Sial Sharif

Sial Sharif is a small village in the Sargodha District (Sahiwal Tehsil), in the Punjab, Pakistan. It is located 48km (30 miles) away from the city of Sargodha, on the Sargodha-Jhang road.

Its population amounts to about 1,100 people (1998). Sial Sharif is widely renowned as a major Sufi spiritual centre of the Punjab; it contains the shrine of the Sufi saint Hazrat Shams-ud-Din Sialvi (commonly called Pir Sial) and of his descendants, all of whom are believed to have reached the highest levels of sainthood (one of them is explicitly designated by the title "Qutb-al-Aqtab"). Notably, Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golra Sharif, the famous saint of the twentieth century, was a faithful "murid" (disciple) of Pir Sial of Sial Sharif. The Khanqa (Zawya, i.e. Sufi convent) at Sial Sharif is among the foremost Chishti centres of the Punjab, and indeed of the whole Indian subcontinent. To this day, the Islamic spiritual tradition is very much alive in this ("Nizami") branch of the Chishti order. Its "barakah" (spiritual influence, blessing) has been experienced by tens of thousands of disciples and visitors. Every Friday, scores of devotees travel long distances only to attend the "Jumu'ah" prayer there and receive the 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 throughout 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.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/qamarsialvi/sialsharif.html Hazrat Shams-ud-Din Sialvi]