By Haroon Rashid Bhat
Whenever there is a mention of Sopore town, the name that first strikes to everybody’s mind is the name of mystic Sufi saint Rahim Saubi SoporRA. This mystic saint was born in 1775 AD In Sopore at Teliyan Mohalla. His original name was Abdul Rahman ShahRA. So far his family background is concerned, there are two different opinions -One group is claiming that he belonged to the cowherd family of Sopore –Kashmir; but there are few researchers who are busy in doing the research work in the field of Sufism with special focus on biographies of Sufi saints/ poets of valley of Kashmir, they contradicted the earlier declaration with regard to his family background. . According to them, Rahim SaubiRA was associated with weaving profession. He learned the art of weaving at Batpora Mahalla. That particular location (Mohalla) had a religious and cultural importance because it remained the abode of Shivism, and music lovers. It is because of that influence that we have seen so many words from Sanskrit language used by him frequently as metaphors like Pran, Pawan, Omkar, Omm, Shaistribal etc. in his poetry. He was weaving woolen blankets sold them and in this way, he was fulfilling his financial needs. Most of the researchers unanimously considered the second opinion more close to the reality with regard to his family lineage
There is very little information about his earlier life, but according to the verbal traditions, the episode that attracted him more towards this mystic path was his visit to the Shrine of Hazrat Syed Jamal- Ul-Din BukhariRA. The narrative of that particular episode was available to us in a verbal mode that goes like this – “One day, Rahim SahabRA was sitting within the premises of aforementioned shrine along with his companions. Suddenly, his eyes caught the attention of the lady there who was also on a pilgrimage to the same Shrine. They both exchanged their thoughts in verses. First, it was Rahim Sahab RA who intoned the verse- then the pious lady responded him in the same way. She uttered a verse before him interwoven with the message that reflected the importance of the spiritual guide and its role to know the ultimate reality of life (Haq). In fact, that pious lady wanted to draw his attention towards the importance of the guide to attain the spiritual heights. That brief interaction with that noble soul acted like a catalyst to infuse more attraction towards this mystic path. It is worth to mention here that the seed of spiritualism was already imbibed in his character. This episode just proved a turning point for his life. His thirst of knowing more about sprit and spiritualism grew bountifully. He started his search to seek the true spiritual guide (Murshid ). Finally, Almighty Allah bestowed him the best mentor known by the name Peer Gh. Qadir MalikRA from Ranan Qaziyabad. Rahim Saubi SoporeRA was connected through two Sufi lineages ( Silsilas) Qadri Silsila, and Chesti- Silsila which he himself mentioned in his poetry like
Rhimas Sissilya Qadiri Dur Hak;
Wallah, Billah Tath Chuni Khanh Shaak.
Regarding the Chesti Silsila- he clearly showed his affiliation with it in these verses
Rahim Soubu Dilich Masti; Talab Az Khaja Chesti,
Bulbul Chayee Suy Jami Jum; Karakh Sar Kham Sarakh Moula.
He described the different historical events of Islam mentioned in the holy book of Quran through verse in a very lucid way.
When Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal paid his visit in Kashmir in 1931 Mohammad Din Fouq arranged a trip for him to the Walur- lake along with the team of folk singers headed by well-known singer namely Abdul Aziz Thali, they recited the few selected Persian poems of Rahim SahabRA . As soon as those verses touched the ears of Dr. Sahab, he got fascinated and expressed his satisfaction that his ancestors belong to this part of world that remained abode of Sufi saints like Rahim Saubi SoporeRA
This legendary Sufi saint separated from us physically in 1850 but spiritually he is always with us. His teachings always guide the whole human race. Earlier his annual day celebration was held on 13th of July but because of some unknown reasons that celebration has not been celebrated since long. The local residents of Teliyan Mohalla established a trust after his name as “Rhim SauibRA Trust”. Sufism has a capacity to reunite the whole human race on one platform. It is a great privilege for me to introduce such great personality to our younger generation through this brief write-up.
Haroon Rashid Bhat is a teacher, Zone- Ganderbal, can be reached at minamharoon123@gmail.com
