Dargah Aliya Chishtiy Library:

Aliya Library is onc of the ma.ior libraries, which are still functioning in Gujarat. It is situated in Shahi Bagh. The Shahiya order is one of the most influential sufistic orders in Gujarat. The founder of this sufistic order was Sayyid Burhanuddin Abu Muhammad Abdullah (790-857 A.H.), who was popularly known Qutb -e- .Alam. l-Ie was a great scholar and all his sons and descendants were also known as scholars and sufis of great repute. The eldest son of Qutb -e- Alam, Sayyid Muhammad Sirajuddin k11own as Shah Alam, who is said to be the founder of Shahiya order, after completing the study of esoteric and exoteric sciences took the wadded robe of Soharvardiya order from his father and the robe of Chishtiya order and the title of Shah Alam from Sheikh Baba Barak Allah Chishti. Shah Alam, besides spiritual training and guidance, was also actively engaged in providing teaching assistance to the people. He used to lead Friday prayers at Masjid -e- Khair -ul- Belad, which was later known as Masjid -e- Shah Alam. The sermons, recited by him on every Friday, were compiled as "Khutba -e- Shahiya in several volumes, which are still available and deal with spiritual and ethical issues. Besides these sermons, Shah Alam also wrote a number of valuable books on Islamic mysticism such as. lamia -ut- Tariq -el- Burhaniya, Risala -e- Sadeqiya, Munajat -ul- A'sheqin and several other treatises, which prove that the writer was a great scholars of Islamic spiritualism.
Another prominent spiritual personality was Sayyid .ra 'far Badr -e- Alam Bukhari, who compiled a number of research works including "Rauzat -e- Shahiya", which is in 24 volumes and full of knowledge and informations on various aspects of Islamic spiritualism. The library of this mystic order still exists and may be described as the biggest library in Gujarat state. But unfortunately, this has remained sealed and out of reach for the last several years. The total number of books in the library is also not known. The efforts of Persian scholars to prepare a catalogue of books and manuscripts proved of no avail. But some of the great sufis of s~e family had a separate personal library preserving prominent and precious books, which has been famous as Dargah Aliya Chishtiya Library , which was ultimately opened after making continuous efforts. It is said that this library was possessing very precious and rare manuscripts in the field of Islamic spiritualism. But unfortunately, out of thousands of the unique and rare books, only three hundred copies were left and all other books were converted into a heap of worm-eaten papers. It was really very sad and painful to see that thousands of the writings of our scholars and great sufis have been destroyed. However, efforts were made to protect the remaining rare manuscripts. Let this be a good lesson for those custodians of the personal libraries, who consider these books as the bequeathed property of their family and have deprived not only themselves but also the scholars and researchers from the creative writings of their ancestors, which could have been proved to be a divine gift for humanity. I feel it my duty to express sincere thanks to "Pir Sahib", who is presently incharge of the religious affairs of Shahi Bagh shrine, who helped us in the preservation of this grand treasure of knowledge. The second part of this catalogue consists of the introduction of microfilms of the manuscripts of Dargah Alia Chishtiya Library .

Dr. Mehdi Khwajeh Piri
15th Aban 1380 A.H. (Solar)/6th November 2001 A.D.