About M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)

Little is recorded of his early personal history. Information about his life begins early in the twentieth century when pilgrims traveling through the jungles of Sri Lanka caught sight of a holy man whose depth of divine knowledge was extraordinary. Sometime later, he was invited to a village in the Jaffna area where his public life, first as a healer and then as a teacher of wisdom, began.

In Sri Lanka, people from every religious tradition came to listen to his discourses,  many consulted him about their lives, public figures, politicians, the poor, the rich and the learned.

In 1971, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) accepted an invitation to visit the United States. Here, once again, people from every religious and ethnic background came to hear him speak. Across the United States, Canada, and England, he won recognition from religious scholars, journalists, educators, and world leaders.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller asked for Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s (Ral.) guidance on behalf of all mankind. Time magazine turned to him for clarification during the American hostage crisis in 1979. Thousands more were touched by his words when he was interviewed for Psychology Today, the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburg Press, and on radio and television.

In 1975, then again in 1976, he accepted an invitation to visit Toronto. Wherever he went, he tirelessly answered the personal and mystical questions people brought to him, until his death on December 8th, 1986.

For fifteen years, M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) dictated more than thirty books; the fellowship he founded recorded thousands of hours of audio and video discourses. The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship now serves as a thriving community dedicated to studying and disseminating the treasury of his teachings. You are warmly invited to attend these meetings at the fellowship in Toronto on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m, on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and on Friday evenings at 7:30 p.m. for the prayerful recitation of dhikr.

The name Muhaiyaddeen literally means the giver of life to true belief. And indeed, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) did spend his life awakening and strengthening faith in God within people’s hearts. Though he was an unlettered man, he was able to guide and inspire people from all walks of life.

Scholars and leaders from the Islamic, Judaic, Christian, and Hindu communities consider him to be a true saint.