Dervishes

Surrayya Jabeen

I have many dervishes in my family. They lived their life and set the role model for the rest of us if we follow it that is. It all started when one of my great great grandfathers married a lady from the Rind clan. She had dervishes in her family. Once we had a blood connection, we also started to have dervishes (walis) in our family.

There are several ways of writing the word dervish, the correct Arabic term is ‘derwish’ pronounced in Arabic as derweesh. In the subcontinent we say dervesh, a local rendition of the Arabic word ‘derwesh’ meaning simpleton. The word dervesh is used by us for a waliullah aswell as a simple minded person. We like the Persians and Turks pronounce the letter w as a v.

The dervishes spent their lives in prayer and reflection, were extremely humble, and kept no worldly possessions. They used to sit in seclusion often without talking for days, covering their faces if they stepped outside the room, wouldn't talk to anyone until the time period was over. Most of them especially those elevated to high spiritual positions didn’t eat for days and months if they wanted.

How does one reach such a position one might ask?

To begin with you need to be humble person without guile or the desire to act according to the tit for tat principle. Secondly the most important thing is to be brought up with purity of mind and body. Stay up the night in prayer and during the day one must remember Allah much and recite his book the Quran at fajr time and also during the day. And then if God wills He may grant someone a position in the spiritual world. This is done in two ways:

It can just given to you in one go from God or given to you by another dervish with God’s permission ofcourse.

                                                             OR

You may get it drop by drop until you reach a certain level to come in the category of dervish.

  They all stressed that main thing is that when you first become a dervish, you will get two platters brought to you, one platter or tray will contain the holy Quran and other will be full of precious gems, if you take the one with gems, you will lose all your dervishi and become an ordinary person! This is done to test your sincerity for the religion and everyone on the path to being a wali goes through it. Satan also tests you by coming in front of you in the form of a good looking person, if you get enticed, forget about all your effort you made to reach the goal, you will lose everything!

The following list mentions the Kapri walis in the order of occurrence as well as the order of the spiritual strength given to them by God Almighty.

Allah Baksh Kapri alias Gaarho Faqir
Sobho Faqir (brother of Gaarho Faqir)
Hajani Baankho (daughter of Sobho Faqir)
Haji Allah Baksh alias Haji Gaarho (Son of Sobho Faqir)

Haji Khan Mohammed (nephew of Haji Gaarho)
 
Kunri has many other illustrious walis' tombs that are not related to me by blood but have a close connection to us historically. Namely; Hadrat Shah Bilawal, Bibi Mithi (who has an entire cemetery named after her. All of my wali ancestors are burried at the Bibi Mithee cemetery outside Kunri town limits except Gaarho Faqir who is buried in a nearby town called Taalhi in a cemetery known as Sakhi Sharfdeen. He specifically requested to be buried there for a reason which will be mentioned in due course.

 Top of the list is Allah Baksh (popularly known as Gaarho Faqir) who lived in the early 1800s. As the Arabic word 'faqir' is used in Sindh for a wali, I don't have to explain why was he and rest of my dervish family members are called this, as for the name Gaarho (meaning 'red ' in Sindhi) it was given to him by someone after he witnessed a miracle of Allah during 1800s which defies all reason.

 Gaarho Faqir had a dervish brother called Sobho Faqir, who had a daughter Baankho which means honorable in Balochi. Hajjah Baankho is the only female wali in our family, she was specially blessed by her uncle Gaarho Faqir who said he'd given her hand in the hand of Rasool -e- Kareem Sallalahu Alahi Wasalam himself, she like her father Sobho faqir could fly to places anywhere on Earth and beyond up to the fourth heaven. I don’t know the  extent of Gaarho Faqir’s reach, whether he flew up to or beyond fourth heaven. He used to come home rarely and stayed with his dervish friends the Bilarani faqirs

Sobho Faqir had a son he named Allah Baksh (popularly knows as Haji Gaarho because he actually performed hajj physically), he was the wali who told the family as early as early 1950s repeatedly that water won't be available in Sindh after a while to irrigate the lands; and Sindh will start looking like the way it did before the Brits built the canals.

Haji Gaarho had a son named Haji Sobho who was my legendary Naana (maternal grandfather) who passed away on Wednesday 3rd Moharram ul Haraam (31st April1998) after Asr and before maghrib prayer. I was in London boarding my flight back to Karachi when he was breathing his last. He was buried the next day right next to his dervish father at Beebee Mithee cemetery around 10 am the next day, all the hours that passed there was no sign of rigor mortis! The two doctors who were standing next to him didn't even realize that he'd passed on to the next world until his younger brother brought it to their attention.

Allah Baksh alias Garho Faqir

The manner in which this son of Shakkal Faqir got the name Allah Baksh for his eldest son  an interesting and awe inspiring event!.

Shakkal Faqir & his wife were childless and desperately wanted children, they were wandering once and found Sehtio Faqir (a great wali-ullah) fast asleep under a tree, they decided to wait around for him to wake up. When Sehtio Faqir woke up and asked them as to why they were there, they said we are childless and would like you to beseech Allah for us to grant us children. Sehtio Faqir replied, you are going to have three sons; "the first born; name him Allah Baksh, the second one you get; name him Khuda Baksh, the third one you get; name him as you wish!" so they had three sons naming them Allah Baksh, Khuda Baksh and Sobho respectively.

Allah Baksh was born and as an infant became very ill, his mother put him in a little cloth swing in which he was about to breathe his last. It so happened; that Hadrat Mohammad Raashid (Rozay Dhani) came to pay a visit to the family. He was and is a well known wali to all Sindhis (my ancestors were his followers, at the moment we no longer follow the piri mureedi except Abdul Qadir Jilani).

 When he came being carried on a palanquin by his mureeds or followers to the house and sat down, he noticed the infant in the hammock who happened to very sick. He told the mother to get the child out of the hammock; he took the child in his hands, and saw that he is going to die any second now. At that time there came a little bird (jhirko) and fell dead on the ground. Rozay Dhani said to the parents, 'I have begged Allah and have put the life of this bird into this infant' & the child began to breath normally.

This child grew up and so did his two brothers, Khuda Baksh died as a grown up, Sobho Faqir got married and started a family.

 Allah Baksh left the house and used to look after his family's live stock which consisted of cows. He never married. This was in the early 1800s hence there was no irrigation canals to cultivate lands on a large scale. The father Shakkal Faqir had a daughter who was married outside the family in a town called Maatli, he was once staying in her house and some children were playing in the room including one of his grandsons. The words 'I am dying' passed from the lips of this great man, who was clearly distressed. Someone among the children chuckled & said 'let’s see you die'. The grandson scolded the mean kid and said 'why are you saying this cruel thing to my maternal grandfather?' Shakkal Faqir then called out very loudly to his eldest son's name "Oh Allah Baksh oh Allah Baksh' & breathed his last.

 Allah Baksh was far from his father at the time and it was at this precise moment that he got his dervishi.

 He let the cows go and went away. Word reached his youngest brother Sobho that his brother has obviously lost it because he no longer cares for his own and/or your livelihood! There was 100% honesty in those days, people had taken the cows into custody and returned each and everyone to Sobho faqir. When Sobho Faqir came to see Allah Baksh, he said to him 'oh brother of mine, I can no longer look after any material wealth, I have devoted my life to Allah.' So Sobho Faqir relieved him of this responsibility.

Allah Baksh started to be around other walis like him namely the Bilarani faqirs and started to live alone at cemeteries. He used to eat when and if he felt like it other wise wouldn't eat for days or months. He was once seen with his three close friends and adhan for maghrib was called. He said to his wali friends 'there is still three hours left until adhaan for maghrib is called out in Madina, so lets read this prayer in Madina today', they all waked towards the east and the next moment disappeared into thin air.

Upon one of his visits to his brother’s house, he reported that he had gone out with some sanyasees (the word sanyasee here refers to someone skilled in the art of making gold and other precious metals and having skills of hikma not the usual meaning of sanyasi which means a Hindu ascetic). While staying with the sanyasis he learnt to make gold from scratch (unlike the belief in the West that elements like gold can't be created, gold could and is created from ordinary things from scratch). So after he left the sanyasis, he made an entire brick of pure gold weighing one kilogram and left it in the middle of nowhere. Upon hearing this lady sonait (sobho faqir's wife and his sister in law) said 'oh faqir why didn't you bring it home, I could have made a duhiri', meaning a seven layered necklace made out of at least 250g of 22 carat gold!

At this the wali replied "maii Sonait who would bring the fire of hell into his home! I have left it and a widow is going to find it and use to feed her children."

Allah Baksh once asked permission from his brother's family to go on Hajj, when it was time for him and his other wali-ullah friends to leave, somehow Allah Baksh couldn't go. He told the friends 'I don't have the permission so you go ahead. On the day of Hajj the friends saw him circumambulating the Kaaba for Tawaf Ziarat, they thought that they'll finish the tawaf of the kaaba and then meet their friend, perhaps he's gotten a later ship to Jiddah and has made it. (This dervish of Allah could fly to the Hijaz any time he wished in a batini manner but he had expressed his wish so that he would go like an ordinary pilgrim, Hajj journey was a long process in those days, it took six months, first on ships to Jiddah and then camels to Makkah and Madina and back to Jiddah.) But to their surprise Gaarho Faqir wasn't to be found anywhere after they finished the tawaf!
When they returned from Hajj, they mentioned this to him, and he admitted that he'd visited in a batini manner. What had happened was as follows:

He often used to visit a widow named Karima who had a little son and lived in a village called Rahmore near Taalhi, (now in Umerkot district) she was of the type that the dervish felt comfortable eating her food and had declared her his sister. He only ate food of religious & spiritually pure folks, that too when he wished. Hers was a potter's clan; they made clay pots and sold them in the market to earn a living. She was among the few in that village who knew the status and reality of this dervish. If he gave her any instructions regarding a certain thing he was sure they will be carried out to the letter.

So on the day of Hajj he went inside one of the rooms and told lady karima 'please don't allow anyone to open the door of this room unless I come out on my own' so she kept watch that no one enters it. She knew if anyone opened it they would observe extra ordinary things which would offend the dervish. (sometimes walis travel without their bodies, body is lying and the soul is gone etc.. and incase someone has traveled with the body; then the person entering a room would find an empty room instead of the person they saw entering it a few minutes ago, it can be distressing for any ordinary person).
After some time had passed, the wali came out and his appearance showed signs of having traveled huge distances. The clothing was full of red sand of Arabia, she didn't ask but knew he'd been to Makkah. He asked her for some water to clean the dust of his hair and clothing. She prepared some bathe water and while holding it, a drop of maitu (fuller’s earth: a substance Sindhis used for washing hair) fell on her toe nail. The dervish gave her the following dua:

"Maii Karima God willing these feet of yours will enter Paradise"

He performed the Hajj but without actually going on a vessel for months. One used to travel to Bombay in those days, Karachi was not a developed port from which large ships could sail for Jeddah. From Jeddah pilgrims would go to Makkah on camel, and after Hajj all the 300 miles journey from Makkah to Madina on camel.

Now lets describe the most important event of his life which is why he is to date known as Garho Faqir and to us his children, as 'dada Gaarho'.

Karima's little son who had to inherit his father's trade used to make clay pots with his mother but he couldn't make them straight, they used to come out distorted, Karima asked Garho Faqir if he could pray for her little son. Garho Faqir told them to mix the water and clay, then he held the boy's hand while the boy held the utensils at the kiln, they all came out straight and extra ordinarily beautiful. Garho Faqir prayed for the child and from then onwards his clay pots sold well and he began to earn more than anyone in the business in the area.

Once Gaarho Faqir was staying at Rahmore in Ramadan and some one went and filled the ears of the village head who happened to be Hashimiite Sayyad. They told him that this person (meaning Allah Baksh) is not what he says he is, he says he doesn't eat anyone's food, he is staying at a woman's house & he also comes inside our masjid; why don't you invite him for having the evening iftar with us and see if he eats your food. So the sayyad did so. Allah Baksh said he didn't want to eat. Sayyad used some unsavory language regarding the fact that he was staying at a house of a strange woman who is not a blood relation, a non mahrum, and taunted him 'if you think you are a wali-ullah then if I arrange a fire would you go inside to prove your innocence?' The dervish had become offended by this baseless accusation and said he would.

So the sayyad used pure ghee to light a huge fire covering an acre of land, the entire village gathered round to see what was going on. When the fire was lit, Allah Baksh went to the sayyad and said "You are the progeny of Prophet (peace be upon him) and I am his ordinary follower, a Kapri son of a Kapri, come lets go together inside this fire", the sayyad said 'Look at this fool, he wishes to burn me alive'. At that Allah Baksh said Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and jumped in alone!
 

There was an immediate outcry among the people, everyone told the sayyad that you have caused this crazy man to commit suicide and the British government would definitely get you on a murder charge! The sayyad became genuinely worried, Karima found out and came and told them they needn't worry about the death of this man but better apologize to him because if he utters a word against them, they would be outcasts in both the worlds. When the fire subsided, Allah Baksh came out, he had water drops on his face and his green long tunic (he used to wear a green jubba) had turned crimson!

 The sayyad put his shoe in his mouth and fell at his feet and begged him for forgiveness, the dervish didn't curse him nor did he show any anger. The sayyad asked him his name and he said “my name is Allah Baksh”, the sayyad said "from now on your name is going to be Gaarho Faqir". Ever since that day he is known as Gaarho Faqir and later his dervish nephew was named Allah Baksh got  to be called Gaarho.

 Meanwhile his brother Sobho Faqir got word about his brother being put in a blazing fire and came crying. Gaarho Faqir told him "brother don't cry, the fire was far away from me, I was in a garden and I had Our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) on one side and Hadrat Mohammad Raashid rozay dhani (Pir Pagara of the time) standing on the other side putting water on my face!.

When it was time for him to go to the next world, he came home to his brother’s house and told lady Sonait: 

Maii Sonait I have come here to die

 Lady Sonait said 'faqir don't say that'.

 Gaarho Faqir replied; “my nephew Shakkal is getting married soon so I have asked Allah for extra ten days of life, I don't know if that will happen, if tomorrow someone comes at fajr time & calls little Jannat to help them recover their utensil which has fallen inside the well, know then that my request for extra ten days of life has been rejected”.

  Jannat was a daughter of a relative who used to go inside the well & recover the fallen utensil for the people. Gaarho Faqir also said that “the food stuff has been bought for the wedding; don't use it for the soyam if I happen to die before the wedding”.

It so happened that early next morning there was a call for Jannat to come and help get the loti back. Lady Sonait immediately burst into tears and went to check, but the wali had left the world. And the food stuff, the rice etc. that was already in the house in preparation of the wedding feast was in fact used up at the soyam.
 

He had already informed his family that he wanted to be buried at a cemetery near the town of Taalhi and not the nearby Bibi Mithi cemetery.

Sobho Faqir told him to reconsider because Taalhi was far for any family member to visit (In 1800s the only mode of transport available to people all over the globe was horse or camel, so twenty miles was considered a long distance). Gaarho Faqir said that his progeny would God willing be wealthy enough to pay him a visit and even if they came once a year it would suffice for him & that Bibi Mithi cemetry has many dead who have died by committing suicide and are being tortured and it would disturb him so he wishes to go to the specific cemetery at Taalhi where there is no one like that.

He instructed to his brother "tie my body to the camel’s back and when you reach the grave yard; let the camel loose and the spot where the camel sits, get up the camel and bury me there. So Sobho Faqir did so, while they were still inside the cemetery that Gaarho Faqir's three wali freinds came running, thinking that since they had been informed of the exact spot and the family hadn't, surely Gaarho Faqir has been buried at a different spot. When they saw the burial place, they were surprised and asked 'how did you know of this spot?'? The family related the method they were told by the late Faqir himself as to how to choose the spot, the three walis started weeping and said 'wah Gaarho Faqir wah', and disclosed that this in fact was the very spot that he had pointed out to them for his burial!

Sobho Faqir

Sobho Faqir was a wali, and brother of Gaarho Faqir. After maghrib prayer he would gather the children of the house and sit with them and do zikr "Allah Hu Allah Hu Allah Hu" for more than an hour until dinner time.
In those days people used to move due to food shortage for the live stock, no irrigation systems existed back then. So once someone passed from his former house and heard someone doing zikr, he stopped the horse in order to come and meet the wali, as soon as he came inside the deserted dwelling the voice doing zikr of Allah stopped. He came back and said to the Sobho Faqir 'I found other creation continue to do zikr in your former dwelling!' He knew that the person doing the zikr wasn't human but was continuing the tradition.
He was an extremely humble person as all walis tend to be. One day a group of British officials came to his door, they were carrying dead dears on their horses, the only mode of transport availabe those days all over the planet. The British were conducting survey of Sindh's lands for agricultural use. The official tried to give the dead dear to Sobho Faqir but he refused to take the dead animals because of the fact they had become haram. Deer hunting is a pastime of the elite around Kunri and the actual desert of Thar. Poeple often take dear kids home as pets as well.
The British were hungry and thirsty, they asked for water; Sobho Faqir brought a jug full of salted butter milk for them. They were overwhelmed with the show of hospitality shown to them this far out form their base. The British were brutal; they used to simply shoot any young man on sight so that there would be no bread winner left for the families. They came back after sometime and made an offer that Sobho Faqir can have any amount of land he wishes and they are willing to sign the papers there and then free of cost. The British official told Sobho Faqir 'ride this horse and where your horse gets tired, all the land in between will be yours, no future government, British or otherwise will be able to take the lands back from you'!
Sobho Faqir thanked them and said no!!!

He gave two reasons to his household for his refusal:
(1) 'who is going to be indebted to these nasaraas?' &
(2) 'my children will have loads of wealth if I take these lands; they will keep fighting amongst themselves over it and won't follow the religion'!

Wealth for a wali is anathema. They consider it a disease.

Hence no one took in the family took the miles and miles of land that the British were offering them. However the Brits left some documents (they were title documents naming thousands of acres in his name! Sobho Faqir kept the documents, it is obvious that he knew what they were, the wali doesn’t need to be told things, he knows them by the grace of the Almighty, and reading writing in any language is taught to him by none other than Allah. Sobho Faqir could read the Quran without ever being taught by anyone, not just read it but read it with proper tajweed.

He left this world without ever using the land or telling his family that a vast area had been given to him. One day one of his daughters Mehr Bibi took the documents to a local munshi to ask him what they were; the guy named Qazi Sultan tricked her into giving him the documents and took the lands. He just said you have four acres which you can sell and go for Hajj. Mehr Bibi later sold the tiny piece of land & performed Hajj not knowing what had just happened. Qazi Sultan became very rich and used to say that he was given these lands by the British and that he bought these lands cheaply from them because they wanted people to irrigate lands in Sindh and give them revenue, he had done so with the little money he used to stash away every now and then without telling his family. He himself used to relate the fact that he used to clean the stables of the mirs.

Qazi Sultan used to be very benevolent to daadi Mehr Bibi and used to treat her rather well to everyone's surprise, she used to have a separate room given to her when she visited with servants doting on her. People used to think that he is just a kind and generous man!   His son grew up and became a drug addict and started to sell the land and now his grandchildren don't even own a bicycle, so much for the opportunist's fraud.

Haaja Baankho

Haaja Baankho was the only female wali in the Kapri family and they are justly proud of her. She was the niece of the great Gaarho Faqir and daughter of his younger brother Sobho Faqir. Baankho is a Balochi name meaning 'honored lady'.

How did she become a wali?

Once, her paternal uncle Gaarho Faqir was staying at Sobho Faqir's house and said to him in Balochi "thara Baankhoey paarat en" i.e. " take care of Baankho", Sobho Faqir replied "Ada 'Allah is there to take care of her”, Gaarho Faqir again said "take care of Baankho", Sobho Faqir again said "Allah will take care of her". The third time Gaarho Faqir said take care of Baankho, Sobho Faqir got a bit agitated and said, "Do you want me to give her a cow"? Gaarho Faqir said "brother keep your cow with you, I am giving her hand in the hand of the Rasoolullah salllahu alahi wasallam !"  If someone's hand goes in the hands of Rasoolullah salllahu alahi wasallam , obviously that person's had it made! She became a great Wali.

Every new child born in the family is told: 'Daadi Hajani Baankho used to break her fast with half a date and could fly up to fourth heaven

Since she had been born into such a religious environment, she became spiritually elevated from childhood so to speak. When she reached puberty, her father married her to a relative's son who was not worthy of a dervish wife in any shape form or description. According to Sharia a person ought to marry a.s.a.p after puberty. So parents used to marry the first person which came to their mind. Hers turned out to be highly unsuitable match; she was a wali who could physically fly up to the fourth heaven!!! Both her uncle and her father were walis and so was her grandfather Shakkal Faqir.

.Her husband on the other hand was below ordinary, he used to deliberately try and make her eat haram food (food he would take from someone without their permission) so that she loses her spiritual position. She would cook the meat while covering her nose and mouth so as not to even smell that meat of the stolen goat etc. He used to stop her from praying her prescribed daily prayers.
This situation continued for a while until her father found out about the difficulty she was facing in saying her prayers, he then asked her husband to divorce her, which he did.
 

She in fact arranged her former husband's marriage with someone of his choice and made him go to Hajj, so the former thief Halil became known as Haji Halil. Halil being the Turkish rendition of the Arabic name Khalil.

Below are glimpses from the life of this lady dervish:

Once she and her son Haji Saeed Khan went for Hajj. Lady Sonait, her devout mother became worried because there was a letter from the some folks in Arabia saying that some one called Baankho was in trouble because the Hajj caravan had been staying the night en route to Makkah in an empty canal; which suddenly started to flow with water due to heavy rains. Lady Sonait didn't know how her Baankho was doing, whether it was her Baankho or someone else the letter was referring to.

She asked Sobho Faqir if he could provide her with some information about Hajjah Baankho. Sobho Faqir told the family, “we’ll tell her some fake dream and make her stop this worrying"

The next day, Sobho Faqir told his wife lady Sonait, "they are all fine, you will receive a letter from them day after tommorow". The letter in fact arrived on the day he said.

Meanwhile Hajjah Baankho was sitting in the Hijaz at iftar time in Ramadan and some faqir came and asked for food, she was doing zikr after her maghrib prayers as was her routine, hence she didn't speak but pointed to her son to give some food to the faqir who was asking. Haji Saeed Khan told her:

"Mother let me finish what is on my plate and then I'll give the faqir".

Hajjah Baankho finished her zikr and went after the faqir with food in her hands but the faqir was no where to be found. She came back and told her son:

 'son you delayed in giving food to the faqir and he left'

He said 'Ma I have been fasting all day, it’s difficult for me to just get up like that'.

When Hajjah Baankho returned from Hajj, her father said to her in verse in Sindhi:

BaraNu jin jo Booh, BoRu na Dinaoun hin Baroch khey!

It means this Baloch was not given food, cooked on fuel called Boohu, a kind of wood in use at the time.

At that point Hajjah Baankho saw with her spiritual eyes that the 'faqir' asking for food that day in Arabia was in fact her father! He had flown from Sindh just to see her.

Sobho Faqir told her after this 'if a parent asks for something it’s the duty of the child to obey"
Hajjah Bankho replied:
'you are right, but if the child goes after the parent and calls out, it’s the parent's duty to wait!'

Hajjah Baankho had been inside the Kaaba when she visited Makkah, she said that while one is inside the Kaaba he or she needs to keep the gaze at the floor because it is highly inappropriate to look around & at the ceiling etc. it’s the House of Allah, if someone keeps looking here and there, he/she would lose Iman. She herself would cover her face with her head covering so that even if she is tempted to look up, she wouldn't be able to see anything.

She used to eat half a date for iftar in Ramadan. She also didn't eat for days like her legendary uncle Gaarho Faqir.

She was accompanied by some family ladies and they saw a wheat field which had been harvested and it was now open to the cattle to feed on, so they said:

 'Haajani shall we find some wheat for you to eat, since you have been breaking your fast on half a date'

She astonished them when she said 'yes but ask the owner's permission';

They said, 'its open for cattle now'; she said "but still ask permission".

The same thing happened when she was once accompanied by her son haji Saeed Khan. Haji Saeed Khan saw a camel drawing water out & pouring it in a water course (water courses hadn't been dug at the time, the Brits were still building the irrigation system). This pumping method was known as 'hurlo' or 'phatto' in Sindhi. She said 'son ask permission first'. Haji Saeed Khan said 'mother its flowing water', she said 'but the poor camel is drawing the water', we cannot drink it without the owner's permission. When haji Saeed Khan asked the owner for water:

‘You can drink it, its flowing in front of you'. The owner laughed and said!

One day both father and daughter were flying around the fourth heaven and she decided to compete with her father to see who is a stronger wali! Sobho Faqir came and reported 'today Baankho got me at a place so high that had I taken a fall, my body would have torn into smithereens. Luckily he won the showdown; his was a higher spiritual power than hers.

She used to have a Hindu follower named Chaghla, he was a bania. He used to pray like a Muslim five times daily prayers, while maintaining his own faith!
 

Some day a person among her followers came and told her that their house has some kind of a calamity because everyone keeps falling ill and they keep having fits. She accompanied them to their dwelling. Upon reaching there, she told them that they need to leave this place and build their houses elsewhere. She said there is an entire community of Jinns already living, their families and children are living here, they are not going to leave, and you will have to move. She showed them a different spot void of anything like this and told them to go ahead & build their homes there. Walis weren't not only considerate of humans; but other beings also.

She like all walis could see the Jinn and communicate with them, one day a relative asked to see one of those beings, she refused on the grounds that he won't be able to bear it, it would be extremely scary, a human is not made to see this creation of Allah, they will die of a heart attack. But the guy was persistent, so she said ok, she was with one of the jinn and told him that "this person wishes to see you, I will make you visible to him but you should not move, be still". When the man saw him, he was sitting at the time; he fell down, face forwards & fainted. Upon regaining consciousness after a few hours, she asked him "what happened, the jinn had smiled at you and you fainted! What if he tried to move or do something?"

He said "grandma tell these beings to leave this place!!!!”

She visited the house where the children were crying as their mother had just passed away. Hajjah Baankho was sitting there while the body lay there waiting to be buried, she exclaimed:

'I would have put the soul back into this lady but I am afraid that Allah would be angry with me'!

She used to cook a separate meal for the feast of 12th Rabi ul Awwal known as urs in Sindhi & invite the head of 40 abdaals at the time Saman Shah. He used to make it late in the evening. So Hajjah Baankho asked as to why it took him this long? Saman Shah replied 'I pass by the grave yard Bibi mitthee, & all the dead stand up and request me to beseech Allah to reduce their punishment in the grave, I make dua for each one of them and that's why I am late'!

One day she went to see Saman Shah at his abode and he wasn't there, but some one came and said that he had requested some water with some sugar, a sugar sherbet , hajjah Baankho handed him the water, when the water was taken to Saman Shah where he was staying at the time, the bearer commented :
'why the water was sweet since there wasn't enough sugar in it'? Saman Shah replied in Siraiki (he always spoke Siraiki) “Sobhey Faqir de pokh ey mitthee na theesi"

When it was her time to go from this world, she was lying and saying to her mother:

 'Why did you give birth to me?’

 'I am glad I gave birth to you' Her mother replied .

It was ninth of Muhurram, the date she used to request Allah for her passing away. If one dies in Muhurram there is no interrogation in the grave, one goes and meets the martyrs.

Haji Gaarho (Haji Allah Baksh)

He was born around 1885-1890 in the village name Haji Gaarho around Kunri and died in 1962. His early childhood spent in humility and devotion. He used to read the Quran while minding the cattle, his waliullah father (Sobho Faqir) had refused to take the large chunk of land from the British officials; so the family relied on what they had ,as is always the case with families of walis. He was barely ten when he would sit under a tree and read the Quran everytime he saw that the cows were resting in a pasture.
Slowly he became a wali himself, he often said people are given dervishi but I collected it drop by drop and made a tank. He was a hafiz of the Quran, after becoming a dervish he had followers among the local people both inside and outside the family.

He wore simple white cotton shalvar kameez and an imama or turban. People used to give heaps of clothing and food items which he gave away to his children and grand children immediately. His eyes were almost like diamond shaped, had noor on his face. He performed forty Hajs, around twenty physically others batini. Chicken Pulau was his favourite dish. His most famous saying in our family relates to the water crisis Sindh is facing today:

He repeatedly warned his children and grand children decades ago that "water is going to go and the people will have to rely on live stock farming, do not sell the live stock you have because in future it will seem as if they have horns made out of gold”; meaning they would be worth a lot of money!!

No one could imagine in their wildest dreams at the time in the 1950s that the river Indus was going to become dry and Sindh would become barren. A brief account of his other karamaat is given below:

 He often visited the tomb of the great wali known as Hadrat Shah Bilawal who he said attained martyrdom while answering the call of a lady popularly known in Sindhi as 'GanjRi'. He was among the hordes of walis who came to Sindh when GanjRii's sons were killed & she screamed and asked Allah for assistance. The walis from far and wide came to Sindh to provide assistance to her against tyranny. Another famous wali who came to answer her call was Abdul Rahim Girhori.

Haji Gaarho used to go the gravesite of Hadrat Shah Bilawal often and get the answers to his questions in person from the Beebi (Shah Bilawal's sister, who's burried next to him).

One such incident is described by Haji Dodo, the youngest son of Haji Gaarho:

It was time of draught, people were in a very bad shape, the family asked Haji Gaarho to tell them as to what was about to happen. Haji Gaarho asked his son Dodo to take him to the shrine of Hadrat Shah Bilawal. Upon reaching there, he told haji Dodo:
”Doda go and bring me some water" he meant water for wudu. Haji Dodo says he went and hid behind some trees and waited to see what was unfolding. He says there was a loud breeze among trees and a lady appeared out of nowhere dressed in a gajj & paRo (skirt blouse typical that of Thar). She had two gharas (clay pots used for water storage in homes), she spilled one of them and there was water, then she spilled the second one and out came blood, then she left. Of course Haji Dodo had no clue what was meant by the gesture. But Haji Gaarho came home and told the family that there was going to be severe rainfall and that alot of people were about to die, even the livestock was at great risk. And he advised everyone to move to Thar temporarily until the situation became normal again.

 

Second incident that is often repeated about him getting answers in the above fashion is how he found out that his nephew Haji Khan Mohammad had become a dervish.

Once Haji Gaarho was requested by his niece Aisha (my paternal grandmother) if he could provide some information about the head of a house hold who commited suicide by shooting himself. He was a syed named Daman Ali Shah from Dhoro Naro, the man had given lots of charity (lots of camels, sheep etc.) before committing suicide. Daman Ali Shah's wife was a non syed, a sindhi  pathan named Sodhi (real name Fazilat Khatoon, her grandmother the original Sodhi was a  Hindu Rajput or Thakur who had reverted to Islam and married her grandfather, hence she was called Sodhi ("Sodha" being the surname Rajput Thakurs of the area use). Sodhi asked Hajjah Aisha if she could ask Haji Gaarho about the fate of her husband in the grave.

Haji Gaarho came back and reported that the man was barely ok. The exact words he used were "dum guzar". But upon Aisha's insistence, he told the real thing, he said "I prayed and the angels brought Daman Ali Shah's soul in front of me, all that he had given in charity has been rejected since his niyya or intention was to commit suicide right from the beginning therefore he is in a lot of pain".

Once Haji Khan Mohammad, his nephew came to see him before he opened his mouth, Haji Gaarho said, your mare is dead right! Haji Khan Mohammad replied in the affirmative and said, 'kaaka (chacha) I tethered it to say dua at Hadrat Shah Bilawal's and came back to find it dead'! Haji Gaarho said, 'you tethered your mare on eastern side of the tomb on a white ground, that is the place the four friends 'the four khulafa raashiden' come and sit, & your mare happened to urinate at that spot, the wali got mad and killed it; never tether any of your animals there, that is a sacred spot'.

If some one became healed due to his dua and happen to say “thank you have healed me", he would immediately say, "it is not I but the One above who has healed you".

He watched the migration of scores of people across the borders of Pakistan during independence in 1947 and commented that the number of Jinns far exceeded the number of humans coming over!

Once he was at the Kubbars (his followers in the town of Khipro) and suddenly said I need transport for home, when asked to wait until arrangements could be made, he said my eldest daughter in law is calling me so I have to go now & started to walk until the house owners quickly brought the conveyance. After his death the KuBBer lady related this story to my maternal grand mother, his eldest daughter in law!
 
Haji Gaarho often hummed the mowlood sharif in Sindhi "aahiyoon tuhunjay saaN Arabi Jam vaher ker ka villehen ji"

He used to go on ships to Hajj in the beginning before the age of jet age Hajj. Which looked more like dhows all the way to Arabian port of Jiddah. At first one went to Bombay, from there they would take these ships which called on several ports along the way like Adn in Yemen before reaching Jiddah, for a man like Haji Gaarho who's both legs had been broken from the hips, this was no easy task but the will was strong as ever. He had given the reason of broken limbs, he said someone in the past generations gave a buddua (curse) which got accepted and everyone of the family of Gaarho will experience some sort of limb fracture. (In fact almost everyone in our family has had a limb fracture in his or her life and it continues to this day).

Haji Gaarho used to stay at the deck of the ship since it was the most comfortable part of the ship due to plenty of air etc. So upon reaching Makkah on of his many Hajjs he performed Hajj and it was announced that the hajis couldn't go to Madina for lack of transport (Arabia at the time was a desolate place without modern facilitation it enjoys today). Haji Gaarho was disappointed and one day he told his youngest son Haji Dodo who always went with him for physical support 'lets go to Madina' and he began to walk, Haji Dodo naturally followed him, it took them the entire night and they just made it outside the then tiny city of Makkah, the town was just 2-3 streets then. He could hardly walk, both his feet were set at an angle, along the way he kept telling Haji Dodo "if I don't make it to Madina, you are exempt from digging a grave for me, since the soil is rocky and you won't be able to dig a grave for me, so just put a sheet over my body and put some stones on top and then you may leave! Well they managed to reach the outpost and some guards happen to see them. The guards asked him as to where they were going, he replied 'Madina', the guards laughed and said to each other 'they are about to reach Jannatul Baqi more like it'. He ignored this and kept walking, a bit further, an old beat up bus came and stopped next to them and they got on to it because it was heading towards Madina. The next day they were in Madina. Haji Dodo performed ten Hajjs along with his father.

During one his Hajjs in the jet age his two sons the eldest Haji Sobho and the youngest Haji Dodo once accompanied him, and it so happened that their flight date back to Sindh was 29th of the month, Haji Sobho became agitated and insisted that his father makes dua so they go home early. Haji Garho had already had his ticket checked by the officials, the date was 29th for sure, he went again and told them to recheck it, and the date had changed to 19th! When the clerk told him this, tears were seen on his cheeks.

About the visiting method of the grave of Gaarho Faqir, he said to family, 'when you visit Gaarho Faqir, introduce yourselves, the dervish can recognize that you are among his relatives but he doesn't know who you actually are, so tell him your relation to the generation in which he died'. This is some thing all of us do when we visit the great Garho Faqir's grave near Taalhi.

Dada Gaarho used to tell the women folk to spend as less time in a cemetery as they could, he said that walking in a cemetery is like walking in city full of people, only difference is you can't see them but they see you (the ladies) without clothes, therefore it is forbidden for ladies to go to a grave yard. When the ladies of the family said that they wished to visit their ancestors, he allowed them to go gurglingly and said "make sure you go early in the morning when there are less visitors, and visit the close by graves, do not wander all over the cemetery.' He said that the dead person can even recognize whether the little bird sitting on the grave is a male or a female, i.e. a 'jhirko' or 'jhirki'!

It is not worthwhile to visit a dervish tomb on a friday (which starts as soon as sun sets on Thursday) because the walis souls visit Makkah on fridays or go & listen to the waaz (religious talk) of Hadrat Isa alahis salam on the fourth heaven, some visit their relatives. He used to say sometimes you see a black bug circling in the air, don't hit unless it’s being overly aggressive and wishes to harm you, because it can be a relative's soul paying you a visit.
If one goes to a relative wali's tomb on a friday, he or she has to travel back from Makkah to attend to the relative, this brings unnecessary discomfort to them, hence its best avoided. Wearing black color at a cemetery is forbidden.

Lighting candles or incense sticks as is the custom in the large cities of Karachi etc.is also forbidden, since they are lit using fire.

Once someone saw a real live snake in the house, they were about to strike it using a large stick, dada Gaarho called out: "don't! Its not a snake, its Saman Shah (the great Sufi saint of Sindh, who was the head of 40 abdaals of his time, & is buried in Jhuddo town)!!
He used to say Samman Shah is a Syed but the status of our Gaarho Faqir is equal to him, and when he said this, tears used to flow from his eyes. He also said there are always forty abdaals at any given time, if one of them passes away then another is appointed in his place. Abdaal is an extremely high place in the world of dervishes. They are all spiritually connected and one of them is the head of them all. The abdaals wear a suit of divine light, (Noorani waGo). To the sinful ordinary folks' eyes like ours; they seem unclothed, so in some parts of the world, they refuse to meet women. They usually live away from people, in solitude.

Saman Shah used to take bhang (cannabis), his followers used to crush it using a pestle and mortar. One day, he came back from somewhere in a rage. He broke all the pestles and mortars and kept saying in Siraiki 'ChanGen ne aakhia oon mawali koon be viclh diyo' i.e. the Great one said give some vilch to this drug adict.
No one knew what did he mean by this. Haji Gaarho deciphered it for them, he said: Saman Shah was sitting in a spiritual gathering of all the walis, mithai was being distributed and Rasoolullah sallalahu alahi waslam pointed to him and said give some mithaii to this drug addict also. Now he is ashamed that he was embarrassed in front of all wails of the world because Rasoolullah sallalhu alahi wasalam apprehended him for taking bhang. He wishes he were dead.

Its a custom among the family to visit his and other relatives' graves as often as they can, especially if the 1st of any Islamic month falls on a monday (saao soomer in Sindhi), they make a point to visit the dervishes of the family as well other relatives. It’s customary to put a green twig on the grave of the relatives. This was the practice of the Nabi Kareem sallalahu alahi wasalam who said that as long the twig remains green, it keeps doing zikr and therefore God forbid if there is punishment being given to the deceased, it will help reduce it due to the baraka of zikr.

His sister Hajani Fatima passed away and her eldest daughter (my maternal grandmother) used to faint often afterwards due to extreme sadness. He told her "you should not be crying because your mother is very well taken care of, hoors are swinging her in a swing, it should be me who ought to cry because my sister Jannat is in a lot of pain, I have completed several readings of the Quran and it’s reduced the pain but a little"!

He told the family that there would be two graves dug when he is taken to be buried, the first one will be destroyed as soon as it is dug before the burial, hence a second one will be a dug nearby and he will be buried in it. This is exactly what happened. Later his eldest son Haji Sobho Kapri was buried in the damaged first grave right next to him.

After Haji Gaarho's passing away in 1962, one of the syed followers at union council Bustan contracted throat cancer. Adl Shah contacted the usual doctor from UmerKot, Dr. Harchand. His brother Siddiq Shah told Dr. Harchand 'if you cure my brother, I will write the deeds of half of the lands I own, in your name!!' Dr. Harchand replied 'Not me, but the One above is one to call for curing him'.

Adl Shah went to Hyderabad and was told that his throat will have to be operated upon. He was scared to death, his voice was completely gone, and he couldn't speak. The night before the operation, he cried and called upon Haji Garho with tears flowing. That night he saw Haji Gaarho in his dream, there was another person with him, he put his hand on the throat and tied it with a cloth.
 

In the morning, the doctors carried out some final tests before the operation and were astonished to find all signs of cancer had completely disappeared! They asked 'how did this happen', to them he only said, 'I have consulted a much better doctor than you'. Adl Shah could speak; the only difference was that he spoke with a thinner voice!

We remember him as the last known wali in our family. Although we suspect that his son Haji Sobho Kapri was a wali also but kept it hidden because he never showed any karamaat like his ancestors.

 Haji Khan Mohammad

Haji Khan Mohammad was the nephew of Haji Gaarho, he also attained dervishi in an interesting manner.

He used to read two rakat nafl after Maghrib prayer with the niyya of giving the reward to Hadrat Aisha R.A without fail. He got his dervishi due to this. He had stopped eating roti, was relying on milk alone. Every one became worried and took him to Hyderabad for a check up at Dr. Ziauddin's. There he refused to take medication, the injection that was given to him,, he simply squeezed his arm and the entire medicine came oozing out backwards. He told Abdul Ghani (his niece's husband) to bring the soda covered, but the guy forgot and let the shop owner open the bottle, so when he entered the house, he entered it while holding his palm above the soda bottle. Haji Khan Mohammad refused to drink it, he said 'I told you to not open it, I was watching you throughout, you let it be opened at the shop and came round the corner of the house and remembered what I had said, hence you put your hand on it'.
Haji Gaarho was in kunri staying at one of his followers' house, he was informed of this. He said that he should be taken to the nearby tomb of Hadrat Shah Bilawal. After coming back from there, he said Haji Khan Mohammad has become a devish of the level that he will leave his house and live at cemetries like Garho Faqir used to. He is not eating roti because he's been forbidden to eat wheat for 40 days. At the end of which he will leave home. Garho Faqir was not married while he has two wives and children, where will they go. Haji Garho told the members of the household to trick him into eating wheat by breaking the bread into small pieces and then adding milk to it, and strain that so that pieces of wheat get into the milk and let him drink that! So they did that, Haji Khan Mohammad knew afterwards that he lost the original high post of derveshi due to him being tricked into having milk with wheat particles, but said he has sufficient dervishi. He told Haji Garho, you were worried about my wives and children, know then that I have a short life left, who is going to look after them after I am gone! Haji Garho went and asked a scholar among the Memons of Memon Kunri, called haji Dos Mohammad who said that what Haji Garho did was a great wrong and now he must take Khan Mohammad on Haj and ask for forgiveness. So Haji Garho took him to Hajj and he became Haji Khan Mohammad from then onwards.
He described the incident of him getting the no wheat instruction thusly:
He said that while in Hyderabad, he saw a light tajjali and Nabi Kareem Sallalahu Alahi Wasalam and Hadrat Aisha Radiallah taala anha appeared before him and Hadrat Aisha R.A said "let this person be healed" (the actual conversation was in Sindhi: "hin mareez jo marz maaf" (Haji Khan Mohd. had been suffering from kidney pain)
Nabi Kareem Sallalahu Alahi Wasalam (said, "maaf", i.e. his ailment is forgiven".
Then she Radiallah taala anha said:
" this person should be given derveshi"
upon which Nabi Kareem Sallalahu Alahi Wasalam said:
"he shouldn't eat wheat for forty days".

Haji Khan Mohammad often read the book of the wali known all over Sindh as Abdul Raheem Garhori and related the signs of the end of the world from it. His sister Aisha used to ask him things often and he used to say "that imam Mahdi is going to reappear and there will be cloud cover over him announcing his arrival", he added to Hajjah Aisha 'you people are going to see him and when you do, run after him as much you can, the more distance any body runs after imam Mahdi the more sins of theirs will be forgiven'.
After his passing away, his sister Khadija called him for help since a lady from a nearby town was having a delivery but it was proving to be extremely difficult. That night she saw Haji Khan Mohammad who was saying something that showed that he was angry, he said in Sindhi "dhoor dhoor, muhunji hadd hitay aahey". Khadija related this dream to her paternal uncle, Haji Gaarho; who interpreted it and said:

 

"Haji Khan Mohammad was upset because you called him on a friday, walis don't stay at the grave site on fridays, they have permission from Allah to either travel to Makkah, visit Hadrat Isa alahis salam to listen to his khutba or visit their relatives homes on earth whereever they may be to see what they are up to. If your calling had been for yourself it wouldn't have mattered so much but you did so for someone else  and the wali had to travel all the way to assist you".

 Haji Sobho Kapri

Pious is one word to describe this great human being. He was the illustrious figure in the Kapri family who was blessed with a near photographic memory. In fact I would refer to him as a living computer. When he was born, Sindh was an occupied territory under the Brits. As an infant his mother never gave him milk without her being in the state of wudhu. Naturally that had an important and positive impact on his life. He was nourished in a very spiritual environment. He was a Hafiz of Quran Kareem although he never openly admitted to being one. He could finish the recitation of the Noble Quran in just three days. This gave him the powerful eyesight, even on his last day of life; he could recite the Quran with the smallest font. It is a standing miracle of the Quran that whoever reads it regularly, his/her eyesight never becomes weak. He had a typical Sindhi name meaning 'success' and he led his life in a manner so that it would be a success.

The attire of this great man was simple cotton shalvar kameez of either beige or khaki color and the imama used to be of white muslin. He kept a beard which turned white as the years progressed. Shoes were always black, he never wore slippers or open toed sandals.
Apart form spiritual connection there was another side to his personality. He was a singer of Indian Classical music. This happened to an eight year Sobho by chance. Young Haji Sobho was standing outside the guest house of Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah (a Bustan Syed) one day, and he burst into a famous song from the story of a well known legend of Umer Marvi. The lyrics were famous: "Umer Mayaaran..." The singing was impressive, hence as soon he heard the voice Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah exclaimed:
"Oh my God! he is a meraasi! Bring him in" meaning he is an ustadh or maestro. And he called upon his servants to fetch the kid.

Young Sobho hesitated to go into a room full of grown ups and musical experts; but the syed insisted & told his servant 'to carry him inside', which he did. Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah then convinced him to take music lessons of Indian classic music. The Syed himself was an excellent singer and had received classical training. So Haji Sobho began to be trained in music. He also learnt to play the clay pot used for storing water named 'Ghara' with beautiful melody.

He was fluent in speaking Dhaatki (language of the desert folk, also known as Thari) as well as Gujarati and of course Sindhi. He never sang in public though, his father Haji Gaarho disapproved but couldn't bring himself to say so to the syed whom he respected.

Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah would often invite the famous ustaads or maestroes of the time from Delhi to sing at his guest house. Maii Jeevni used to come along with her teacher and was once corrected by Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah as to what the correct way of singing the Sindhi sur (melody) known as Sorath.

He used to often ask Haji Sobho to sing songs in Gujarati, sung by the Hindus of the area at his guest house when Haji Sobho was still young. Haji Sobho's pronunciation was so good that Hindu field workers used to assume it was a Hindu singing unless they saw who it was. This continued throughout his teenage years.
Haji Sobho used to describe how he went to the urs or death anniversary of Saman Shah at his tomb in Jhuddo town as a kid. Haji Sobho didn't have a ticket for the train he was on, so he told people in the train carriage that he was about to jump before the train pulls into the station. He asked them for advice as to which direction he should aim his jump, towards the train destination or against it, some people advised him to jump against it, until a man told him 'don't do as they say, if you jump from the train in the direction opposite to which the train is moving, you will be crushed to death under its wheels because the wind will pull you underneath, jump in the same direction'. This advice saved Haji Sobho's life. Haji Sobho wanted to attend this urs because he had heard that the then famous classical singer Jeevni was going to perform at the tomb.

 

Haji Gaarho used to discourage him from singing hindu songs, He himself wouldn't even eat at the weddings in the houses of Bustan syeds because they used to play the dholak, he used to just attend but not partake in food due to presence of music at the weddings.

Haji Sobho stopped singing at the guest house of Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah after his passing away. He would sometimes sing a tune in his house slowly and even entertain his family about how he sang Hindu songs but in his in his later years he saw a dream in which he was forbidden from singing Hindu music and after that day he stopped even bringing any Hindu song to his lips.

As he grew up, he became more and more religious under the tutelage of his dervish father. Having been born in a very religious family he couldn't help but be influenced by it.

Haji Sobho's routine throughout life was that he used to stay up the whole night, read the fajr prayer, recited the Quran, read Ishraaq prayer; then he would have his morning tea, read the famous book of Salat alan Nabi known as 'Dalaail-ul Khairaat' & read the Duha prayer around 10 a.m. After that he used to have a nap until Dhur time, read the duhr, would have lunch & would sleep until Asr time. After Asr prayer he used to sleep for a while and then someties read the Quran again, would sometimes read the risala of Shah until tea time. At maghrib he would offer prayers and do dhikr for a while. Read his Isha prayers and had supper. After supper he would sleep for around 2-3 hours and then wake up again & remember Allah, did Tahajjud prayers and stay up the night. This was done by him his entire life come rain or shine.
Haji Sobho was not a known wali (my personal belief is that he liked to keep it hidden) but was very very religious, enough to see spirits in their original form and exorcise people.
He was given the 'huda' or, 'Idhn' by his wali father (Haji Gaarho) so that he was able to heal those who were affected by sihr or were otherwise under the influence of the evil spirits. He could see the jinn and talk to them. He could even tie them up and beat them with full force to make them leave a human. He was a very successful Islamic exorcist so to speak. He cured hundreds of people, those he couldn't heal he told the folks upfront. This 'beating' is an exercise which was performed by Nabi Kareem sallalahu alahi wasalm and illustrious scholars and shaikhs of old, you beat the afflicted person with the full force enough to kill a horse but the human feels no pain nor are there any marks on his or her body. No amateur person must attempt this or he will hurt the human with the beating.

Being constantly concerned with after life, he had requested his wali father to tell the two angels of interrogation in the grave, (Munker and Nakeer) to not to give him a hard time, when its time for him to be interrogated. After telling him this, he asked his father after a week whether he'd done so and Haji Gaarho said that he had.

He was fond of joking with his dervish father, in fact he used to call him by his name 'Gaarho'. One day his father was reading the Quran, and Haji Sobho was also reciting the Quran sitting by his father's side, little did his father know that he was competing to see who finishes first, until Haji Sobho said to his father ‘Be careful I am leaving you behind'! Haji Gaarho immediately speeded up his recitation and left him behind.

Being the eldest gave him the extra closeness to his father so he used to ask things that the dervish wouldn't otherwise disclose perhaps. So one day he asked him "who performed the funeral prayer for the renowned wali Abdul Rahim Girhori"?

Haji Gaarho did his best to avoid the question and said that he didn't know. But Haji Sobho knew that Girhori had specially told the scholars of the area not to read the funeral prayers for him but leave his body after the ritual washing of the dead known as ghusl and that is what they did. Someone came with his face covered; he had a white colored long tunic on. So the scholars thought they will have a word with the newcomer and ask him about his identity. But the person was no where to be found as soon as the funeral prayer was over!
So now Haji Sobho wanted to know from Haji Gaarho because if anyone could tell him the identity of the person, it was him. Haji Gaarho avoided the question for a number of days but in the end he gave up and said "it was holy Prophet peace be upon him".

He was among a handful of people in the province of Sindh who could recite the entire text of Shah Abdul Latif 's risala from memory. He often met the renowned Professor Dr. Nabi Baksh Baloch to discuss various melodies of the Shah. The renowned Dr. used to visit him at least three times in a year for a lengthy session on the Shah. One day he came with some regular friends and said to Haji Sobho "I have a bait of Shah, everyone I know can only say the first line, if you complete it I will sit and eat the meal prepared by Abdullah Khan Kapri otherwise I will leave this moment". Haji Sobho said jokingly how is this possible, you sit down, bait will be completed in no time, but the Dr. only repeated what he had said earlier. So Haji Sobho said 'ok tell me the line you know' . As soon as he heard the first line, “jhoono thiyo jahaz satoon jhaley na sirR joon” he completed the whole bait as follows:

 
پڳه پُراڻا ٿيا سڙيو سڀ ساز
مُعلم ٿيو مُحتاج ٻيڙو وس ٻين جي

And Dr. Baloch sat down and had the meal!

In his dinner he would prefer savory dishes, such as Curry etc. after dinner he would perform Isha and have a nap for at least two hours, then wake up for Tahajjud prayer and stay up after that. Living on a farmhouse surrounded by crop fields & wonders of nature, his was a very unique life but life that was far from any kind of greed. He had an extremely kind and generous nature.
He once told his youngest son to be up at the early hours after fajr to witness one of God's wonders, a bird would sit on the compound wall of the house and continuously say "Ya Shafi Ya Shafi" for more than half an hour. He told the family the bird was calling our Nabi Kareem Sallalahu alahi wasalam. He would read the salat alan nabi (durood sharif) from the famous book 'Dalail Khairaat'. Once my mother told him that she had read salat alan nabi only while on umra & didn't read any other dua, he responded 'you did well'. He used to say to her, after I am gone, read the Quran for me, but read it for your grandfather (Haji Gaarho) more.

In Ramadan, he would break the fast with just a date and would perform salat before sitting down for the iftaar or dinner. Duty to God was of utmost importance.

Even in the seasonal Monsoon torrents, he would put his prayer mat on a plastic sheet down in the veranda of his farm house and perform salat, sometimes the prayer mat would look as if its about to float. He hated the TV and never allowed it in the house until the very end of his life when his grand children went & bought it without actually consulting him, he didn't say anything. He never listened to the radio even though radio came out when he was a little kid. The reason is two fold, radio and TV have unsuitable contents for a decent society & TV attracts the evil satanic creation around it just like it is liked by humans, it is highly undesirable to have it in the house. This is only noticed by those whose eyes are spiritually open and who can witness what is going on around them in the spiritual world.

Once he got the risala of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (renowned Sufi poet of Sindh) which had more verses than any other he'd known. So he convinced his father Haji Gaarho to make the family members copy it by hand. Printing press was not widely available in those days as it is now, photocopying was unheard of. At first dada haji Garho said no, he reckoned we had all the verses of the Shah, until one day naana recited some baits (verses) from Marvi, dada became convinced. (Haji Garho was my great grand naana as he was my paternal grandmother's paternal uncle, but he was my mom's real paternal grandfather, she calls him dada so do we). So all the members of the family sat down and began hand writing the risala. Haji Sobho's own son, Mohammad Umer plus his maternal uncles Abdul Ghani and Abdul Haq, it took them forever but they completed it and sent it to be written professionally to someone in Kunri town. That is the main risala which he memorized by heart and also some smaller versions of the Shah's risala.

He had memorized the whole risala without difficulty and with his memory and the Ganj risala in his hands, there was no match to him in the province when it came to Shah. Dr. Baloch sahib started to come and meet him very often and this continued for decades.

There was no desire to be known or become famous, he was told that the President of Pakistan (then General Zia) along with renowned scholar Dr. Baloch was about to preside over poetry reading of Shah in nearby Umerkot town; and if he i.e. Haji Sobho attends it, he would get the first prize because the Zia doesn't know this poetry, he would choose whoever the Dr. chooses and its sure to be him. The prize was a ticket for Hajj. Haji Sobho refused, point blank.

He used to sit with the rich and famous of Sindh and famous TV anchors such as Mumtaz Mirza and recite poetry over the microphone without a sweat. He used to jokingly call Dr. Baloch's entourage including Mumtaz Mirza "Khuthabees" meaning school children.
Dr. Baloch was doing research on Shah in those days and used to visit the guest house of Abdullah Khan Kapri in Saamaro town often to have a poetry session with Haji Sobho to collect baits (verses) of the Shah from him not found in small risalas. (Abdullah Khan was the elder of the community at the time). Haji Sobho had the main or Ganj risala and had the memory to recite from it, hence the learned Dr. used to note down if he found new verses of the well known baits.
Abdhullah Khan used to send his car for Haji Sobho to oblige him to come and not decline such a meeting.

One day Dr. Baloch came alone and Haji Sobho asked him "where are your Khuthabees?" Dr. Baloch said "khuthaabees couldn't make it on time"

When Abdullah Khan passed away & Dr. Baloch visited to condole, Haji Sobho greeted him with the following bait of the Shah:

Aayas aGeen Hayr Ghaalhiyan Gaat bharay
Pir tey pasaan na payr vayoon kataN variyoon


News of his death got reported in the Sindhi daily 'Kawish' in the following words on 3^rd Muhurram 1998:

"Haji Sobho Kapri, salat sowm jo paband, buzurg shaksiat, Shah Latif jo perwano hin jehan-e- faani khan Ladano karay viyo!"
(Pious person, regular in prayer and fasts, a buzurg and an ardent devotee of Shah Latif has left this world)

After his death announcement, one of his students Mujahid Chandio came and told his son Haji Mohammad Umer that he witnessed an event that makes him wonder about Haji Sobho’s claim of being ordinary. Mujahid relates the incident thusly:

He (mujahid) was sitting at a meeting between Shah Latif’s poetry readers in Thatta, someone said a bait and asked him to complete it, Mujahid couldn’t,  later when he went away to retire for the night, he heard Haji Sobho’s voice completing the bait! So Mujahid says he went back into the gathering and asked them ‘is ustaad among you” they said no, but Mujahid heard the verse completed and went and told them the entire bait which he wasn’t able to complete earlier!

This is among many ‘signs’ that he left behind of an extra ordinary life. During the first few days after his passing away, he came and told his grand daughter Sabira who used to cry a lot remembering him, in a dream “why are you crying”. And then his son who was crying that he wanted a bait of the Shah completed but didn’t know where to look i.e. in which edition of the risala of the Shah did this bait exit? Haji Sobho said to him in a dream:

“Don’t cry, the bait you are looking for is on such a such page”.

Haji Mohammad Umer went and found it on the exact page!

I got to know while in the US that the late Anwer Pirzado (the editor of Awami Awaz) had met him while he went to Kunri in order to do a story on red chilies for the English daily Dawn. He remembered him with fondness and the memory of Haji Sobho and the devotion to Shah. He read Anwer Pirzado’s column in one of the dailies in which late Anwer Pirzado said the Sindhi intellectuals couldn’t agree whether Marvi was Hindu or Muslim. Naana said to his son “write to him and tell him that she was a Muslim” and gave the reasons:

1 Marvi recites the kalmia in one of the baits of the Shah (he gave the bait also.)

2 She was engaged to her cousin, Keth. A Hindu never marries within the family

So once Anwer Pirzado got the letter, he wrote in the paper, we have an answer, Marvi was definitely a Muslim.

Whenever we used to visit from overseas he used to tell us something new, once he recited a bait and now its become a lesson for me. Hence my personal favourite bait was as follows:

Bevakoof jee baat khey bhudhee Dij BuRi
Jey chavandens ChanGaii jo te Deendo Khan khuRi
Dinaee varandi haq ji the ker jang juRi
Thehen khan wanj muri mataan poi pasheman thiien
 

When my sister had a son in the US, my mum literally saw him standing and smiling in front of her in her house, she was so happy and told us ‘naana has come to bless the new baby’!

I thank God that I never had to see him when he died, so I still remember him in my mind’s eye smiling and reciting in sur sarang (or malhar) which happens to be my favorite sur; especially the bait:

مـــوٽـــــي  مــــانــــــڊاڻ جــــي ، واري ڪيائــــيـــــن وار،
وڄـــــون  وســـــڻ آتــــيـــون ، چــــوڏس ٿـــــي چــــــوڌار،
ڪي اٿي ويئيون استنبول ڏي، ڪي مڻيون مغرب پار،
ڪـــي چــمـڪن چين تي، ڪي لهن سمر قندين سار،
ڪي رمي ويئيون روم تي، ڪي ڪابل، ڪي قـندار،
ڪـــــي دهــلـيءَ ، ڪـــي دکن ، ڪي گڙن مٿي گرنار،
ڪــــنــهــيــن جــنـبي جيسلمير تان ، بيڪانير بڪار،
ڪنهين ڀڄ ڀـــڄــائــيـو ، ڪــــنــهـيـن ڍٽ مـــٿـــي ڍار،
ڪـــنـــهــيــن اَچـــي اَمــرڪـــوٽ تـــان، وسايا ولهار،
سانئيم ! ســـدائــيـــن ڪــريـــن مــٿــي ســنــڌ ســڪار،
دوست! مــٺــا دلــدار ! عــالــم ســڀ آبــاد ڪـــــريــــن.