{
 "id": "person/bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
 "class": "person",
 "slug": "bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
 "label": {
  "ar": "باوا محيي الدين",
  "en": "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen",
  "ur": "باوا محی الدین"
 },
 "summary": {
  "ar": "معلّم ناطق بالتاميلية ومتصوّف من سريلانكا (نحو 1900 – 8 ديسمبر 1986)، ظهر في أوائل الأربعينيات قرب كاتاراغاما ونشأت حوله جماعات في جافنا وكولومبو، ثم جاء إلى الولايات المتحدة سنة 1971 فأسّس «زمالة باوا محيي الدين» في فيلادلفيا، وألّف أكثر من خمسة وعشرين كتابًا من أحاديثه، ويقع ضريحه في مزرعة الزمالة قرب كواتسفيل.",
  "en": "Tamil-speaking teacher and Sufi mystic from Sri Lanka (c. 1900 – 8 December 1986). He emerged in the early 1940s near Kataragama and gathered followings in Jaffna and Colombo, came to the United States in 1971 and founded the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia, authored over twenty-five books from his recorded discourses, and is buried at the Fellowship Farm near Coatesville.",
  "ur": "سری لنکا کے تامل بولنے والے استاد اور صوفی (تقریباً 1900 – 8 دسمبر 1986)؛ 1940 کی دہائی میں کٹارگاما کے قریب نمودار ہوئے، جافنا اور کولمبو میں پیروکار بنے، 1971 میں امریکا آ کر فلاڈیلفیا میں «باوا محی الدین فیلوشپ» قائم کی، اور ان کا مزار کؤٹسویل کے قریب فیلوشپ فارم میں ہے۔"
 },
 "stub": false,
 "wings": [
  "people"
 ],
 "regions": [
  "south-asia",
  "americas-oceania"
 ],
 "periods": [],
 "tags": [],
 "aliases": [],
 "themes": [],
 "span": {
  "earliest": 1899.9999315523248,
  "latest": 1986.9366927451993
 },
 "display": {
  "start": {
   "edtf": "1900~",
   "hijri": "1318~",
   "calendar": "gregorian",
   "precision": "year",
   "status": "debated",
   "derived": true,
   "note": "Birth year approximate and resting on thin evidence: Wikidata gives the year 1900 and the German article gives 'um 1900' (c. 1900) in Sri Lanka, while the English article's infobox, citing the Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora, records his birth date as unknown, and its text says little is known of his early life. The lane queue also gives 1900. Sri Lanka has no place entity used for him here, so no born_in edge is written.",
   "sources": [
    "source/wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en"
   ]
  },
  "end": {
   "edtf": "1986-12-08",
   "hijri": "1407",
   "calendar": "gregorian",
   "precision": "day",
   "status": "historical",
   "derived": true,
   "note": "Died 8 December 1986 in Philadelphia (English article's text and infobox, German article, and Wikidata). His mausoleum (mazar) stands at the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Farm in Chester County near Coatesville, completed in 1987 (English and German articles). Philadelphia and Coatesville have no place entities, so no died_in or buried_in edge is written.",
   "sources": [
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de",
    "source/wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen"
   ]
  }
 },
 "data": {
  "names": [
   {
    "value": "Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen",
    "kind": "full"
   },
   {
    "value": "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen",
    "kind": "alternate"
   },
   {
    "value": "M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen",
    "kind": "alternate"
   },
   {
    "value": "محمد رحيم باوا محيي الدين",
    "kind": "full"
   }
  ],
  "gender": "male",
  "roles": [
   "mystic",
   "teacher",
   "writer"
  ],
  "born": {
   "edtf": "1900~",
   "hijri": "1318~",
   "calendar": "gregorian",
   "precision": "year",
   "status": "debated",
   "derived": true,
   "note": "Birth year approximate and resting on thin evidence: Wikidata gives the year 1900 and the German article gives 'um 1900' (c. 1900) in Sri Lanka, while the English article's infobox, citing the Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora, records his birth date as unknown, and its text says little is known of his early life. The lane queue also gives 1900. Sri Lanka has no place entity used for him here, so no born_in edge is written.",
   "sources": [
    "source/wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en"
   ]
  },
  "died": {
   "edtf": "1986-12-08",
   "hijri": "1407",
   "calendar": "gregorian",
   "precision": "day",
   "status": "historical",
   "derived": true,
   "note": "Died 8 December 1986 in Philadelphia (English article's text and infobox, German article, and Wikidata). His mausoleum (mazar) stands at the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Farm in Chester County near Coatesville, completed in 1987 (English and German articles). Philadelphia and Coatesville have no place entities, so no died_in or buried_in edge is written.",
   "sources": [
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en",
    "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de",
    "source/wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen"
   ]
  },
  "faith": [
   {
    "value": "sufi",
    "basis": "documented",
    "note": "Two independent article texts name his Sufi affiliation personally. The English lead calls him a teacher and Sufi mystic from Sri Lanka; the German lead, independently written from Renard's A to Z of Sufism, calls him a Sufi saint (Sufi-Heiliger) from Sri Lanka. The Urdu article is largely a translation of the English one and is not counted as a separate witness. Both the English and Urdu texts note only a hedged association with the Qadiri order, through his time at the Jailani shrine of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, so no order-specific claim is recorded. Wikidata gives his religion as Islam generically. His own fellowship's publications are his ecosystem's framing and are not relied on.",
    "sources": [
     "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en",
     "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "external_ids": {
   "wikidata": "Q812026"
  },
  "sources": [
   "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en",
   "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de",
   "source/wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-ur",
   "source/wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen"
  ],
  "provenance": {
   "layer": "own-research",
   "source": "English, German and Urdu Wikipedia articles on Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, each fetched by its recorded revision id (EN 1377380903, DE 224655571, UR 12029076) with the returned id asserted equal before use, and Wikidata item Q812026 (revision 2554914402). No Arabic Wikipedia article exists for him; the Arabic prose is written from the English, German and Urdu sources. Existence checks by name fragments (Bawa, Muhaiyaddeen, Muhaiyadeen, باوا محيي الدين) and by QID across data/person and data/source found no prior record; a second Wikidata item, Q113794755, duplicates him under the name Muhammad R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and was not used. The lane queue gives 1900–1986; the death date is firm, while the birth year rests on Wikidata and the German article against the English infobox's 'unknown', and is recorded as debated.",
   "generated_by": "Muse (Muse Spark 1.3)",
   "run": "century-additions-60"
  },
  "status": {
   "review": "published",
   "generated_by": "Muse (Muse Spark 1.3)"
  }
 },
 "prose": {
  "ar": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "موجز",
     "markdown": "محمد رحيم باوا محيي الدين (توفي 8 ديسمبر 1986) معلّم ناطق بالتاميلية ومتصوّف من سريلانكا، جاء إلى الولايات المتحدة سنة 1971 وأسّس «زمالة باوا محيي الدين» في فيلادلفيا، وطوّر فروعًا في الولايات المتحدة وكندا وأستراليا وبريطانيا أضيفت إلى جماعات قائمة في جافنا وكولومبو.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} تصفه مقالة ويكيبيديا الألمانية بأنه وليّ صوفي من سريلانكا وُلد نحو سنة 1900.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "بداياته في سريلانكا",
     "markdown": "لا يُعرف عن حياته المبكرة إلا القليل؛ بدأت مسيرته العامة في أوائل الأربعينيات حين ظهر من أدغال سريلانكا قرب كاتاراغاما ولقي الزائرين للمقامات.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} قضى وقتًا في مقام جيلاني، وهو مقام صخري مكرّس لعبد القادر الجيلاني، وهي صلة تربطه بالطريقة القادرية.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} كان كثير من أتباعه حول جافنا من الهندوس يخاطبونه بالسوامي أو الغورو، وكان معالجًا طبيًا وروحيًا هناك، ثم أقام أتباعه أشرمًا في جافنا ومزرعة جنوب المدينة.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} وبدعوة من مسافرين تجاريين زار كولومبو، فتشكّلت بها سنة 1967 «حلقة سرينديب لدراسة التصوف» من طلبة معظمهم مسلمون، وكان قد وضع سنة 1955 أسس «بيت الله» في مانكومبان على الساحل الشمالي اكتمل بناؤه وافتُتح سنة 1975.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "عمله في الولايات المتحدة",
     "markdown": "دُعي باوا إلى الولايات المتحدة سنة 1971 فانتقل إلى فيلادلفيا وأسّس «زمالة باوا محيي الدين» سنة 1973، ووفّر بيت اجتماعاتها لقاءات عامة أسبوعية.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} وأثناء أزمة الرهائن في إيران (1978–1980) كتب رسائل إلى قادة العالم يشجّعهم على حلّ سلمي، وظهرت مقابلات معه في مجلات وصحف أمريكية.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} ألّف في الولايات المتحدة بين 1971 و1986 أكثر من خمسة وعشرين كتابًا صيغت من آلاف الساعات من أحاديثه وأغانيه المسجلة، وجعل النباتية قاعدة لأتباعه.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "وفاته وإرثه",
     "markdown": "توفي باوا في فيلادلفيا في 8 ديسمبر 1986.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de} وكان مسجد الشيخ م. ر. باوا محيي الدين قد اكتمل سنة 1984 على أرض الزمالة في شارع أوفربروك بفيلادلفيا، بعمل أعضاء الزمالة أنفسهم في معظمه وتحت إشرافه.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} ويقع ضريحه (المزار) في مزرعة الزمالة بمقاطعة تشيستر قرب كواتسفيل، وبدأ بناؤه بعد وفاته واكتمل سنة 1987، وهو مقصد لأتباعه.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} لم تعيّن الزمالة قائدًا جديدًا يخلفه في موضعه معلّمًا ومرشدًا شخصيًا.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "المراجع",
     "markdown": "{{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-ur}} {{cite:wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen}}"
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
    "lang": "ar",
    "source_lang": "ar",
    "translators": []
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-26"
  },
  "en": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "Summary",
     "markdown": "Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (died 8 December 1986), also known as Bawa, was a Tamil-speaking teacher and Sufi mystic from Sri Lanka who came to the United States in 1971, established a following, and founded the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} The German Wikipedia article describes him as a Sufi saint from Sri Lanka, born around 1900.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "Beginnings in Sri Lanka",
     "markdown": "Little is known of his early personal life; his public career began in Sri Lanka in the early 1940s, when he emerged from the jungles near Kataragama and met pilgrims visiting shrines.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} He spent time at Jailani, a cliff shrine dedicated to Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, an association that links him to the Qadiri order of Sufism.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} Many of his followers around Jaffna were Hindus who addressed him as swami or guru, and he worked there as a medical and spiritual faith healer; his followers then formed an ashram in Jaffna and a farm south of the city.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} Invited to Colombo, he saw the Serendib Sufi Study Circle formed there by 1967, and the \"God's house\" he had founded at Mankumban in 1955 was completed by visiting American students and opened in 1975.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "Work in the United States",
     "markdown": "In 1971 Bawa was invited to the United States and moved to Philadelphia, where he formed the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in 1973; its meeting house offered weekly public gatherings.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} During the Iranian hostage crisis of 1978–1980 he wrote letters to world leaders encouraging a peaceful resolution, and interviews with him appeared in Psychology Today, the Harvard Divinity Bulletin and American newspapers.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} From 1971 to 1986 he authored over twenty-five books, created from over 10,000 hours of audio and video transcriptions of his discourses and songs, and he established vegetarianism as the norm for his followers.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "Death and legacy",
     "markdown": "Bawa died in Philadelphia on 8 December 1986.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de} The Mosque of Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen had been completed on the fellowship's Philadelphia property in May 1984, built in six months largely by the fellowship's members under his direction.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} His mausoleum, or mazar, stands at the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Farm in Chester County near Coatesville; construction began shortly after his death and was completed in 1987, and it is a destination for his followers.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} The fellowship has not appointed a new leader to replace his role as teacher and personal guide.{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "References",
     "markdown": "{{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-ur}} {{cite:wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen}}"
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
    "lang": "en",
    "source_lang": "ar",
    "translators": []
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-26"
  },
  "ur": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "خلاصہ",
     "markdown": "محمد رحیم باوا محی الدین (وفات 8 دسمبر 1986) سری لنکا سے تعلق رکھنے والے تامل بولنے والے استاد اور صوفی تھے، جو 1971 میں امریکا آئے، انھوں نے پیروکار بنائے اور فلاڈیلفیا میں «باوا محی الدین فیلوشپ» کی بنیاد رکھی۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-ur}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "سری لنکا میں آغاز",
     "markdown": "ان کی ابتدائی زندگی کے بارے میں بہت کم معلوم ہے؛ ان کا عوامی سفر 1940 کی دہائی کے اوائل میں سری لنکا کے کٹارگاما کے قریب جنگلوں سے نمودار ہونے سے شروع ہوا، جہاں وہ مزارات کے زائرین سے ملے۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} جافنا کے آس پاس ان کے بہت سے پیروکار ہندو تھے جو انھیں سوامی یا گرو کہتے تھے، اور وہ وہاں طبی و روحانی معالج کے طور پر جانے گئے؛ بعد میں ان کے پیروکاروں نے جافنا میں آشرم اور کولمبو میں 1967 میں «سریندیب صوفی اسٹڈی سرکل» قائم کیا۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "امریکا میں کام اور وفات",
     "markdown": "1971 میں دعوت پر باوا امریکا آئے اور فلاڈیلفیا منتقل ہو گئے، جہاں 1973 میں انھوں نے فیلوشپ قائم کی۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} ایران کے یرغمالی بحران (1978–1980) کے دوران انھوں نے عالمی رہنماؤں کو پرامن حل کی ترغیب دیتے ہوئے خطوط لکھے، اور 1971 سے 1986 کے درمیان انھوں نے اپنی گفتگوؤں سے پچیس سے زائد کتب تصنیف کیں اور اپنے پیروکاروں کے لیے سبزی خوری کو معمول بنایا۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en} ان کی وفات 8 دسمبر 1986 کو فلاڈیلفیا میں ہوئی، اور ان کا مزار چیسٹر کاؤنٹی میں فیلوشپ فارم پر ہے جو 1987 میں مکمل ہوا۔{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}"
    },
    {
     "heading": "حوالہ جات",
     "markdown": "{{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-ur}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-en}} {{cite:wikipedia-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-de}} {{cite:wikidata-bawa-muhaiyaddeen}}"
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/bawa-muhaiyaddeen",
    "lang": "ur",
    "source_lang": "ar",
    "translators": []
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-26"
  }
 },
 "degree": 0,
 "contemporaries": [
  "person/abdul-hai-arifi",
  "person/hashim-larijani",
  "person/hassanein-makhlouf",
  "person/khan-abdul-ghaffar-khan",
  "person/mohammad-ali-araki",
  "person/said-al-mufti",
  "person/tawfiq-al-hakim",
  "person/uzair-gul-peshawari",
  "person/ruhollah-khomeini",
  "person/ferhat-abbas",
  "person/amadou-hampate-ba",
  "person/isa-alptekin"
 ],
 "updated": "2026-10-26",
 "connections": [],
 "related": [],
 "license": {
  "prose": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
  "data": "CC0 1.0"
 }
}