Shah Shahidullah Faridi

Shah Shahidullah Faridi (né John Gilbert Lennard) (1915–1978) was a notable British Muslim Convert, born to a Christian family. He embraced Islam after reading "Kashf al-Mahjub" (The Unveiling of the Veiled), the classical treatise on Sufism written by Hazrat Ali ibn Uthman al-Hujwiri. Though having been born and raised in a wealthy English family he left his home in search of a Sufi shaikh. In India, he eventually met the Chishti Sabri shaikh, Hazrat Maulana Syed Muhammad Zauqi Shah and pledged allegiance to him.

At forty years of age, the responsibilities of spiritual succession were entrusted to him. He lived in Karachi for about thirty years until he died on Ramdhan 17th in 1978. He was well-known among the local population as a dedicated servant to the common people, and he died in relative obscurity except in the Sufi community in Pakistan. His followers built a moseluem (mazar) to honor his burial site which is located at Sakhi Hassan in Karachi.

The mazar area also has a mosque and a graveyard in the complex. His work has attracted the attention recently of another English Muslim convert, Timothy Winter, a.k.a. Abdal Hakim Murad. Hazrat Shahidullah was fluent in many languages and his discourses appealed to various ethnic groups across Pakistan. Though the number of his followers are in the few hundreds they come from all four provinces of Pakistan. His successor is Hazrat Siraj Ali who continues the Sabri Chisti lineage in Karachi. His brother, who had also read Kashf al-Mahjub and had accompanied him in his worldwide spiritual quest, also became a Muslim and followed Sufism.

Shah Shahidullah Faridi was a renowned writer on spiritual matters, and was regarded as having great clarity and insight. One of his most famous books is Inner Aspects of Faith. He also compiled Part Two of "Tarbiatul Ushaq" ("The Training of Divine Lovers"), Syed Mohammad Zauqi Shah, 1425/2004, pub. A.S.Nordeen, Kuala Lumpur, ISBN 983-065-185-1. A brief biography of his, published recently in Urdu called "Talash e Haqq rudad." by Ahmed Ghazali Shaheedi, printed by M. Naeem Hashmi, Saudabad Malir Colony Karachi. The disciples of Hazrat Shahidullah Faridi continue to publish his works and those of other Masters of their Order.