Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahu life

Sultan Bahu سُلطان باہُو ‬‎), (also spelled Bahu; ca 1630–1691) was a Sufi mystic, poet, and scholar active mostly in the present-day Punjab province of Pakistan. He belonged to Qadiri Sufi order, and founded the mystic tradition known as Sarwari Qadiri.

Little is known about Bahu's life, other than what is written in a hagiographycalled Manaqib-i Sultani, which was written by one of Bahu's descendants seven generations after Bahu's own time.^[1] Sultan Bahu was born in Shorekot, Jhang, in the current Punjab Province of Pakistan. More than forty books on Sufism are attributed to him (mostly written in Persian), largely dealing with specialised aspects of Islam and Islamic mysticism.^[2] However, it was his Punjabi poetry which had popular appeal and earned him lasting fame.^[1]:14 His verses are sung in many genres of Sufi music, including qawwali and kafi, and tradition has established a unique style of singing his cou

• Darbar Sultan Bahu

• Education

Sultan-ul-Arifeen Sultan-ul-Faqr Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo Rehmat-ul-Allah Alayh did not get any bookish knowledge or conventional education. In his book Ain-ul-Faqr he says:I didn’t get worldly education like Mohammad Sall’Allahu Alayhi Wa’alihi Wasallam, but I have got so much spiritual and Divine knowledge due to the heavenly experiences that a lot of books are required to express it.

He says:

گرچہ  نیست مارا علمِ ظاہر

زعلمِ باطنی جاں گشتہ طاہر

Meaning: Although, I have not got worldly education but spiritual knowledge has sanctified me so much that all the knowledge is absorbed in my body and mind.

He also says “I could not find time to get education due to excess of revelations and effects of Light of Divine self and neither had I ever done excessive prayers or mystic exercises”. Inspite of such extreme engrossment in Divinity he always followed the Shariat and Sunnah of Mohammad Sall’Allahu Alayhi Wa’alihi Wasallam and never missed any obligation or even a mustahib (desirable prayers other than obligatory prayers)

• Literary Works

The exact number of books written by Sultan Bahu is not known, but it is assumed to be at least one hundred.one of the famous has been by sultan bahu are as following"

1. Abyat e Bahu
2. Risala e Ruhi
3. Sultan ul Waham
4. Nur ul Huda
5. Aql e Baidar
6. Mahq ul Faqr
7. Aurang e Shahi
8. Jami ul Israr
9. Taufiq e Hidiyat
10. Kalid Tauheed
11. Ain ul Faqr
12. Israr e Qadri
13. Kaleed e Jannat
14. Muhqam ul Faqr
15. Majalis un Nabi
16. Muftah ul Arifeen
17. Hujjat ul Israr
18. Kashf ul Israar
19. Mahabat ul Israr
20. Ganj ul Israr
21. Fazl ul Liqa
22. Dewaan e Bahu

• Spiritual Lineage

ultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahu is the most eminent Saint of the Sub-continent. He spread the beneficence of the Qadri Order in Sub-continent and named it as “Sarwari Qadri Order”. Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahu  belonged to the ‘Awan’ tribe whose genealogical tree goesback to Hazrat Ali Razi Allah Anhu. Awans are Hazrat Ali’s progeny from wives other than Hazrat Fatima Razi Allah Anha. The ancestors of Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo lived in Anga, a village in the Valley of Soon Sakesar (Tehsil Naushehra, District Khushab, Punjab Pakistan). Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo’s father’s name was Bazayed Mohammad, a soldier by profession and held a special position in the army of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. He was a virtuous man and a pious Hafiz-e-Quran. His mother was Bibi Raasti, a saintly woman who spent time in prayers and Zikr.

• Shrine

I had an old desire to visit the shrine of this Sufi poet of the 17th century in Garh Maharaja town about 80km from Jhang. I took a rickshaw for the Ayoub Chowk. This is a fairly busy junction of various intercity roads connecting to Jhang and some main bus stands are also located there.

At this place, after inquiring from various hawkers and passengers, I was able to locate that minibus bound to “Garh More”. I was told the bus would drop me in the outskirts of Garh Maharaja and from there I would ride a Qingqi for Sultan Bahu shrine.

I was the second passenger of that minibus and the third turned up about 15 minutes after me.

so the minibus of 22 passengers took over two hours to be filled. Finally, our travel began with melodious folk songs of Talib Hussain Dard, a famous folk singer from Jhang, who is known as the king of Jog, a form of classical folk music of Jhang accent.

Our minibus was running on Jhang Bakhar road.

As roads are in good condition in this part of Southern Punjab, I was expecting to reach Garh More in one or one and a half hour, but I had not seen those sugar cane laden tractor-trolleys yet.

It was over two and a half hours, I had remained packed in this mini bus, and my bus was clogged in a mess of sugar cane loaded trolleys. It was irritable but luckily our driver took tough decision to take the vehicle off road and bypass the traffic jam as long as possible. It worked and we were able to cover a lot of time loss