Transforming Message: From the Teachings of Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo (R.A)
Taranum Sarwar | May 15, 2011
Often I come across people saying country is going to total destruction, system is bad, things are getting worse, society has lost its norms, public institutions are corrupt, no discipline, no work ethics, nepotism, no integrity and look at west – Europe or US where people are committed to work, there is a system, there is a discipline. I being from one of working class and few years living experience in Europe also feel much difference and above all the difference of words and acts. In harsh words we call it hypocrisy – the major weakness. What we preach we don’t act upon, what we say from our mouth, we don’t mean it from our heart.
Once in a workshop on one of management disciplines, one of my colleagues inquired from the presenter Sir, “west is full of evils / sins and crimes, even then it is developed/ disciplined with welfare societies and systems properly functioning and we Muslims are suffering. Our lecturer answered: very simple! We are liars and liars are cursed by Allah. ( jhootay par Allah laanat bhaijta hey)
Reason for downfall:
Lot of discussions is held, talk shows are presented, still no positive outcome to curb our downfall. When we analyze our problems, one may find out that reason for our failure, our moral / social / religious and national decline and disrespect is our unbalanced life i.e. our inner self is not harmonizing with our outer self. Life can become balanced with positive inner self and positive outer self. This leads to the fact that there are two aspects of life : one is outer i.e. our body and other is innerself that is our soul.
Cure:
Everything is curable except death and even death can be delayed for a while through prayer (dua with true heart)
* Physicians cure bodily diseases but what about inner-self that suffers from negative thinking / jealousy/ hatred / deceit and hypocrisy?
* Is there any physician for healing of innerself? Is there any teacher or a mentor to guide for grooming innerself like a university or school teacher that guides a student for worldly education?
*Is there any instrument that cleanses the heart and make it shine with purity- the only purity- the love of Creator – the Omni-potent.
The answer to above queries is YES and this we find in the teachings of Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo ( R.A) , Sultan-ul-Faqr the 5th and the great Sufi Saint not just a Sufi poet.
Allah has provided Spiritual mentors to heal innerself. And yes there is an instrument that can remove the rust / evils upon our heart and make it shine with purity of true love- love of Allah.
The concept of mentor must be new in the Science of management but it is not new in Islam. The spiritual Mentor – (Murshad) In the school of Sufism , Spiritual Mentor is a true slave / true follower of our Beloved Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Spiritual mentors are guides to purify our innerself and balance our lives to come out of hypocrisy and achieve the purpose of life which is very clear by this Hadith-e- Qudsi:
Allah Says! “When I wished to be recognized, I created Human being to recognize me”. So the purpose of all of us is to know Allah, to recognize Allah, to witness (as per Kalima) that there is only one God and witness is accepted from the one who has seen ( just like an ordinary case in the court where judge accept a witness who has seen the happening). Have we seen Allah ? can we see Him? The answer is given only by Spiritual mentors and under present days – the teachings of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo have become prominent on account of hectic efforts from international organization for Uniification of Muslim Umma “AL- Arifeen” under the visionary and benevolent Command of Hazrat Sultan Mohammad Ali from the Blessed Shrine (Darbar pak) of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (R.A)
In today’s complex life, ordinary people are suffering on account of sectarianism, extremism in the name of religion, educated section of our society avoid any such program that has to do something with the religion. Exploitation in the name of Islam has made people distracted from the real message of Islam as per Quran and Sunnah and this distraction led to moral degradation. The teachings of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (R.A) are strictly in the line with Quran and Sunnah. In fact for practical implementation of Sunnah, his teachings are like stars in the darkness that guides the seeker towards the right path to reach the destination.
The core message of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (R.A) is reaching the heights of humanity through revolution and this revolution is not riot or insurgency instead its transformation of heart towards peace and eternal love for the Creator and His beloved Prophet Mohammad PBUH. Once our heart gets purified and enlighten with pure love of Allah then negativity comes to an end and truth prevails. Under present state of affairs when Islam is being tarnished with slogans of extremism and terrorism, this strong revolutionary message of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (R.A) reveals the real Islam that is meant for all human beings and especially for today’s generation that really wants direction for purposeful and successful life, his message is a key to success and ultimately survival.
While going through “Ain-ul-Faqr” one of famous manuscripts of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo , one enters into the world of true knowledge; knowledge about oneself, the innerself and its way of nurturing( just as outer-self is nurtured through intake of food so as innerself in nurtured with recitation ( not with vocalizations but with inhalation ) of the personal name of the Creator i.e. Allah the essence of Quran, the difference between religion and faith ( ﺪﻴﻦ ) and so on !. His knowledge is like a deep ocean where one has to dive deep to reach at great pearls that are hidden deep beneath the surface. One wonders! Why such pearls of teachings are not highlighted and made part of educational institutes to inculcate the purity of Islam, building strong characters with purposeful life and clear directions?
Those who don’t believe in friends of Allah( olyia Allah or Sufi Saints) and the concept of Bayat , mushad and Mureed ( the spiritual mentor and mentee) the very famous verse of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (R.A) is enough to convey clear message :
Alif – Allah as jasmine sapling, my Spiritual Mentor sown in my heart Hoo,
Water of negation and affirmation irrigated every vein in every part Hoo,
When it sprouts, it scatters fragrance in my inner-self Hoo,
Forever live my Spiritual Mentor ‘Bahoo’ who planted it within me Hoo.
This verse conveys the crux of Sufism – the real spirit of Islam. It clearly states that my spiritual mentor implanted the name of Allah in my heart. Or to be precise, it’s through spiritual mentor that seeker of truth (the mentee) ultimately gets illumination of heart when the name of Allah gets imprinted on his heart and then he observes through the eyes of his heart. It is for this very stage, there is golden saying, “be afraid of visionary powers of a true Muslim (momin) for he sees with the divine’s luminosity”.
His verse conveys: the message of Ism-e- Azam – the very first sunnah – the very first knowledge when Gabriel (A.S) says to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) IQRA (which mean read and read means there must be something in front to read and what was that in front of Prophet (PBUH) to read- the secret? – the secret revealed in Hira at the age of forty to our Prophet was not other than the personal name of Allah ( read in the name of Allah!) that secret – that gift of Ism-Azam remained with our prophet to be revealed in his ummah through slaves of Prophet ( sufi saints) and it is from Darbar-pak of Haq Bahoo that same secret is revealed to all seekers as it is inscribed on the door of darbar pak :
"Oh seeker of truth! come, come to me and on the very first day I will take you to divinity"
Hazrat Sultan Bahoo’s teachings emphasis upon:
* The importance of true spiritual mentor,
* And the understanding of Right path.
True spiritual mentor is blessed by Allah to guide seeker towards the right path – the path of those on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings ( Surah-e- Fateha). Our Holy prophet was once asked: what is the right path? Holy prophet while sitting in Mosque (Masjid-e-Nabvi) drew a straight line with one circle on one point and one circle on the right and one on the left, and informed that one circle ( starting one ) is our world , then a bit ahead on the right side of line is paradise and on the left side is hell, when asked where this straight line points towards? Or what is on the other end point, he said our destination – the creator. So right path is a straight line that takes one to the creator, and not towards creations ( paradise or hell ) as these are below individual- who is above all creations ( ashrafal makhluqat.)
In the gloomy, dull condition of our society , the rays of hope are coming from the Darbar-e-pak of Sultan Bahoo where practical work is being done than mere speeches. Sultan Bahoo’s teaching focus on Heart, the home of Allah.
Hazrat Sultan Bahoo’s teaching are inspiring, benign and really touches hearts that seeks divine’s love, peace and tranquility. His teachings have transformed many devils / wrong doers into true human beings. His teachings if practically followed with sincerity may take us to the glories we once enjoyed as Ummah.
In short Hazrat Sultan Bahoo’s message is precise , very striking and simple conveying the secret of success in both worlds. From his teachings, the key to success is revealed step by step from knowing the purpose of life to practical implementation of Quran and Sunnah ( to renounce hypocrisy and lies for balanced life) with core focus on the very personal name of Allah and he has termed the same in his writings as "Tassawure-isme-zaat" or Visualization of the Personal Name of God. Rejecting caste/ creed/ sect etc, his invitation is for all people irrespect of any sect or order they belong. In this haphazard world his teachings are really a source of spiritual blessings for all those who seek such blessings to get inner satisfaction and positive effect in their lives.
At the end , the message of Hazrat Sultan Bahoo may be very well placed in the verse of Allama Iqbal (R.A):
Dive deep into your heart (inner-self ) and discover the secret of life!
This article first appeared in Mirat-ul-Arifeen Special Edition Part 2