The discussions on Pirs & Murshids have always been around, people normally denouncing them for different reasons such as taking gifts & cash from their followers and making fortunes over that and few more. But these discussions were revived recently, at least in my circle, when a couple of videos surfaced on Facebook & Youtube, including the one where some (so called) Qawwal publicly abuses everbody around in front of his Pir, and another when people shaking hand with their Pir Sahb apparently get a high voltage shock. I dont know about the later one, but the former clearly is a question mark on Tareeqat. If this is Tareeqat, we are better off from it.
While such things having nothing to do with the actual teachings/activities of a Sufi (or Walli as it is called more commonly), from an outer perspective, they look resembeling, and hence strengthen the notion of denouncing the whole system.
I have been thinking about it for sometime, myself belonging to a family who respects genuine Sufis/Wallis a lot, and pays visits to them. My father, may Allah bless his soul, was an active practitioner of Spirituality, and I have seen things happening myself. Having known the system from inside, upto some extent, I felt it as a responsibility, to clarify certain bits, the ones I know about atleast, and to try to remove some misconceptions. There are few things, about which I am confused myself, and can’t make sense out if it, as I dont know everything about the system, but then there are certain other things that I know for sure. I would mostly talk about the later, so as to avoid writing about confusions, but I will mention those confusions as well, in brief.
What I write here is from personal experience, and at some places, my opinion. As I am no scholar, and just an ordinary observer, because of my lack of knowledge, I will be wrong at many places, and will welcome any critisism. But then the purpose is not to give an authentic verdict on the question of Tareeqat, rather to share my experience with it and how I understand it, and in the process, possibly, try to clarify some misconceptions. You obviously reserve the right to disagree and correct me.
I will try to be regular on this.
First Encoutner
I am not sure, but I think I was 8 or 9, when my father told me that he is taking me along to visit Pir Sahb (PS onwards). I had visited PS before with my mother, but then I was too young to remember anything about him. He himself used to visit PS quite frequently, who was based at a drive of almost 3.5 hours from Pindi. We didnt have a car at that time, and he used to travel either on public transport, or on vans privately hired when there was a group of people going to Darbaar, in the capacity of deputy leader of Qaafla, . The leader of the Qaafla was a Khalifa sb of PS, whom we used to call Hajji Sahb. Hajji Sb was a very nice human being.
I was very excited to know this, as a kid, anything new excites. I didnt remember seeing PS before but my father used to talk about him, and I already had an impression of him in my little mind. As per my father, PS was normally a very serious man, in his late 70s. It was not very often to see him smiling, rather very seldom. And when he would smile, Mureeds who would be present at that time, would qoute the incident to others, that such and such thing happened and because of that PS smiled. He had a very strong & controlling personality. And I would later on realize that probably his personality was one of the reasons that helped keep a strict dicipline on the Darbaar, that we normally dont see at other Darbaars. Nobody, among the Darbaar staff, could do a single thing against the unwritten code of conduct, and because of this strict adhering, their personalities too seemed very serious and rigid.
Khair, it was a qaafla going, as it was some occasion; Ashura, Milad-u-Nabi, Shab-e-Miraj, Shab-e-Baraat, Laila-tul-Qadar (27th of Ramadhan), Eids would all count as occasions, and a very big number of mureeds from all over the country would come to Darbaar for the nightly Mehfil, which included Mehfil-e-Zikr, Naats and speeches from maulana hazraat. It would start after Isha’, and would last untill a little befor Fajar. I had seen these people going to Darbaar before, as Qaafla normally started from our place, but for the first time I was part of the group. It was a group of around 60-70 people.
On our way to Darbaar, we did one stop to freshen everybody up, with a cup of tea and some snacks, and a couple of prayer stops.
When we reached in the proximity of Darbaar, and as people saw the minarets of Darbaar mosque, they started Zikr. It was Allah Hu, all around. Zikr could be heard from the Darbaar mosque as well, and it could be heard from distance, as there was no other population around Darbaar, except the Darbaar itself. Soon we arrrived at the Darbaar, and everybody was told to do Wadhu, and meet at a specified point. After everybody came back, we went to Mehmaan Khana for Langar. Mehmaan Khana was more like a havvely, with many small rooms, each with only a carpet and no other furniture.When we arrived, staff over there came to see Hajji Sb, and then brought big dastarkhwans, followed by large sums of food. After food, tea was served.
After having dinner, we were told that we are going for mulaqat. We gathered in the form of a small procession, led by Hajji Sb, and moved towards Hujjra of Pir Sahb. And it was only after reaching in front of the Hujjra, when I realized that we were going to stay ther for some time, as there was a big crowd outside, all there for mulaqaat with PS. There were 3-4 other processions as well, like ours, with their respective khalifah sahiban leading them, and then there were a lot of people who were not part of any procession, and were randomly trying to get in through the small door of hujjra. What I gathered from my first visit and following visits with Hajji Sb was that, waiting in procession was a better option, as you have a Khalifa leading you, and after the wait of 7-10 mins, the procession was allowed to enter, and the staff at the hujjra-door would actually make way for you. It was a task to enter that door, as there were at least 300-400 people trying to get in, and unless Darbaar staff makes way for you, it was almost impossible for somebody like me, a kid of 9-10 years of age, to enter. Some people, on seeing the procession moving towards the door, would join in, instantly. While waiting for permission to enter, Zikr would continue. Infact that was one thing that you would do everytime you have to wait. Be it outside hujjra, or for langar, or waiting for your car getting out of the traffic when mehfil ends, anything, you’ve got sometime, start Zikr, and anybody around would join you.
Khair, as our procession was entering through the door, I was expecting to see Pir Sahb on the other side of the door. To my disappointment, it was a waiting room. As so many people cannot go for mulaqaat at a time, so you enter that room and wait, and people go into the actual hujjra in small groups. As we were waiting for our turn, doing Zikr alongwith, I started thinking about how it will be inside. Having never been to any darbaar befor this, and having seen some dramas/movies, darbaar had only one image in my mind, that of a king. So I thought it would be a very large room, and there would be a takht on which PS would be sitting, and then there would be chairs in front, where his Khulafa would be sitting, and then there will be place for visitors, who would go to meet PS one by one, ditto as in a Mughal king’s darbaar 
Finally the moment of truth came, and our group entered the main room. I was dissapointed again. There was no takht, no chairs, no anything. It was a small room, divided into two halves, by means of a small wooden divider. There was no furniture except a carpet, but the room was very clean and well kept. On the other side of divider, there was Pir Sahb sitting on the ground along with some of his Khulafa. Pir Sahb was an old man, wearing white clothes and a green cloak. He was wearing a white turban. And on my following visits I would observe, that he wore the same white-green combination all the time. I dont know what was in his eyes, but I couldnt look at him for long. Probably I was scared. On my side of the divider, there were people sitting, asking PS to make duaa.
On our way to Darbaar, my father was telling someone who was visiting PS for the first time, that to check if any Pir is genuine or not, there is a litmus paper test. In his words, “Agar to us bande ko dekhte hi tumhen Khuda ki yaad aa jaye, to banda thik he, warna nahi“. I dont know if I remembered God when I saw PS or not, but I knew for sure ke “banda thik he“, because my father brought me here
After doing individual duaas, PS did a collective dua, and then we left the room, so that next group waiting outside can get in. After mulaqaat, we went to mosque, as it was Isha’ time. After salah, mehfil started, which lasted untill a little before Fajr. After mehfil we did breakfast, which was Qehva with Halwa And that qehva had something special in its taste, which is still there if you go there today. After breakfast, we reached for our vans and headed back home.
I cant believe I wrote all of that … I mean its a very long post
, and I had to convince him, thats this is probably not the right time to ask this question. We invited him for dinner, and he politely refused.
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