Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Moojan Momen, An Introduction to 

Shii Islam (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 

1985); David Pinault, The Shiites: Ritual and Popular 

Piety in a Muslim Community (New York: St. Martin’s 

Press, 1992).

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship was founded 

by the American followers of Sri Lankan Sufi 

mystic Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. 

Little is known of the early life, not even the birth 

date, of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. He emerged from 

obscurity in the 1930s when he began to teach in 

Colombo, where the Serendih Study Group was 

formed. Here he was discovered by an American 

spiritual seeker, and in 1971, he accepted an 

invitation to move to the United States. Once in 

Philadelphia, a group of disciples formed around 

him, the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship was 

organized, and he decided to stay in the West, 

though he periodically returned to Sri Lanka to 

teach.

Through the 1970s and until his death in 

1986, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was credited with a 

number of books, many developed from his talks, 

as he could not read or write, and the fellow-

ship grew slowly but steadily. Additional centers 

were opened across the United States and one in 

England before his death. Subsequently, the fel-

lowship has expanded to a

Ustralia

.