Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (died December 8, 1986) was a Tamil-speaking teacher and Sufi mystic from the island of Sri Lanka who first came to the United States on October 11, 1971 and established the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia. From Philadelphia, with its approximately 1,000 followers, branches of the Fellowship have spread throughout the United States and Canada, as well Australia and the UK. Societies of followers were already in Jaffna and Colombo, Sri Lanka before his arrival in the USA.

Early life

According to the older Sri Lankan students, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen emerged from the jungles of that country in the early 1940s and met pilgrims who were visiting shrines in the north. Reports of dreams or mystical meetings that preceded a 'physical' meeting by these early students were not uncommon. According to an account from the 1940s, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen had spent time in 'Kataragama', a jungle shrine in the south of the island, and in 'Jailani', a cliff shrine dedicated to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani of Baghdad. His association with that Shaikh indicates his connection to the Qadiri order of Sufism. Many of his followers who lived around the northern town of Jaffna were Hindus and addressed him as swami or guru. His role was often as healer of both medical and spiritual illnesses, including curing demonic possession.