Sial Sharif

 

Sial Sharif is a village in the Sargodha District of Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in Sahiwal Tehsil and lies 48km (30 miles) away from the city ofSargodha, about midway on the Sargodha-Jhang road. Its population is about 1,100 people (1998)Sial Sharif is famous for the Sufi shrine of Khwajah Muhammad Shamsuddin Sialvi, popularly known as Pir Sial, who was a waliullah (saint) belonging to the Chishti order. His descendants, all of whom are believed to have reached the highest levels of sainthood (one of them is explicitly designated by the titleQutb-al-Aqtab), are also buried in the same shrine.Today the Khanqah (Zawya, i.e. Sufi convent) of Sial Sharif is counted among the foremost Chishti centres of the Punjab, and indeed of the whole Indian subcontinent. Many spiritual personalities are or have been associated with Sial Sharif. Most notably, Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra Sharif, the famous saint of the 20th century, was a faithful murid (disciple) of Pir Sial of Sial Sharif. So was Pir Karam Shah Al-Azhari of Bhera Sharif.To this day, the Islamic spiritual tradition is very much alive in this (Nizami) branch of the Chishti order. Its barakah (spiritual influence, blessing) is experienced by tens of thousands of disciples and visitors. Every Friday, scores of devotees travel long distances just to attend the Jumu'ah prayer there and obtain some blessings from the Holy Shrine.Attached to the spiritual centre (referred to as Darbaar, i.e. court) at Sial Sharif there is also a religious school (madrasa). Many other religious schools and mosques, scattered thrHe was born in 1799 AD (1214 AH). He was born of a religious family in the Shahpur district of Punjab (now known as Sargodha distrcit), Hz Ali. The parents selected the name Shams al-Din for their newborn son. Later on, he became famous as Shams al-‘Arifin (the sun of the gnostics, i.e. those who possess true knowledge of Allah). This is an appellation by which the grand Shaykh of Siyal, Khawaja Muhammad Shams al-Din Siyalwi is known. He is Alwi by genealogy, being a descendant of the fourth Khalifah Ali Ibn Abi Talib (but not Fatimi).Long before his birth, a great saint of Multan, Ghaus Baha -ul-Haq Zakarya Multani, while traveling to Bhera, got down from his horse when he was right at the place where now the tomb of Khwaja Shams-ud-din Sialvi is situated, and picked handful of soil and kissed it. His disciples were astonished by this gesture. Upon their insistence, he revealed to them that a Ghaus would be born there. He had become the hafiz-e-Quran (one who remembers Quran by heart) at the age of 7 years. He went to some of the renowned institutions to get religious education. He went as far as Kabul where he was awarded Sand-e-Hadith (certification of hadith). The most important of his journeys was toTaunsa Sharif (Distt. Dera Ghazi Khan), where he became a devotees (Mureed, Devoted follower) of Khawja Shah Suleiman TaunsviHe went to Mecca twice to perform pilgrimage (Hajj). He was a staunch follower of Quran and Sunnah. His teachings played an important role in reviving the spirit of Islam in Muslims after Christians Missionarys and oppression by Sikhs.oughout Pakistan, are affiliated to the Darbaar of Sial Sharif. The Darbaar at Sial Sharif is closely linked to many other spiritual centres, including the Darbar at Bhera Sharif.