ...

, Bari Imam is also described in regional lore as one through whom God performed many marvels to convince the local people of the truth of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

; thus, some of the most popular miracles ascribed to him are his having caused water to gush forth from rocks and his having brought back to life the dead water buffaloes of a

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

who had earlier provided the saint with milk during his ten years of spiritual seclusion.

Shrine

A silver-mirrored shrine of Bari Imam is located in Noorpur Shahan in Islamabad. It was originally built by the

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

, who revered Bari Sarkar, in the 17th century. It has since been renovated many times, and is now maintained by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

. Until the 1960s, the shrine was famous for its ''

urs Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or Urus (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. ...

'' celebration, when the death anniversary of the saint was commemorated and which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people each year (in one particularly populous year, the attendance is said to have been 1.2 million people). On 27 May 2005, a suicide attack took place at the shrine of Imam Bari in which 20 people died and almost 70 were injured.

References

External links

"Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi (Bari Imam)"

"Mausoleum (Mazar) of Shah Abdul Latif (Bari Imam)"

Urs of Bari Imam

The Shrine of Bari Imam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bari Imam 1617 births 1705 deaths Islamic philosophers Muslim reformers 17th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Sufi poets Mughal Empire Sufis Qadiri order Islam in Islamabad History of Islamabad Sufi saints Shrines in Pakistan Punjabi Sufis People from Islamabad 17th-century Mughal Empire people