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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (11875)	3/22/2002 3:35:28 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

Sufi Anyone? "Sufi follower brings his 'gift' to Fremont Healer offers mental well-being, spiritual cleansing, say disciples By Jennifer Carnig STAFF WRITER" FREMONT -- Sufi Ibrahim Baba Chisty claims to have supernatural powers. And countless people believe him. In his native India, thousands of followers seek him out each year, according to news reports. People sometimes travel for days just to feel his hand on their heads or his breath on their ears. They believe Baba has the ability to cleanse their spirits and rehabilitate their spiritual health. Baba, who is in Fremont to visit his son, is one of hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of Sufi healers. "He heals people who don't have mental peace," says Mohammed Ashbaq, who counts himself among Baba's local disciples. "There are evil spirits that do abnormal and unnatural things, and he can treat them and get rid of them. He helps them to feel peace." Maybe Baba's followers believe in his power because they also believe in ghosts and evil spirits. Or maybe they come because of his charisma. A slight man -- no more than 5 feet 3 inches tall -- Baba wears bulky brown glasses that appear too heavy for his head. But his personality fills a room, from his piercing gaze to sudden eruptions of laughter that leave him rubbing his belly hysterically. But Baba's reputation has not made it to Fremont, where he arrived last week. The spiritual guru is restless -- he has no one to talk to, pray for or teach. "I want him to stay on here for a while, some months at least, but he needs people around all of the time," explains Baba's son, Mohammed Abdul Majeed. "If people don't come around, he will leave. If he is not helping people, he cannot be happy." Baba, 62, has been a healer for 40 years. A retired officer at a prison in Hyderabad, a city in south-central India, he used to do his healing in his free time. Majeed recalls his boyhood as filled with people coming around at all hours, looking for relief and help from his father. Baba's healing ritual most often involves rubbing a perfumed oil on the patient's forehead, placing both of his hands on the crown of the person's head, then saying a prayer in the Indian language of Telgue. It translates roughly into, "God is one ... except for God, power is none." To conclude, he blows a puff of air into both of the person's ears. Baba's spiritual background is based on Sufism, a mystical arm of Islam. He preaches strongly against belief in more than one god, and, through a translator, describes his faith as about "truth, service, sincere love and worship to God." He says he does what he does to help people and is emphatic when he says he accepts no payment for his work and rejects all forms of worldly wealth and position. But he's a man of contradictions. He keeps a locked donation box with him, though he insists he makes only enough in donations to "fill my belly." He wears heavy-stoned rings on every finger. He speaks excitedly about newspaper articles and television interviews that feature him. "I only do the media so others can learn about me and I can help them," Baba says through his son, who serves as translator. "I just want to share my God-given gift." And he wants desperately to bring his gift to the United States, he says. Though Baba has worked with Americans in the past, it has only been when they have visited India. Now he has come to them. He feels his work is needed now more than ever, especially in the Silicon Valley, where high-tech nerves are frayed. A spiritual shot to the arm is needed, he says, in this hub of the over-worked and unemployed. "My prayer is like taking medicine or a shot to the body, except the medicine goes to your blood and my prayer goes to your soul," he says. "And my prayer is faster than medicine ... and it always cures." Baba's son is one of the tech sector's newest casualties, laid off recently from his job as an electrical engineer. The feeling of uncertainty the accompanied the lay-off was a reason he invited his father to visit. "I needed the feeling of peace in my heart," he says. "And I knew others did, too. My father's gift is the best way to overcome that. I want him to share his abilities with the community. That's why he's here." Sufi Ibrahim Baba Chisty can be reached through his son: (510) 490-3664. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jennifer Carnig covers religion and ethnic issues for The Argus. She can be reached at (510) 353-7005 or jcarnig@angnewspapers.com.