Shamsuddin Sabzwari
Shamsuddin Sabzwari (died 675 A.H. / 1276 C.E) was a Muslim Sufi missionary from Sabzawar in present-day Afghanistan. Shamsuddin Sabzwari arrived in Multan in early 1200C.E. in modern Pakistan, established a dargah and preached Islam to the local population. Shamsuddin Sabzwari is considered to be a Nizari Ismaili saint due to his poetry and the local traditions.[1] Shamsuddin Sabzwari died in 1276 and his Mausoleum is located in Multan.[2] The Urs of Shamsuddin Sabzwari takes place June of each year.[3] In South Asia, by the propagation of Islam commenced after the demise of Prophet Mohammad and Sindh was first to receive the light of Islam. At about the same time, the followers and well wishers of Ahle Bait had started propaganda and conversion on behalf of and for Hazrat Ali and his successive Imams, who were the rightful heirs of the Prophet. The sixth Imam, Hazrat lsmail bin Hazrat Imam Jafar-as-Sadiq, and the succeeding Ismaili Imams sent out Da'is (Missionaries) to the far corners of the then known world for propagation of the True Path (Seerat-al-Mustaqim or Sat Panth in Indian language).
Hazrat Shams Sabzwari too occupies a prominent position amongst the famous Ismaili 'Da'is. He was sent by the twenty-ninth Ismaili Imam, Hazrat Kassim Shah, to preach the Ismaili Nizari faith in South Asia.
Pir Shams conducted his missionary activities all over the North-western and Western parts of South Asia and in the context of vedic scripture vis-a-vis Al-Quran, revived the idea of the necessity of a Living Guide in the minds of his non-Muslim audiences, bringing thousands of them to the beneficial fold of Ismaili Islam.
History is replete with such personalities about whom historically very little is known to-day. Pir Shams is one such consequential figure in the annals of Ismailism about whom innumerable legends abound but verifiable authentic historical references, contemprory or subsequent, are rare.
It is given in the Noor-a--Mubin that Pir Shams was born at Sabzwar in Iran where he spent his childhood and adolescence in pursuit of education. Probably, in his twenties he spent working under the tilage of his father, Pir Salahuddin, in Sabzwari and perhaps in his early thirties succeeded his father and was assigned the Da'wa of Badakshan and Northern India. Conducting his missionary work with great ardour and zeal, his activities ranged from Badakshan, through Kashmir, and from Punjab, Sindh to Gujerat with Multan as his headquarters. As he spent the better part of his later years at or around Multan he was laid to rest there, hence he is also famous as Pir Shams Sabzwari Multani.[4]
Mausoleum and Urs
The Mausoleum of Hazrat Shamsuddin Sabzwari Multani ibn Hazrat Pir Sayed Salahuddinr located about half a mile to the east of the Multan Fort site, on the high bank of the old bed of the Ravi River near Aam-Khas Garden was born in 1200. He died in 1276 and the shrine was built by his grandson in 1330. The tomb is square, 30 feet (9.1 m) in height surmounted by a hemispherical dome. It is decorated with ornamental glazed tiles.[5]