SHAMS-UL-ARIFEEN
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Date
2016
Journal Title
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Abstract
Description
Shams-ul-Arifeen (The enlightening sun for the Knowers of
Allah) is a collection of important topics selected from eight of
Sultan Bahoo’s books i.e. Kaleed-ul-Tauheed, Qurb-e-Deedar,
Majmoa-tul-Fazal, Aqal-e-Beydar, Jamay-ul-Asrar, Noor-ulHuda,
Ain Numa and Fazal-ul-Laqa. It is compiled by Sultan
Bahoo's son Sultan Wali Mohammad for the ease of the seekers
of Allah who seek guidance from the books of Sultan Bahoo. It
contains the essence of eight of his books, rather is a summary of
all his books. Sultan Wali Mohammad has not added or changed
any word, he has just selected and compiled the original pieces
of writing. So, Shams-ul-Arifeen is considered as the book of
Sultan Bahoo.
Sultan-ul-Arifeen Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Bahoo was the scholar
of Divine Knowledge. Each word of his teachings leads the reader
towards Divinity. It is the miracle of his books that they convert
the seekers of the world or hereafter into the true seekers of Allah.
Whoever reads his books with sincerity and faith, certainly finds
the Right Path. To spread his teachings worldwide for the
betterment of whole Muslim Ummah, it is inevitable to translate
them in English which is internationally known and understood
language. For this sacred purpose my Murshid1
Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen
Khadim Sultan-ul-Faqr Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Mohammad Najib-urRehman
Madzillah-ul-Aqdas, who is the spiritual descendant of
Sultan Bahoo and the present Shaikh2
of his Sarwari Qadri Order,
conferred on me the honour of translating Sultan Bahoo’s books
into English.
To translate Shams-ul-Arifeen he provided me its manuscript
written by Shahbaz-e-Arifaan Hazrat Sakhi Sultan Pir Syed Mohammad Bahadur Ali Shah3 who was also the Shaikh of
Sarwari Qadri Order and lived during the period 1801-1934. He
spent almost forty years of his life at the shrine of Sultan Bahoo
and during the stay he copied and saved most of the books of
Sultan Bahoo. The manuscript of Shams-ul-Arifeen was written
by him in Ramazan 1915 (1330 Hijri). There are some other
manuscripts of Shams-ul-Arifeen available but the manuscript of
Pir Bahadur Ali Shah is the most authentic because he was also
the spiritual successor of Sultan Bahoo. The other manuscripts of
Shams-ul-Arifeen are written by:
1. Hafiz Mian Abdullah Gull Mohammad, in 1225 Hijri
2. Ameer Haider, in Muharram 1301 Hijri. This manuscript is
present in Masood Jhandir Research Library Mailsi, Pakistan.
3. Anonymous, in Zilhajj 1214 Hijri
The Persian text of Shams-ul-Arifeen is also available in
printed form alongwith its urdu translation which are done by:
1. Saad Ameer Khan Niazi, which he did from the manuscript
of Pir Bahadur Ali Shah (although he made a few changes in
the original text). Its 1st edition was published in 2002, 2
nd
in 2004 and 3rd in 2012.
2. Doctor Sultan Altaf Ali, which he did from the manuscript of
Hafiz Mian Abdullah, published in 2010.
3. Hafiz Hammad-ur-Rehman Sarwari Qadri, which he did
from the manuscript of Pir Bahadur Ali Shah in 2015. He
printed the manuscript as it is and made no changes.
The book in hand is the first ever translation of Shams-ulArifeen
in English. I am thankful to Mrs. Yasmin Khurshid Malik
Sarwari Qadri who reviewed it and gave suggestions to improve
it. I am also thankful to Ahsan Ali Sarwari Qadri and Dr. Hamid
Sarwari Qadri who put a lot of hard work to compose this book.
Keywords
sufism, islam, SHAMS-UL-ARIFEEN