Encyclopedia of Islam

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

  

95  J

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While a Muslim, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen tried 

to emphasize the universal quality of his message 

that transcended religious labels. He centered his 

message on the unity of God and human unity in 

God and tried to so communicate the experience 

of God as to speak to people of all religious back-

grounds. He understood a Sufi to be one who had 

lost the self in the solitary oneness that is God. The 

individual’s soul is the point of contact, where the 

realization of God is possible. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, 

who died in 1986, recommended that his disciples 

constantly affirm that nothing but God exists, try 

to eliminate all evil from their lives, inculcate the 

Godlike qualities of patience, tolerance, peaceful-

ness and compassion, and try to treat all lives as 

one’s own life. These actions should lead naturally 

to the practice of remembering God, the 

dhikr

.

The fellowship makes numerous books, audio-

tapes, and videotapes of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s 

presentations available to seekers through Fel-

lowship Press. Its headquarters complex in Phila-

delphia includes a building for public meetings, a 

mosqUe

, and a press. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s tomb, 

located outside of Philadelphia, was dedicated in 

1987. An estimated 5,000 adherents attend meet-

ings across the U

nited

 s

tates

 and in c

anada

, the 

United Kingdom, n

eW

  z

ealand

,  a

Ustralia

, and 

Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Fellowship’s internet 

site is found at http://www.bmf.org/.

See also s

UFism

.

J. Gordon Melton