The Spiritual Guides of Sarwari Qadri Order/Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo
Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo 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 Bahoo 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.
Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo was born on Thursday, Ist Jamadi-us-Sani 1039 Hijri (17thJanuary, 1630)at the time of Fajr prayer in Shorkot, Jhang Pakistan. At that time, Mughal dynasty existed and Shah Jahan was the emperor. His personality was so attractive and effective since his childhood that upon whomsoever he cast his eyes, he embraced Islam immediately. He did not gain any bookish knowledge or conventional education but acquired spiritual knowledge due to divine experiences. He still wrote more than 140 books. Sultan Bahoo writes in his books, “I searched for a Murshid for thirty years but in vain.” He writes about his experience of presence in The Holy Assembly of Prophet Mohammad, “I have taken bayat at the hands of Prophet Mohammad and he has called me his spiritual son. He has allowed and ordered me to persuade and guide people on The Divine Way to Allah."
Sultan Bahoo met Shaikh Abdul Rehman Jilani on the Friday of 29 Ziqa’ad, 1078 Hijri (11th May, 1668). The Shaikh took him in privacy and granted him the greatest gift of Ism-e-Allah Zaat in only one meeting. He says, "Since the Eternal Benevolence has graced me with grandeur, Prophet Mohammad has ordered me to guide everyone, Muslim or Non-Muslim, fortunate or unfortunate, dead or alive and he has called me ‘Mustafa Sani and Mujtaba Aakhir Zamani’ with his pearl divulging tongue.
Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo belonged to the Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamat school of thought and followed Imam-e-Azam Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifah’s jurisprudence.
The Sarwari Qadri lineage reaches Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo in the following order: 1.Prophet Mohammad 2.Hazrat Ali bin Abu Talib 3.Hazrat Khawaja Hassan of Basra 4.Hazrat Shaikh Habib Ajmi 5.Hazrat Shaikh Daud Tai 6.Hazrat Shaikh Maroof Karkhi 7.Hazrat Shaikh Sir’ri Saqti 8.Hazrat Shaikh Junaid Baghdadi 9.Hazrat Shaikh Jafar Abu Bakr Shibli 10.Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Hars Bin Asad Tamimi 11.Hazrat Shaikh Abu-al-Fazal Abdul Wahid Tamimi 12.Hazrat Shaikh Mohammad Yousaf Abu-al-Farrah Turtoosi 13.Hazrat Shaikh Abu-al-Hassan Ali Bin Mohammad Qureshi Hankari 14.Hazrat Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi 15.Ghaus-ul-Azam Hazrat Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani 16.Hazrat Shaikh Tajuddin Abu Bakr Syed Abdul Razzaq Jilani 17.Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Jabbar 18.Hazrat Shaikh Syed Mohammad Sadiq Yahya 19.Hazrat Shaikh Syed Najmuddin Burhan Puri 20.Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Fattah 21. Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Sattar 22. Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Baqqa 23. Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Jaleel 24.Hazrat Shaikh Syed Abdul Rehman Jilani Dehlvi 25.Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo.
Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo died at the age of sixty three years on Thursday 1st Jamadi-us-Sani, 1102 Hijri (1stMarch 1691 AD). His death anniversary is celebrated every year on the first Thursday of Jamadi-us-Sani. Eighty four years after his death, Sultan-ul-Tarikeen Syed Mohammad Abdullah Shah Madni Jilani was born in Madina. He remained secluded for twelve years at the sacred shrine of Prophet Mohammad. Then after getting spiritual training from Hazrat Ghaus-ul-Azam, he reached the shrine of Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo in 1241 H. Hazrat Sultan Bahoo transferred him The Divine Trust of Faqr, then the Sarwari Qadri Order continued again from where it had stopped.