The Overbrook Shaikh

The Overbrook Shaikh

Today in America, much of Islam is viewed with distaste, fear and even hatred because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the wars currently going on in the Middle East. But when you step foot into the Mosque of Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen on Overbrook Avenue in Philadelphia, the message is nothing but peace, love, and unity.

“Unity is the noblest ideal in our life,” Shaikh Bawa Muhaiyaddeen said in the opening dedication of the Mosque in 1984.

Now, 25 years later, the Shaikh whose name resides on the mosque is dead, but his memory has never been more alive, and is carried on by those who knew him personally and all the members of The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship.

One of the people from the Fellowship who knew Bawa, as he was called, best during his lifetime was his translator, Mrs. G. The translator from Sri Lanka lives in the Fellowship’s house with her husband, the gynecologist. Sitting in a chair in Bawa’s old room, dressed in traditional Muslim clothing, Mrs. G tells stories of the Shaikh who had so much influence on her and many other’s lives.

Bawa’s history is not well known. The description on the Fellowship’s website seems something straight out of the movies. The first time anybody had any contact with Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was when a few religious pilgrims met him in the jungles of Sri Lanka and were amazed by his wisdom. Eventually he got invited out into nearby villages to teach his wisdom and his popularity and fame grew.

How he came to Philadelphia Mrs. G says, “there were a few people who wanted to know God and somebody who could teach them about the real truth. There were so many gurus at that time, in the 60’s, there were so many gurus and they were going from one to the other to the other but they were not happy.” Eventually a woman named Carrie Andrews heard from a friend about a teacher in Sri Lanka. When Carrie and her friends heard the message they were interested and a small group invited Bawa over to Philadelphia to teach. “So that’s’ how he came.”

The beginning was different for Shaikh Bawa, he spent much of his time teaching the people that had brought him over to the United States “habit qualities” because they were not living the way in which Bawa believed brought about the type of life his pupils should live.

“At the time they were all into drugs and drinking and this and that but some of them really wanted to know the truth.”

Bawa’s teachings were not based on Islamic teachings, and were not preached to Muslims only. Bawa is a Sufist, which is a sect of Islam that embraces love in all forms, and is considered the inner or mystic sect of Islam. It was these teachings that Bawa used to gather his Fellowship together. Because love is a universal belief and quality anybody who was interested in the Shaikh’s teachings came and listened.

“The people came from all walks of life, there were Sufis, there were Christians, there were Catholics, all kinds of people,” Mrs. G said. One woman from Switzerland who lives in the Fellowship’s house told her personal story of how she was raised Christian her whole life until she came into contact with Bawa’s teachings in her early 30’s. She was enthralled by his message and eventually converted over to Islam.

In 1984 Bawa decided that the Fellowship needed a mosque and six months later the dedication ceremony took place on the Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Mosque. The mosque, like Bawa’s teachings, was not purely Islam. Mrs. G explains, “He didn’t say you had to be a Muslim to go there, he said anybody can come and pray.”

However there were some things that the Fellowship had to do in order to make practicing Muslims comfortable in the new mosque. They had to follow some basic requirements such as the clothing that was worn.

There were no requirements or expectations for those who went to the mosque. Mrs. G says that Bawa wanted everyone to take from the mosque and the Fellowship what they put into it. “ “He said this is a pond where everybody can come and drink, its open, free, whoever wants water can come and take what you want… You bring a cup, you get a cup full of water, you bring a bucket you get a bucket full of water.”

Bawa and Mrs. G explain the Fellowship as a family for those who don’t have one, as the support group that people need. The house is open to anybody that needs help or support. Every night the Fellowship makes food for anybody that comes to the house hungry, and with all of the leftovers they visit nearby soup kitchens and give food and help to them.

Mrs. G talks about people that don’t have any support because they left home at an early age and have never really experienced a family lifestyle. “They all come and then they find a family here. So he taught them to have a family life. So they are all like sisters and brothers.” That group of sisters and brothers take care of each other and visit each other when they are sick, and provide a support group that they have never had before.

In 1986, Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, passed away and he was buried in the first mazar in the United States, about an hour north of Philadelphia in Chester County. The mazar has been heard of in the Muslim community around the world, and is a widely visited site. On the Fourth of July hundreds of people from around the country visit the mazar and have a cook-out and group prayer. From the mazar, and the people who come and visit it there are “some wonderful stories, some amazing stories,” Mrs. G says.

She relates a story that somebody told her about a man who was moved by Bawa and his mazar, so got a picture of him. He says he felt the need to put the picture on a certain wall. One day he went out and when he came back to his home he found the houses around him all burnt down and his still standing. The fireman said that the fire stopped at the wall where Bawa’s picture was placed.

“We still believe he is around so its not like he’s gone… we get a lot of flak on that.”