History

Syed Mohammad Usman Marwandi, popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was a 12th century Sufi who was born in Marwand, present day Afghanistan. He travelled to Medina, Karbala and Mashhad to seek spiritual guidance and according to popular legend, was instructed to settle in the subcontinent to spread word of God there.
He was a contemporary of Syed Jalal-ud-din Bukhari of UchSharif. He settled in Sehwan after travelling extensively in present day Punjab, Sindh, Ajmer and finally settled in Sehwan. He belonged to the Suhrawardi order of Sufis.

Called Lal (red) after his usual red attire, Shahbaz to denote a noble and divine spirit.
In Multan he met Baha-ud-din Zakariya of the Suhrwardiyya, Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar of the Chishtiyya and Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari. The friendship of these four became legendary, they were known as the Chahar Yar (In Persian "the four friends"). According to some historians the four friends visited various parts of Sindh, Punjab (in present day Pakistan) and southern part of India. Shahbaz became a profound scholar of religions, fluent in many languages including Pashto, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Sindhi and Sanskrit
The legend has it that the incumbent fakirs in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that the place was already full of faqirs and there was no room for one more. He returned the bowl floating a single flower on the top suggesting by this reply that there was ample room for him, as he would remain among them floating as a flower.
It is said that 17 leading tribes of Punjab accepted Islam at the hands of Baba Farid. Some of these tribes were Kharals, Dhudhyan, Tobian and also Wattoo, a Rajput tribe. Jalaluddin Bukhari converted the Soomros and Sammas of Sindh while Shahbaz Qalandar had a great following in Multan and Northern Sindh.
His favorite disciple was Bodla Bahaar whose shrine is near the old fortress. The story goes that the ruler of Sehwan grew fearsome of the popularity of Lal Shahbaz and Bodla Bahaar and ordered to slaughter Bodla Bahaar into pieces. The soldiers executed the order and scattered his body pieces.When Lal Shahbaz heard of the incident, he called the name of his favorite disciple and his chopped up body transformed back into Bodla Bahaar to answer back to his master’s call! When the ruler still did not heed to Lal Shahbaz’s preaching, Bodla Bahaar on the orders of Lal Shahbaz turned the whole fortress upside down. People claim that the ruins still show an upside down settlement.
In Sehwan he established a meeting house (khanqah), taught in the Fuqhai Islam Madarrsah and wrote his treatises Mizan-us-Surf, Kism-e-Doyum, Aqd and Zubdah. Lal Shahbaz lived a celibate life and died in the year 1279 at the age of 130.
Lal Shahbaz's annual Urs (death anniversary celebration), held on the 18 Sha'aban – the eighth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, brings more than half a million pilgrims from all over Pakistan.

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