Their family came from a musical background, and claimed direct descent from Mian Tansen, who had played at the court of the 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar.

They also furthered their knowledge of poetry under Hazrat Hairat Ali Shah Warsi, who was their mother's spiritual master.

Ghulam Farid Sabri's first public performance was at the annual Urs festival of Mubarak Shah in Kalyana (now in Haryana, India) in 1946.

Later, with the help of his father, Maqbool formed a qawwali group at the age of eleven and named it Bacha Qawwal Party.

The group's first public performance was in 1956 at an Urs ceremony held at the home of Jameel Amrohi, where he sang "Do Alam Ba Kakul Giraftar Daari" in the presence of many qawwals.

During their 1975 American tour, their promoter Beate Gordon suggested the band name was too long, so they changed it to The Sabri Brothers.

The Sabri Brothers initially started their career by performing at Sufi Shrines and private gatherings, Their first recording was officially released in 1958 under the EMI Pakistan label, was the Urdu qawwali titled "Mera Koi Nahi Hai Tera Siwa", which later appeared in the 1965 Pakistani film Ishq-e-Habib.

During the 1970s, the Sabri Brothers released their greatest hit qawwalis which included "[famous top 10 Naat’s list with audio (2024/25)]", "Tajdar-e-Haram", "O Sharabi Chord De Peena", "Khwaja Ki Deewani", and "Sar E La Makan Se Talab Hui.

In the same year, with the co-operation of Oriental Star Agencies, the Sabri Brothers performed in various cities in England such as London, Bradford, Birmingham and Manchester, which was very popular.

The Sabri Brothers were the first-ever qawwali artists to perform in United States, Europe, and other Western countries.

They were the first exponents of qawwali to the West when they performed at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1975, promoted and sponsored by Beate Gordon of the Asia Society.

Inspired by their live concerts in South Africa, Chevrolet gifted an automatic car to the Sabri Brothers, which they donated for the development of poor children.

During that tour they recorded Aftaab E Risalat Madine Mei Hai which was featured in the 1979 Bollywood film Sultan E Hind Khwaja Garib Nawaz.

In 1983, they recorded the album Nazre Shah Karim to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of His Highness Prince Aga Khan, sponsored by Tajico Group.

[12] In 1988 EMI Pakistan released another solo ghazal album by Maqbool Ahmed Sabri titled Tere Ghungroo Toot Gaye to Kya, which was a hit.

The same year, he recorded a qawwali song for music director Anu Malik in the Indian movie Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswati, which was picturised on Mithun Chakraborty.

The album Ya Habib consists of four long songs, each combining powerful, sensitive, often improvised vocals with rhythmic percussion, thudding tabla and mesmeric harmonium drones, which proved to be one of the Sabri Brothers' greatest hits.

He suffered a massive heart attack and was rushed to hospital but he died en route in the arms of his brother Maqbool Ahmed Sabri.

To devote an album entirely to the Persian poetry of Jami, a luminary of the Sufi tradition, was one of Ghulam Farid Sabri's cherished ambitions.

[18] The Sabri Brothers also performed Waqt E Dua Hai which is one of their popular qawwalis at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, for the celebration of 50 Years of Independence of India and Pakistan together with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Shortly after the program at the Opera House, Kamal Ahmed Sabri (second eldest of the brothers), the supporting vocalist and instrumentalist of the group, suffered a heart attack.

The same year, Maqbool Ahmed Sabri rerecorded and re-released his old hit qawwalis including "Khwaja Ki Deewani", "Mera Koi Nahi Hai Tere Siwa", "Mann Bole Mann", and "Hum Panjatani Hai" which were released by SB Studios in Karachi and proved to be a big hit worldwide.

On 21 September 2011, Maqbool Ahmed Sabri died in South Africa due to cardiac arrest after being treated for two months for health problems.

He organized many programs in Europe to collect donations for the Namal Institute located in Mianwali District, Punjab, which was established by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan.