Dost Muhammad was born and received his early education in Kandahar in Afghanistan. While still a young man he encountered the great Indian Naqshbandi master Ghulam Ali Dehlavi in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. He reported that Ghulam Ali's spiritual energy was so strong that it caused him to become restless and disturbed, to the extent that he was hardly able to move from his place. Returning to India, he continued to be subject to ecstatic states, some of which lasted for several weeks. Ghulam Ali died, however, before Dost Muhammad could become a disciple. So instead he applied to Ghulam Ali's successor Abu Sa'eed Mujaddidi Rampuri. At the time Abu Sa'eed was leaving for the Hajj and sent Dost Muhammad to his son Shah Ahmed Sa'eed Dehlvi. Within 14 months of staying with his Shaykh, Haji Dost Muhammad became Ahmed Sa'eed's khalifa in the Qandahar region of Afghanistan. Following the assassination in 1842 of Shah Shuja, the ruler of Afghanistan, Dost Muhammad was forced to leave the country.. Ahmed Sa'eed advised Dost Muhammad to establish himself in a place where "both Pashto and Punjabi are spoken". Following this instruction, Dost Muhammad settled in the village of Musazai Sharif, near to Dera Ismail Khan, where he established a teaching centre and is buried.
Death and Successor
Dost Muhammad's successor was Khwaja Muhammad Usman Damani, to whom he gave unrestricted permission to teach "the methods of the Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiya Ma'sumiyya Mazhariyya and the Qadiriyya, Chistiyya, Suhrawardiyya, Kubrawiyya, Shattariyya, Madariyya, Qalandariyya and other Sufi lineages". He also handed over to him all his Islamic centers including Musazai Sharif, his personal library and other assets. Haji Dost Muhammad died on 22 Shawwal 1284 AH and was buried in Mussa Zai Sharif, district Dera Ismail Khan in present-day Pakistan. In The Way of the Sufi, Idries Shah attributes this "sentence of the Khajagan" to Dost Muhammad : "You hear my words. Hear, too, that there are words other than mine. These are not meant for hearing with the physical ear. Because you see only me, you think there is no Sufism apart from me. You are here to learn, not to collect historical information."
Spiritual chain of succession
Haji Dost Muhammad Qandhari belonged to the Mujaddidi order of Sufism, which is the main branch of Naqshbandi Sufi tariqah. His spiritual lineage goes to Muhammad, through Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, the Mujaddid of eleventh Hijri century. The complete lineage is as under:
