Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi

From the book,

Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)

Transla:on Credit Sister F Azeemi


Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 1 Almighty. And, so, he puts God Almighty’s
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved) blessings to oblivion.
My Dear and very close friend, Asslam-o-
Alaikum!
I have wriGen a reply to your previous
leGer, which, I hope, must have reached
you by now. Today, I feel liking talking to
you for a while. The spiritual affairs are
very strange and preGy hard to carry
through. On the spiritual journey, when a
person covers some distance, he begins to
get overwhelmed with uncertain:es and
disappointments. satan (the devil) puts all
of his efforts in making that person
unhappy. The most effec:ve weapon he
applies to this end is ‘Ego’. Man begins to
pull himself in the cocoon of Self or Ego. He
makes his Self, Ego or the Individual Being
center of his thoughts. He considers even
his minor contribu:on towards God
Almighty’s cause as his own
accomplishments. This shortcoming fans
his undue expecta:on towards God

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 2 and a beau:ful mind but it has nothing to
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved) do with you.
A week ago, a billionaire friend of mine told
me that his friend had turned away from
God. The reason he underlined was, that
his prayer didn’t come to frui:on. He
prayed for long life of his father but,
unfortunately, he died despite spending
millions on the medical treatment. Now,
his friend has drowned himself in drinking
and partying. I told him, in return, that his
friend’s prayer was uGerly baseless to
begin with. “If someone doesn’t die, how
can the next genera:on, take their place?
Life and death both are inevitable. Would
you please tell me how much rent did that
friend of yours gave to Allah for the land he
lives on? Who gave him the investment for
his business? What could he do if he was
born mentally slow or crippled? How could
he drink wine, if he were a beggar or a
des:tute person?”
My Dear Friend! You have an amazing soul

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 3 people can befriend God. God Almighty
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved) doesn’t make unhappy people his friends.
It is God Almighty who has made you as
such. Despondency and weariness are
bound to happen on this journey of
Spiritualism. Whenever a person sets out
on a journey, he has to face storms, dust
and the eventual exhaus:on. The right
approach of a traveler is to keep moving
forward. Such a traveler aims at nothing
except his des:na:on. Un:l he reaches his
des:na:on, he never stops somewhere in
the middle of the road. I have a firm belief
that you will come out of this onrush of
weary thoughts. You have chosen me as
your teacher and I, too, have made you
close to my heart. It is my duty to apprise
you of the twists and turns ahead. It is your
duty to accept nothing more or less than
your des:na:on. When man reaches his
des:na:on, everything bows down before
him. When I imagine you worried, I get
disturbed because, I know, only happy

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 4 funds from people.
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)
You know this very well that, in this world,
no one is truly yours or mine. We depart
from some and yet many depart from us.
Our last asset is a two-yard grave, which is
also subject to provision. Our body
becomes food for worms in the grave. Our
Self, then, transforms into dust par:cles,
which gets trampled by other humans,
dogs, cats, buffalos and cows. The earth
has engulfed the mighty kings, such as
Shaddad, Karoon, Pharoah and turned
them to dust. Today, we walk over those
dust par:cles, spit on them and ruin them
with our body waste.
My Friend, in my adulthood, I read an
incident of a young man who had struggled
hard for the religious cause while staying
intact to the cocoon of Self/Ego. As per his
percep:on, he had contributed a great deal
to advance the cause of God Almighty. He
had erected religious temples by collec:ng

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 5 His Divine Grace Qalander Baba Auliya says,
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)
He was sa:sfied giving his people a life of
austerity while spending his life like
monarchs. When he knocked at the door of
the Unconscious acer transcending from
the Conscious, satan (the devil) greeted
him. In the disguise of a well-dressed,
pleasant looking and long-bearded old
man, satan (the devil) said to him, “God
Almighty is very pleased with your way of
living, charity work and your painstaking
efforts in the prayers. As a reward, let us
begin the tour of the heavens.”
The man, who was completely trapped in
the Self, closed his eyes and, so his journey
to the heavens started. The journey began
from the lower place to the higher and
then started again from higher place to the
lower. When he opened his eyes, he found
himself on a pile of garbage where there
was nothing but rot, foul smell and filth.
And there he was draped in dirt and filth.

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 6 kind enough to reveal the few reali:es on
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved) me.
“When someone takes an ini:a:ve for
God’s cause, he thinks, now God owes him
a great deal for his ini:a:ve. Why does he
not give a thought to how God provided
him nourishment in his mother’s womb
and then food, for next two years, without
any effort? HE provided man with all the
life-sustaining resources, for instance,
water, oxygen and air. In return, God does
not charge him even a single penny. Man is
blessed with health, children, respect and
dignity for work. Man lives for seventy or
eighty years (on average). He struts around
and comes in rebellion against God. He
doesn’t give a second thought to God. He
sells God created resources, priced too
expensive. Even then, God never forgets
him for a moment and thinks of him at
every step of his life.”
My Friend! I am no different than you. I
wrote it all because His Divine Grace was

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 7 years, why did HE not respond to my calls?
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)
I want you to establish your link with the
reali:es I have come to realize. It is easy for
a bewildered traveler to leave the path as a
result of overwhelming uncertain:es in his
surroundings but once he looses the path,
he never gets guidance again.
My Son! You know how close you are to my
heart. I am also fully aware how much love
you have for me. Both of us are on the path
to Idraak (Realiza:on). It does not maGer if
one traveler is ahead and the other is near
the previous block. The two will find the
way only when they keep moving forward
without puing their whole journey at
stake.
There was a :me when my life was full of
uncertain:es, doubts and evil whisperings.
When I stepped on the path to belief, I was
ambushed by evil whisperings and
uncertain:es. I used to ask myself, “What I
got in return? I invoked to God for so many

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 8 “Yes, you are less able than her.”
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)
I stood awake in the night, Why have I not
yet blessed with Kashaf (Unveiling)? My
Spiritual Master owes me this and this. I
lec no stone unturned for the promo:on of
the Azeemi Order, have these efforts paid
off for my good? So-and-So person was
blessed while I was kept deprived of my
right.”
I had the honor to read out all the leGers to
His Divine Grace Qalander Baba Auliya and
then write their replies (according to His
Divine Grace Qalander Baba’s direc:ons).
One day, I requested, “Your Divine Grace,
may I be a sacrifice unto you, am I not as
spiritually capable as the one whose leGer I
have just read?” He replied, “No, you are
not.” Some:mes, I would think, ‘look, how
so-and-so woman is good at undertaking
the journey to the heavens. She flies
effortlessly in there. Am I even less able
than she is?” Qalander Baba would answer,

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 9 mind not the one who is siing close to
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved) you.
When all this reached an unbearable
extent, I began to have severe depression
on regular basis. I fell an easy prey to satan
(the devil). Then, one day, my Spiritual
Master showed compassion towards me
and asked, “ Khwaja Sahab, please sit
here.” He ques:oned, “What am I to you?”
I said, “Sir, I am your humble servant.” He
said, “Well, besides it, tell me, how you
relate yourself to me?” I responded
reluctantly, “Your Divine Grace, you are my
beloved.” He said smiling, “See, the whole
maGer seems to be resolved now. So,
would you mind telling me, can any other
thought strike your mind while you are
siing beside your beloved? If it happens
anyways, indeed it is an offense to the
beloved. When you are occupied with
other thoughts despite in a close embrace
with your beloved, then your beloved in
the one whose thoughts are striking your

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein Page 10 moment but this hope brings me to life that
(Beside My Beloved) I would meet Him again.
You want to see the heavens, fly in there,
then how come I am your beloved! If truth
be told, your beloved is heavens, unveiling
and supernatural wonders.”
Believe me, acer hearing this, I shuddered,
my eyes got wet with tears and my inner
got immersed in woefulness. With a heavy
heart, I moved toward Him and cried at His
feet. He uGered a sigh and embraced me by
pressing me to his chest. That pleasure of
mee:ng my beloved is s:ll alive inside me.
It is this pleasure, which keeps me unseGled
all the :me. I reached the unseen and far-
off lands as a quest of this pleasure.
I explored every nook and corner of the
heavens. I caught sight of the Tajalli (Divine
Light) in the scared bodies of the high-
ranking angels. I roamed in the echelons of
hell. I encountered death and wrestled with
it. I have no words to describe what I saw.
But, the pleasure of mee:ng my Spiritual
Master, that, I found nowhere. I die every

Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Page 11 consuming passion. (Amen)
Book –Mehboob Bagal Mein
(Beside My Beloved)
Acer coming to life, I die again in a hope to
reunite with Him. I catch His glimpse when
I look inside, I see His reflec:on
everywhere when I look outside.
And Oh! What pleasure was that which s:ll
makes my soul perturbed, uneasy and
keeps it wai:ng while ages have passed! I
have been living with this firm belief, I will
die with it and again come to life hoping
that Qalander Baba Auliya would embrace
me again and enfold myself within Himself
in a way that will put my own self to
nega:on. And no one will ever come to
know that the Spiritual Mentor and his
student are two separate en::es.
Fellow traveller of the spiritual path, my
child, I had intended to write only a couple
of lines to you but the hidden storm of His
Divine Grace’s love surfaced, so, I wrote
the tale of my consuming passion. I pray to
God that HE bestows you with my