Pir Syed Mahroof Hussain Shah,1936-2024
Pir Syed Mahroof Hussain Shah, colloquially and affectionately revered simply as Pir Sahib, was born in Chakswari, Mirpur district, to a noble family with a distinguished Sufi heritage. The family was not affluent but placed a high premium on education, and Pir Sahib studied extensively in an era and area riven by poverty and overwhelming illiteracy. Pir Sahib proved a diligent student who enjoyed stellar educational attainment
. A particular early inspiration was his elder brother, Pir Barak RA, a renowned scholar who had a profound influence on a young, impressionable Pir Sahib and, along with their father, guided Pir Sahib towards a lifetime of piety and rigorous religious service.
Pir Sahib moved to the UK in his early adult life. A man of steadfast faith, Pir Sahib strictly observed his daily prayers and was happy for his employer to dock his pay for time spent praying during work hours. His attitude and approach to UK life were in stark contrast to his peers. While others were content to accept their place in the environment in which they found themselves, Pir Sahib sought to re-engineer and mould environmental engagement.
Pir Sahib made Bradford his home. As Pir Sahib settled into his new life, he immediately began to sense the challenges facing Muslims in a new and somewhat alien and hostile faith environment. To counter this, he led the establishment of the Jamiyat Tabligh-ul-Islam organisation, which was to become a platform for establishing Masajid [mosques] and Madaris [madrasahs] in Bradford and beyond.
The 1960s were a decadent, indulgent, and hedonistic era, fraught with temptation for young men from hitherto conservative, modest backgrounds who, in the absence of any guidance and support, were particularly vulnerable to falling into the many dens of vice. Pir Sahib recognised a need for religious guidance and pastoral support and set about filling this void.
Pir Sahib would work night shifts and engage in religious teaching and preaching during the day. Despite his obvious exertions and personal sacrifices, there was a distinct lack of appreciation, epitomised by a reluctance to engage. His message was often met with a lukewarm response and sometimes outright hostility: the fledgling Southeast Asian diaspora felt they were in the UK to make a quick buck to help ease the abject poverty faced by their families back home. As soon as their families were able to comfortably sustain themselves, they would duly return home. They did not envision a long-term future in the UK.
So, Pir Sahib’s endeavours to provide religious education were seen as a needless distraction, and after enduring long, arduous hours toiling in the textile mills, there was little energy and enthusiasm for extra-curricular lessons in Islamic theology and etiquette. However, with perseverance and personal charisma, the message permeated, and the mosque movement began to gain traction in earnest.
Pir Sahib was a pioneer who campaigned and addressed the needs of the Muslim community. He would organise religious gatherings and send out reminders to mailing lists he meticulously compiled, informing people of important religious dates such as Ramadan and Eid. Mosques provided an important focal point for religious activity and cultural space for the Muslim community, something Pir Sahib acutely recognised.
So, as the Muslim community began to grow and disperse, Pir Sahib arranged collections to fund mosques in new population centres. Pir Sahib was instrumental in lobbying to help secure rights for Muslim workers to be allowed time for daily prayers and days off for religious celebrations, such as Eid.
Much has been written about Pir Sahib’s contribution to the mosque movement. He was a humble man who spent his entire adult life living and working from a modest terraced house. Throughout his life there, the house was a hive of activity. In the early days, aside from being a forum for theological discussion, it was a focal point for poorly educated young men who needed help with basic administration and form-filling, advice on more modern issues confronting individual family units, as well as issues and matters of the wider community.
Pir Sahib’s house could effortlessly and seamlessly shift anywhere between an advisory council and a court of law, from a boardroom to a place of peace and solace. All were welcome; complimentary tea and biscuits were served at all hours.
Today, Bradford, with some 130 mosques dotted across the district, is called the City of Mosques. Pir Sahib was absolutely the chief architect of this phenomenon; the majority of today’s mosque leaders can trace a connection back to Pir Sahib and his early work. Pir Sahib played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Bradford Council for Mosques.
The organisation brought together disparate Muslim communities under a single umbrella to better articulate the needs of Bradford’s collective Muslim population. The organisation was the first of its kind in the UK and provided a blueprint for many others that have sprung up since.
Pir Sahib leaves a legacy of a Bradford Muslim community that is assured and confident, proud of its heritage but respectful of its fellow citizens. A wider Bradford community that enjoys harmonious inter-communal relations is the envy of many a city across the UK and, indeed, the world.
Today’s Muslim community is unrecognisable from that of the 1960s. The Muslim community of yesteryear was necessarily poor and ill-educated; today’s Muslim community is increasingly highly educated with a burgeoning middle class. Though social demographics and dynamics have changed immeasurably, the Muslims of today face formidable challenges, just like their predecessors. Nonetheless, thanks to the foundations Pir Sahib helped lay, the community is much better equipped to confront, address, and resolve those challenges.
Pir Sahib will always be remembered for helping shape Muslim life in the UK. However, his influence spanned far beyond UK shores, helping nascent Muslim communities set up religious centres and gain a foothold in Europe, most notably the Netherlands and France. Pir Sahib was also active in Pakistan, setting up several mosques and madrassas across several cities. His most notable institution is the Jamia Naushahia, a sprawling complex spread across some 15 acres in central Jhelum, which, among other things, provides free school boarding for around 200 impoverished children, generously taking care of all their needs from education to healthcare to recreational requirements.
The funeral of Pir Sahib perhaps best captured the essence of the man. Attendees fanned out across the full length and breadth of Bradford Central Mosque’s enormous car park, inside the mosque, and onto the neighbouring infirmary fields. Attendees represented all corners of the UK and all denominations of the Muslim faith.
There was significant representation from Europe, too, with attendees from France, the Netherlands, and Austria. West Yorkshire Police estimated attendance at 21,000, which makes it about the largest Muslim funeral in Western Europe ever. A reflection of the high esteem in which Pir Sahib is held and a fitting tribute to a unique individual.
In a fast-changing capitalist world, Pir Sahib tethered himself to a conservative, austere, and respectful life, in the best traditions of Islam. The Muslim community can learn much from the life of this iconic but humble leader who spent his entire adult life living and working from a modest terraced house in inner city Bradford, completely unimpressed by the allure of wealth. A true man of God, indeed. May Allah (swt) raise his ranks and grant him a place in the highest echelons of Jannat-ul-Firdos. Ameen summa ameen.
Waheed Ali
