Yunus Ali Enayetpuri ( ar, يونس علي العنايتفوري, bn, ইউনুস আলী এনায়েতপুরী; 1886–1951), or simply Khwaja Enayetpuri , was a

Sufi saint Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

Personal life

Born in 1886, he studied from the age of 17 for 18 years under Syed Wajid Ali in Calcutta. He is believed to have been descended from Sayyids from Baghdad, but the records were destroyed in a fire on Chaitra 26, 1330 (1924 AD). Khwaja died in 1952.

Teachings

Khwaja's teachings focused on Tajalli, divine illumination, and his followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Khwaja Enayetpuri developed a tripartite teaching method, "by writing", "by lecture" and "by khanqah". His Sufi order influences and is influenced by four other Sufi orders: Qadiri, Chishti,

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

and Mujaddediya, with special influence from

( Mujaddidi), and he is specifically credited with introducing the Mujaddediya order to Bangladesh. A Sufi revival in then-East Pakistan is attributed to Khwaja's outreach to Muslims skeptical of Sufism, including his work reconciling

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

and Sufism (tariqa). He wrote two books, ''Shariyater Alo'' (The Light of Sharia) and ''Ganje Asrar'' (The City of Mystery), about Sharia and Sufism respectively.

Legacy

The institutions

Khwaja Yunus Ali University Khwaja Yunus Ali University is a private university in Bangladesh. It is situated in Enayetpur, Sirajganj, Rajshahi. It was founded in 2012 under the Private University Act, and named after Sufi saint Khwaja Yunus Ali Yunus Ali Enayetpuri ( a ...

and Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College are named after Khwaja. The institutions were founded by a follower and son-in-law of Khwaja's, M. M. Amjad Hussain, with the location of the medical college having been purportedly selected by Khwaja during his lifetime. A ro-ro ferry is also named after Khwaja, the M/F “ENAYETPURI”. Khanqahs (Sufi centres) in Bangladesh dedicated to Khwaja Enayetpuri and established by his devotees include: * The

Enayetpur Darbar Sharif Enayetpur is a town in Sirajganj District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. Enayetpur lies near the banks of the river Jamuna, about northwest of Dhaka, near the Jamuna Bridge. Description Enayetpur is famous for an Islamic saint named Shah Suf ...

, the initial khanqah, established by Khwaja himself, and the largest of all khanqahs in Bangladesh. This Sufi Centre is widely known as "Biswa Shanti Manzil" (The World Peace Centre). * The Shambhuganj Darbar Sharif in Mymensingh * The

Biswa Zaker Manzil The bigha (also formerly beegah) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in India (including Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat ...

(The World Zaker Centre, established in Atroshi by the

pir of Atroshi Pir or PIR may refer to: Places * Pir, Kerman, a village in Kerman Province, Iran * Pir, Satu Mare, commune in Satu Mare County, Romania Religion * Pir (Alevism), one of the 12 ranks of Imam in Alevism * Pir (Sufism), a Sufi teacher or spiritu ...

, and one of the largest khanqahs founded by Khwaja's disciples) * The Chandra Para Darbar Sharif in Faridpur * The Paradise Para Darbar Sharif in Tangail founded by Mowlana Makim Uddin, one of the closest disciples of Khwaja Enayetpuri. * Murshidpur Darbar Sharif in Jamalpur The Enayetpur Darbar Sharif khanqah is led by the spiritual leader, Kamal Uddin, the third son of Enayetpuri and the current sajjada nashin (Sufi master) of the khanqah. Khwaja Kamal Uddin is an authority on the

and Mujaddidi orders. He succeeded his brothers Khwaja Hasim Uddin and Khwaja Mozammel Huq, former sajjada nashin at the khanqah.

References

{{Hanafi scholars Bengali Sufi saints 1886 births 1951 deaths Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam 20th-century Bengalis