Hazrat Khwaja Hafiz Muhammad Ali (rahmatullahi alaihi), or Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi), as he was known, was born in 1778CE, the son of a noble alim. He quickly became a hafiz and travelled to many centres of learning including Makkah and Madinah. He mastered the toughest subjects of Fiqh (jurisprudence) and Tasawwuf (or Sufism), being an authority on the Mathnawi of Moulana Rumi (rahmatullahi alaihi) and on Ibn Arabi (rahmatullahi alaihi). He also tutored the leading ulema of his time.

However, he quickly realised that despite ones' immense learning, one cannot achieve any spiritual goals without the aid and guidance of a shaykh. Thus it was that he set out for the distant city of Tawsa, where he had heard lived a great saint of his time - Khwaja Suleiman (rahmatullahi alaihi) of Tawsa. Yet, despite his erudition, he spent an entire year in the company of Khwaja Suleiman (rahmatullahi alaihi) without being accepted even as the great walis mureed. But even as this very thought entered his head, Khwaja Suleiman (rahmatullahi alaihi), reading his mind, replied, "To those whom I am connected, I do not make outward show."

For the next six months, he was sent into the wild jungle to continue his spiritual training, but still he was not accepted. One should bear in mind that Khwaja Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) was one of the most learned, widely renowned and respected men of his time; yet so humble was he that he accepted these great trials without complaint. One day after returning, Khwaja Suleiman (rahmatullahi alaihi) told him, "you cannot reach Allah until you sacrifice your whole life."

Taking the words of his future shaykh as an absolute order, he travelled to a mountain some 70 miles away and was actually preparing to cast himself off when Khwaja Suleiman Tawsawi (rahmatullahi alaihi), physically still in Tawsa but seeing him with his spiritual eye, stopped him. After all these trials, the great saint still required his mothers permission to make him a mureed. Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) thus proceeded to undertake the long and arduous way back to his distant home and gain his mothers blessing. Upon seeing such dedication and sincerity, Khwaja Suleiman (rahmatullahi alaihi) finally accepted this great scholar as his mureed and immediately accorded him khilafat in five Salaasul.

Khwaja Suleiman Tawswi (rahmatullahi alaihi) then sent Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) to Ajmer to visit the founder of the Chistiyya order, Khwaja Moinudeen Chisti (rahmatullahi alaihi), with another of his khulufa; but he provided provisions only for the latter.

Upon being asked why by the other khalifa, he replied that Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) was spiritually rich, and that this would be sufficient for him. These words were proven true when Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) needed some food on the journey; for immediately he noticed a hot, freshly made roti lying on the ground. Returning from Ajmer, Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) admitted to his murshid that he was reluctant to take on mureeds, as the people of India carried a great deal of sins with them, which he felt was a burden too heavy for him to bear. But Khwaja Suleiman Tawswi (rahmatullahi alaihi) returned a beautiful statement to his mureeds dilemma; "Accept those who come to you, good or bad; they are all mine and I am behind you." Reassured by this support - a chain of power that extended from his murshid through all the saints of the Chishtiyya silsila to Hazrat Ali (rahmatullahi alaihi) and Huzoor Paak (saw) himself, Khwaja Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) returned to his home in Khairabaad and began taking on mureeds, one of whom was Khwaja Habib Ali Shah (rahmatullahi alaihi).

Khwaja Hafiz Paak was a strict follower of the sunnah of Rasulallah (saw), for the first requirement of Sufism is strict adherence to the shariat. Once he walked out of a wedding because it was too extravagant. He did away with customs that defied the Shariah, and spoke out the true teachings of Islam to all, regardless of station. Despite his respected status as an alim, he used to mix with poor people, and help in ordinary, simple duties that others of his standing might consider beneath themselves. At night, he used to take time out from his ibaadah to clean the toilets for the musallees at Fajr time.

The miracles of Khwaja Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) are too numerous to mention; but one at least shall be recanted here. Once Hafiz Paak (rahmatullahi alaihi) was passing a temple with some of his mureeds during a festival. Seeing what was transpiring, he entered and asked the people, "why is your idol not eating all the food you are offering it?" The people were dumbfounded, but their astonishment redoubled when the great wali commanded the idol to comply, and in front of all those present it suddenly animated and began to eat the food in front of it! It was this type of contact that our elders had with the Holy Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wasallam) and Allah. With this intensely charged spirituality, they arose and spread Islam to the farthest corners of the earth, showing us all the deepest of divine miracles: which is that by love and selfless sacrifice - and not the sword - they won the hearts and minds of millions to the path of our beautiful religion.