Hazrat Sultan Bahu / Haqbahu � Life in Details in English

PAGE NO. 06

THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF SULTAN BAHU (RA).

According to some sources Hazrat Sultan Bahu (RA) was born in the village of Shorkhote in Punjab Province in the year 1039 AD, during the reign of the great Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.

Already as a child his Saintly qualities became apparent. He too, like Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani (RA), refuses to drink his mothers milk from Sehri to Iftaar

(before sunrise to sunset). Despite showing inherent spiritual qualities his training responsibility fell in the lap of his pious, devout and saintly mother, Ma Rasti (RA). In his childhood and early days, she was responsible for both his inward and outward training, colouring his personality in the Prophetic light. In many of his writings, Sultan Bahu (RA.) refers to his saintly mothers piety and spiritual station. In one of his Persian couplets, he refers to her devotion to truth as follows :

` Bliss of God for Rasti be

For with truth is gifted she '

Interestingly ` Rasti ' itself in Persian means

`Truth'. At another place he writes :

`Mercy of Allah be on Rasti who named me Ba - Hu '

Ma Rasti (RA) saw a vision that soon she will be blessed with a child with inherent spiritual qualities whose light of Faqr will benefit many a seeker till the end of time. She was instructed to name the child `Ba Hu' - meaning - `With Allah'. This name, most certainly suited this holy personality, for he was always drowned in the Love of Allah. Hazrat Sultan Bahu's (RA) name is incomparable and has no parallel. His very name reflects his lofty spiritual station, pure qualities and attributes. We will, very briefly, attempt to examine and elucidate further on the characteristics and the quality of the saints name Bahu. This would help to absolve the fallacy and misunderstanding concerning the disposition of the Saints name.