The Dargah of Baba Hazrat Haider Sheikh in Malerkotla is set within a small fortified walled compound which has now been considerably enlarged. The original wall still remains.
As per information from the dargah site and mujavirs , Baba Hazrat Sheikh was born in Sherwan in 1434. His original name was Sheikh Sardarud-din Sader-e-Jahan. He was the son of Sheikh Ahmed Zinda Pir and grandson of Shekh Ali Shahbaz Khan.
He is the founder of the Malerkotla dynasty.
All Indian Sherwanis are said to be his descendants.
“Both oral and written histories of Malerkotla usually begin with the arrival of the Sufi Sheikh, Sheikh Sadruddin Sader-e-Jahan. In a history of the dynasty written by Iftikhar Ali Khan, the last Nawab of Malerkotla, the Sheikh is described as a Sherwani Afghan from Khurasan, “a very pious man of much celebrity in his time.” Baba Hazrat Sheikh; Baba Haider Sheikh, as he is popularly known, was sent to the region from Multan by his spiritual preceptor. In 1449 Baba Hazrat Sheikh settled on the bank of a Satluj river (Bhumsi) to engage in religious devotions.”
One night, in 1451, Sultan Bahlol Lodhi camped at Maler on his way to conquer Delhi. It was a stormy night and the only lamp aflame was in the hut on the mound. Bahlol went to meet the man whose lamp the harsh winds could not extinguish. Sheikh Sardarud-din welcomed Bahlol into his hut and prophesied that Delhi would indeed be his. When Bahlol accomplished his mission (after conquering Delhi) the Sultan returned and in 1454 married his daughter Taj Murassa Begum to Sheikh Sardarud-din, and gave her a number of villages in the region as a marriage portion. The Sheikh and his Afghan wife had two children–a daughter, Bibi Mangi, and a son, Hassan. In 1458, Sheikh Sardarud-din also married the daughter of Rai Bahram Bhatti, the Rajput ruler of Kapurthala, a nearby principality, and had two more sons, ‘Isa and Musa’.”
Info: dargah website
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