My Snake Stick And Me - Mahim Dhuni of Makhdhoom Shah Baba, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
I have been documenting the rafaees body piercing ascetics of Mahim dargah, most of the Khadims from Ajmer come here ..this was shot when Barsati baba was the Murshad for a short while .. he died recently , most of the Murshads of the Chancawalli Rafaees have died tragically ,,unexpectedly Sikandar Wali Baba and Handi Sai..
The new Murshad is Sarkar Ali Bawa ..
Of late I have not been able to go to the Dhuni..during Urus tme but I have shot this ascetic order of Rafaees extensively ,, now I am documenting the Dam Madar Order of Malangs an order to which I belong too.The main seat is at Makanpur at the Shrine of Zinda Shah Madar .. the order is known as Madariya..
The Madariyya are members of a Sufi order (tariqa) popular in North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, the Mewat region, Bihar and Bengal, as well as in Nepal and Bangladesh. Known for its syncretic aspects, lack of emphasis on external religious practice and focus on internal dhikr, it was initiated by the Sufi saint 'Sayed Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar' (d. 1434 CE), called "Qutb-ul-Madar", and is centered around his shrine (dargah) at Makanpur, Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh.
Originating from the Tayfuriya order, as his Pir, spiritual teacher was Bayazid Tayfur al-Bistami, Madariya reached its zenith in the late Mughal period between 15th to 17th century, and gave rise to several new orders as Madar's disciples spread through the Northern plains of India, into Bengal. As with most Sufi orders, its name Madariya too has been created by adding a Nisba to the name its founder, Madar in this case lead to Madariya, sometimes spelled as Madariyya, though it is also referred as Tabaqatiya at many places.[1][2][3][4][5]
Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar or Qutbul Madar was born in 242 Hijri as per Islamic calendar at Halab, Syria. In the book Gulzar-e-Madar, the author Maulana Sayed Mehmood wrote that Hazrat Huzaifa Sayed himself stated that one day in a dream Prophet Muhammad came to him and said: "his child is a Wali of the almighty Allah and is from my origin."[citation needed] The Muslims belonging to Zinda Shah Madar are called Shah, sai or syed.
In the book Taskiratulkram fi Ahwale Khulafa-e-Arbo Islam, it is written that Hazrat Sayed Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar had the knowledge of all the four books which came from the Paradise. At the age of 14, Hazrat Sayed Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar had memorised the Quran Shareef and had read its existence values as well he got knowledge of other religious topics.
His Pir or Sheikh was Sayed Bayzid Bustami (Sultan Arafeen). Hazrat Sayed Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar was pledged with the Tayfooriya order and was being said as Silsila-e-Tayfooriya.
Zinda Shah Madar has visited many countries and had extensively preached Islam. He is said to visited almost all places in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Baghdad, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and many more places around the world.[citation needed]
Dargah[edit source | editbeta]
The Dargah or the tomb of Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar is located at Makanpur, near Kanpur city, in Uttar Pradesh state in India. It is visited by thousands of visitors every month and especially during the annual Urs celebrations.[6] The dargah in Makanpūr gained increasing importance during the Mughal period. Various rulers donated land, while others erected buildings there. Aurangzeb (1068-1118/1658-1707) visited the shrine in the year 1069/1659 while marching against Shāh Shujāʿ.[citation needed]
The Tariqah[edit source | editbeta]
Most of the biographic details regarding Baduddin Zinda Shah Madar are shrouded under numerous legends and stories of his numerous miracles. However much of such information has come from his hagiography, Mirat i-Madari, written in 1654 by Abd ur-Rahman Chisti. Since then a number of hagiographic texts have emerged.[7] The silsilah (lineage) is still live throughout the world with the pir-muridi tradition. The Pir's of Makanpur sharif are "Sayeds". The Madariya chain of Sufi brotherhood is the oldest, largest, and fastest-growing Sufi brotherhood of the ancient era.[citation needed]
