Muntaḫab al-tavārīḫ - The Muntakhabu-’rukh, Volume 3

This volume completes the translation of the Muntakhabu-'t-tawārī kh of ‘Abdu-'l-Qādir b. Mulūk Shāh, al-Badāonī, in the Bibliotheca Indica series. Its sources are those enumerated by Lieutenant-Colonel G. S. A. Ranking in the preface to his translation of volume I.

It was begun as long ago as 1897, but owing to the constant pressure of official duties was not finished until 1909, and even then could not be immediately printed owing to difficulties in the way of allotting funds for the expenses of publication. The index and list of errata have only lately been finished.

Frequent interruptions in the work are responsible for some inconsistencies in transliteration—such, for instance, as Shamsu-'d-din and Shams-ud-din, Khāja, Kh'āja, and Khẉāja. My excuse for the frequent omission of any equivalent for the letter ◌ in transliterating the latter word is that the translation was made, for the most part, in India, where the frequent pronunciation of this mute letter was so offensive that at the time I judged it better to preserve the correct pronunciation by omitting it. I confess that this is not a very good excuse for the omission of a letter, but it is the best that I can offer.

I have nothing to add to Lieutenant-Colonel Ranking's remarks on the difficulty of translating from Persian, except that they apply with peculiar force to an author like Badāonī, writing in a language not his own. His style is stilted and inelegant, as must nearly always be the case with an author labouring under this disadvantage, and he persists in one error —the misuse of the word ◌, which means “ungrudging emulation,” but is always used by him in the sense of “envy” —but it is free from the bombastic prolixity and gross affectation of that of his compatriot and contemporary, Shaikh Abū-'l-Faẓl.

As this volume of the historian's work consists to a great extent of literary criticism, I have been careful to translate both his text and the excerpts of verse quoted by him as literally as possible, in order to convey some idea, however faint, of his standard of literary excellence. In only one or two passages, to which reference is made in notes, have I ventured to modify expressions which in an English dress would have been merely ridiculous; but I am conscious that many of the passages which I have rendered more exactly will appear grotesque. This was unavoidable, and is due partly to the wide divergence between the standards of taste of Persian writers of the sixteenth and English readers of the twentieth centuries, and partly to Badāonī's own defects.

A few passages are so indecent that I have been constrained to veil them in such disguise as a dead language affords. To this practice it may be objected that it calls attention to what is unseemly, but a book of this nature will seldom be taken up but by genuine seekers after knowledge, who are not likely to suffer harm from the obscenities of Badāonī, or of those whom he quotes.

Interruptions in the work of translation are also responsible for a rather long list of errata, for which, and for other imperfections I crave the indulgence of my readers.

W. H.

TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.

April 7, 1924.

I will state at the outset¹ that as the author of the Tārīkh-i-Niẓāmī ^1a has given an account of the nobles of the realm immediately after his history of the empire, and as most of them are now dead, and gone to perdition,^1b

[In no one have I seen fidelity,
If thou hast found one who possesses it convey to him my
blessing.]

I will refrain from polluting the nib of my pen with a description of such worthless wretches, and will commence with the enumeration of some of the holy men of the age, for an account of noble men who have chosen the way of God is in every way to be preferred to an account of scoundrels and debauchees. And so will I not be a mark for threats and comminations.^1c (“Throw dust on the faces of those who praise without stint,” and again, “may God protect us from the wickedness of tyrants.”)^1d An account of the base acts of the followers (of the Divine Faith),^1e

with whose unclean existence the age is polluted may be thus described:—

Their letters do not spell sense,²
Nor do their thoughts tend in the direction of sense;
Think meanly of the base, and of those whose faith is weak,
Form the same estimate of the latter as of the former.
When one can call to mind one's friends,
And so make the heart a garden of sweet memories,
Pity were it to mention one's enemies
For that were to quit the sweet garden for the midden.^2a

The holy men by whose noble existence the reign of Akbar ^2. Shāh was adorned have now, for the most part, withdrawn, as the ‘anqā^2b retires to the mountains of Qāf, to the neighbourhood of the Great God. It is as though they had all conspired together to roll up and remove the baggage of life from this dwelling of care and deceit and to take up their abode in the home of joy and bliss. And now of that caravan not one remains to encourage stragglers.

“The mansions are deserted, temporary and permanent
dwelling alike,
“Nothing remains but owls and rubbish.”^2c

I shall begin with that class of men who were regularly employed in the Imperial service until^2d their fame reached such a pitch that it was as manifest as the sun at midday.

Miyāṅ Ḥātim^3a was a profound sage who passed very many years in teaching. He was endowed with both inward and outward perfection. While he was engaged in acquiring knowledge he was overcome by religious ecstasy,^3b and, forsaking scholastic disputations, attached himself as a disciple to his teacher, Shaikh Azīzu-'llāh, a learned man of Ṭalamba,^3c who was of those who are truly wise in the way of God, and was one of the most highly regarded of the holy men of his time. He also spent some time in the service of Shaikh ‘Alāu-'d-Dīn Cishtī^3d of Dihlī, (may God sanctify his soul!) following his rule, and obtained from both of these holy men permission to perfect their students and disciples. At the time when he was first drawn towards God he wandered about for ten years, bareheaded and barefooted, in the waste country round about Sambhal and Amroha,^3e and during all this time his head touched not bed or bolster. He was a man who took keen pleasure in contemplating God and whom the singing of God's praises threw into an ecstasy of delight, and ever, as he spoke and smiled, the name of God was on his tongue. In his last years the intoxication of joy which he experienced in his love for God so overpowered him that to, listen but for a short space to the chanting of God's praises placed him beside himself. He had not the strength to listen to hymns.

When I, in the year 960 A.H. (A.D. 1553), being then in my twelfth year, arrived in company with my father at Sambhal, ^3. and there entered the service of the Shaikh, I learnt by heart, in his hospice, the Qaṣīda-yi-burda,⁴ and thus gained admission (to the ranks of his disciples), and there I also read, to my great spiritual advantage and profit, part of the book Kanz-i-fiqh-i-Ḥanafī .^4a The Shaikh then enrolling me among his direct disciples said to my father, “I have bestowed upon your son the cap and the tree^4b which descend from my spiritual teacher Miyāṅ Shaikh ‘Azīzu-'llāh for this reason, that he may acquire also some exoteric knowledge” (i.e., beyond the esoteric knowledge which he was to acquire). And for this praise be to God. In the year 969 A.H. (A.D. 1561-2) the holy Shaikh went into God's Presence, and the words “the wise darvīsh”^4c give the date of his death. May God make his dust fragrant! And it so happened that my father too received the summons of God's mercy in the same year. One might say that the position in which he stood to the Shaikh as his disciple made it necessary that he should so follow him.

He was the Khalīfah⁵ or deputy of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-Quddūs of Gangoh^5a (may God sanctify their tombs!) His attainments, both in exoteric and in esoteric learning, were great, and he employed himself in imparting instruction in divinity and in the spreading abroad of those branches of knowledge which are, as the subject of divine revelation, certainly proved. In his last years he abandoned the pursuit of secular knowledge and, choosing privacy rather than publicity, spent his valuable time in reading through the blessed Qur'ān, in performing works of supererogation, and in praise and prayer. When he was ninety-three years of age he was exceedingly weak and feeble, so that there seemed to be nothing remaining of him but skin and bone.

Couplet.

When the veins of an aged man, in consequence of his
abandonment of worldly desires, stand out on his skin.
Then it is that he becomes, as it were, a ruler to guide
disciples in the way of righteousness.^5b

And although he had not so much strength left as enabled him to sit down and rise up^5c and to move about, and used, in ^4. consequence of his feebleness and weakness, to lie all day long in a reclining position, yet no sooner did he hear the call to prayer than he would, without the assistance of anybody, rise up, put on his shoes, take his staff in his hand, perform his ceremonial ablutions by himself and without any help, and stand up for his prayers.⁶ This done he would again recline in his wonted position on his couch. I twice had the honour of attending on him, once in the year H. 969 (A.D. 1561-2), in Āgra, when he had come there to settle the matter of his aima^6a holding in Thānesar^6b and to have the subject represented, and again in the year A.H. 981 (A.D. 1573-4) when I was accompanying Ḥusain Khān in his pursuit of Ulugh Mīrzā.^6c He seemed to me to be a quantity of (divine) light in bodily form. He bade farewell to this transitory world in the year A.H. 989 (A.D. 1581), May God remember him to his good!

He was the disciple of Shaikh Ẓuhūr and Ḥājī Ḥuzūr, otherwise known as Ḥājī Ḥamīd, and his spiritual descent could be traced back, through the line of the Shaṭṭārī order of ascetics to Shaikh Bāyazīd of Busṭām,⁷ the prince of knowers of God. (May God sanctify his soul!) When entering on the religious life he spent twelve years on the lower slopes of the hills of Canār^7a and the adjoining country, practising the most severe austerities, having his dwelling in caves and subsisting on the leaves of trees. He was an acknowledged master in the science of exorcism,^7b he possessed supernatural power, and was drawn in a mysterious manner towards God.^7c He obtained leave to practise this science (scil. exorcism) from his elder brother, Shaikh Buhlūl,^7d who was a worker of miracles and wonders. His late Majesty, the Emperor Humāyūn, on whom God's mercy has descended, had the greatest faith in and attachment to these two saints, so much so that there were very few that ranked with them in his estimation. From these venerable men he learnt the science of exorcism. After the rebellion in India, when Shīr ^5. Shāh began to oppress Shaikh Muḥammad, he betook himself to Gujarāt where also he brought princes and rulers under the yoke of subjection to him and⁸ belief in his teaching, so that all alike were ready to do him service. Shaikh Wajīhu-'d-Dīn too, a knower and a^8a doer of the things that belong to God, a profound thinker and a teacher, drew upon his shoulders the saddle-cloth of obedience to Shaikh Muḥammad. All these things are an indication of the Shaikh's perfections and of his power of working miracles. Many other great and famous holy men in Dihlī, Gujarāt, and Bangāl have risen from the fringe of his robe,^8b and memorials of his perfection still remain in Hindūstān. One day in the year H. 966 (A.D. 1558-9) I saw him from afar off, riding along in the market place at Āgra, a throng of the common people surrounding and preceding him, so that no one could pass through the crowd. In his courteous humility his head was never for one moment still, as he returned the salutations of the people on either side of him, bowing continually down to his saddle-bow. It was in this year that he came from Gujarāt to Āgra, and with much exhortation and persuasion, availing himself of the influence of those about the Court, enrolled the Emperor Akbar, then a youth, among his disciples, but the Emperor soon rejected his teaching, and since Shaikh Muḥam-mad's companionship was distasteful to the Khān-i-Khānān, Bairam Khān,^8c and to Shaikh Gadāī,^8d he withdrew, ill pleased, to Gwāliyār, where he spent his time in perfecting his disciples, and, having built an hospice, occupied himself with the ecstatic dances of darvīshes,⁹ chanting, and giving way to transports of religious ecstasy.^9a He himself also wrote books on these subjects. Clad in the garments of poverty he held a high and majestic position, and possessed a subsistence allowance of a karor of tankas.^9b Whomsoever he saw, were he a beggar even, he treated with great honour, standing before him. For this reason some few from among those who were vowed to poverty blamed him, and denied (that he was a true ascetic).^9c But God alone knows what his motives were in this matter.

Couplet.

Since God in His omniscience alone knows whether a soul is
to be rejected or accepted,
“Judge not lest thou be judged.” ^6.9d

In the year H. 970 (A.D. 1562-3), after completing his eightieth year, he died in Āgra, leaving this world for the next, and was buried in Gwāliyār. He was generous to a degree, and it is said that the word “I” never passed his lips, and that he always referred to himself as “this humble one.” So particular was he in this matter that even when giving away corn in charity he would say “Mīm and Nūn,¹⁰ give this much corn to such an one,” in order to avoid the necessity of saying “I.” May God shower his mercy plenteously upon him!

Burhān was an ascetic of great resignation and piety, and a very prince among those who have chosen a life of religious seclusion and retirement, and of independence of worldly concerns. It is said that he was once for three days in company with Miyān Ilāhdād of Bārī,^10a of the spiritual line of the famous Mīr Sayyid Muḥammad of Jaunpur,^10b (may God sanctify his soul), there being only one intermediary between them, and that it was on that occasion that he acquired this excellence, and attained to perfection. He had subjected himself to severe discipline and possessed great self-control. For nearly fifty years (before his death) he had abstained from flesh-meat and from most other articles of food and drink, contenting himself with a little milk and some sweet-meats; and at the end of his life he abstained also from drinking water, so that to outward appearance he was an incorporeal spiritual form, supernaturally illuminated. He had in Kālpī a very small and dark cell in which he constantly sat, engaged in reciting God's praises and in meditation and contemplation. He used also to retain his breath,¹¹ after the fashion of the Mahdavīs, and although he had never studied any of the sciences treated of in Arabic literature he used to give most eloquent dissertations on the Qur'ān. He was a reader of the secrets of human hearts. When I was returning from Canār (Chunār) in A.H. 967 (A.D. 1559-60) during the rule of ‘Abdu-'llāh Khān the Ūzbak^11a I spent a night in attendance on the Shaikh, whose conversation was sublime. He recited, appositely ^7. to the occasion, some of his own Hindī poetry of which the subjects were exhortation, admonition, mysticism,^11b the longing of the human soul for God,^11c the Unity of God, and withdrawal from the world. The next day Mihr ‘Alī Sildūz,^11d who, in spite of his friendship towards holy men, was to some extent a slave to his own Turkish nature, and was something of a bully and a tyrant,

[I have been the slave of that man of perfect nature, from
the day on which he said,
“The Turk, though he become a mullā, can never become a
man.”]

was honoured, by means of an introduction from me, with an interview with the Shaikh. Now it so happened that about an hour before this time he had severely beaten and kicked some of his servants and attendants, and had abused them in most unbecoming language before mounting his horse to go for a ride. When we sat down together the first words the Shaikh uttered were, “The prophet (may God bless and save him!) said, ‘The (true) Muslim is he who (courteously) salutes (other) Muslims both with his hand and with his tongue.’” The Shaikh uttered this precious aphorism and sublime truth with special reference to the occasion, and Mihr ‘Ali rose to his feet for the purpose of excusing himself, and, after expressing his contrition and shame he begged the Shaikh to recite the fātiḥah¹² on his behalf, offering to him, at the same time, something by way of a present, which was not accepted.

The Shaikh reached the age of nearly one hundred years and departed this life in the year A.H. 970 (A.D. 1562-3). I have made the following chronogram on his death:—

In accordance with the terms of his will he was buried in the cell to which he had retired—may God shed light upon his resting-place!

He belonged to the Qādirī^12c order. On first entering the religious ^8. life he subjected himself to a most rigorous discipline. He was a man who was mysteriously drawn towards God^12d and was subject to fits of religious ecstasy. He had a sweet voice and when he was in one of his fits of ecstasy he would chant so sweetly as to touch the hearts of all who heard him; the flavour of that ecstatic song still lingers on the palate of my soul. In his earlier years he acquired exoteric knowledge and was engaged in teaching. He had an ardent love for such forms as display, in their beauty, the power of the Creator, nor was he ever at any time free from the bonds of that love which is transferred from the Creator to the creature,¹³ and when in these bonds he lost all self-control, and, putting aside all dissimulation and restraint took no account of the praise or blame of others, careless alike of their disapprobation and their approval. For this reason was he known as Shaikh Muḥammad-i-‘Āshiq, or “the lover.” In A.H. 985 (A.D. 1579) he transferred the baggage of his existence to that land where the soul is united to God.^13a The words “the sixth of Shavvāl”^13b give the date of his death. May God make his soul fragrant!

He was an old man in whom shone the Divine Light, ascetic in his habits, having complete trust in God, and uncontrollable religious enthusiasm. He lived a retired and solitary life, keeping the door of ingress and egress shut to himself. Every Friday he held in his hospice a meeting of Ṣūfīs,¹⁴ and would insist upon the assembly joining in ecstatic songs and dances, and, how much soever one might excuse himself from this, the Shaikh would work himself up into a state of religious ecstasy, and his phrensy would extend, in its full power, to the rest. On the conclusion of this religious exercise food was served. The Shaikh made no distinction between king and beggar. Bairām Khān, the Khān-i-Khānān,^14a used generally to recite his Friday prayers in the Shaikh's masjid, and the effects of his companionship with the Shaikh were seen in his increased tenderness of heart. In sitting down and rising, in taking food, and in all other observances of etiquette no difference was made by the Shaikh between him and anybody else.

He was a conspicuous example of the degree of divine knowledge which is within the reach of man. He was a very crucible of love for God, in which the pure gold of his being was ever at melting heat, until it reached the extreme limit of refinement and purity. This being his condition he was constantly weeping in his ardent desire for God, to such an extent that the world has never seen his equal. No sooner did the sound of a holy song or chant fall upon his ear than one would say that a violent wind had arisen, and was blowing through a fiery tempest. Praise be to God! What love and affection for God were seen in the noble nature of that great man! In the phrensied dance (of darvīshes) and when he was vying with other mystics in working himself up into a state of ecstasy,¹⁵ occupations which formed the morning and evening exercises of his blessed condition, a flint, could it have looked upon his face, would have become softer than wax.

Shaikh ‘Azīzu-'llāh had been the disciple of his own respected father, Shaikh Ḥasan, and acquired some of his excellence from his own elder brother, Shaikh Muḥammad Ḥasan, the spiritual guide and master of Shaikh Mān of Pānīpat. His life was governed by the rules of poverty, indigence, and humility. To champion the cause of the poor and helpless who came to him with their complaints he would travel long distances on foot, even though he had at the time entered into a forty days' retreat,^15a and though he had to visit the house of one who was without the pale of the faith in order to gain his object. After successfully fulfilling the wants of the applicant he would return to the cell of retirement and engage in his religious exercises as though no break had occurred in his retreat. He used to give to this worship, which benefited others, precedence and place before that worship the rewards of which are confined to the worshipper.^15b And it would sometimes happen that an unbeliever or an oppressor would pay no heed to his intercession on the first occasion, or, (knowing that the Shaikh was without), would purposely remain within doors, and the Shaikh would sit the livelong day expectant at his door, without being able to see his face. But on successive days^15c the Shaikh would go again and again¹⁶ to his door and would sit in silence, nor would this slighting treatment produce on the clear mirror of his heart, ^10. which reflected the hidden knowledge of God, the rust of resentment. He would thus sit until the person to whom the intercession was to be made fell, shamed and remorseful, at his feet, and promptly and obediently fulfilled the desire of the beggar.

One day the Shaikh was present at a meeting of the mystics engaged in ecstatic songs and dances, as their custom is,^16a held by that prince of holy men Shaikh Niẓām-i-Auliyā, (may God sanctify his most pure tomb!), when a wretched maniac, uttering a yell, seized the Shaikh by the knees, and, lifting him up, turned him heels over head on the floor, so that his turban was disarranged, and he was hurt, but in outward appearance^16b he was in no way disturbed. At the time this act of the maniac was attributed to religious ecstasy and he was held to be excused, but the demented fool repeated his abominable trick on a subsequent occasion, when the magistrate of the city proposed to recall his scattered senses by means of a severe caution, a beating, and threats of what would happen to him in the future. The Shaikh made much intercession for him, and, kissing his hands and feet, kept him under his own protection, and did not suffer them to molest him in any way. In exoteric knowledge he was perfect himself,^16c and used to perfect others, and he used to instruct his pupils in the expounding of the ‘Arā'is,¹⁷ and of the ‘Awārif^17a and of the Fuṣūṣu-'l-Ḥikam^17b and its commentary. He was also the author of some well-known works, among them being the Risāla-yi-‘Ainiyyah written as a reply to the Ghairiyyah^17c of Shaikh Mān of Pānīpat. Many obscure questions relating to the unity of essence^17d are therein treated of,^17e in accordance with the interpretation of perfect knowers of God.^17f

At the time of the Khān-i-Khānān's disgrace,¹⁸ and also for some years afterwards, I studied under that master of perfection, and listened to the recital of several books and treatises on mysticism,^18a and digested their contents—praise be to God. In the year H. 975 (A.D. 1567-68) the falcon of his soul winged its flight to the pinnacle of eternity, and the words “the pole-star of the path is gone,”^18b were found to give the date of his death. He always wrote himself in his treatises, writings, and letters “the worthless atom,” and it was found that the words “the worthless atom”^18c also gave the date of his death.

He was one of the descendants of the venerable Shaikh Farīd-i-Shakarganj^18e

(may God sanctify his soul), and his native place was Dihlī. He stood in the relation of a disciple to Khājah Ibrāhīm (who was spiritually descended through five intermediaries from the most bountiful Khāja, the ascetic Fuẓail Ibn ‘Iyāẓ—¹⁹ may the mercy of God be upon him!) through whose instrumentality also he was first turned towards God. He twice travelled by land and sea from India to the two most holy places of pilgrimage, ^19a there to perform the duties of the pilgrimage.^19b He set forth on his travels, journeying to Asia Minor, Baghdād, Syria, Najaf,²⁰ (that holy spot), and other countries of the western regions, spending the whole year in travelling, returning to the glorious city of Makkah at the time of the pilgrimage, and then again setting out on his travels. In this manner he performed the pilgrimage twenty-two times, fourteen times during his first period of absence from India, and eight times during his second period of absence. On this latter occasion he spent four years in the glorious city of Makkah and four years in the delightful city of Madīnah, and during his sojourn in Makkah he used to spend the period during which Muḥammad's birthday occurred in Madīnah, and the period of the pilgrimage at Makkah. Shaikh Ya‘qūb of Kashmīr who accompanied Shaikh Salīm gave the date of his latter visit to Makkah in the following couplets:—

Thanks be to God, of whose mere bounty
The holy region became our halting-place.
If any one ask the date of this event
We answer him, “We entered the holy region.”^20a

And in that country he was known as Shaikhu-'l-Hind, or the holy man of India. He reached the age of ninety-five and travelled always in the path of the holy law delivered by the prophet (may God bless and save him!), always observing the most severe austerities and the most austere discipline, to a degree which can have been attained by but few of the holy men of this age. He observed, as a religious duty, the ceremonial purification and bathing before each of the five daily recitals of prayers, nor did he omit this duty before the weekly public prayers.

^12. When Shaikh Mān of Pānīpat, (may God sanctify his tomb!), enjoyed companionship with Shaikh Salīm he put to him this question:—“Was it induction or revelation that was the means of your attaining to your goal?” Shaikh Salīm replied, “Our means is ‘heart to heart.’”^20b Very many holy men who have reached perfection received their training in his service and companionship, and became his deputies and successors. Among them was the Shaikh²¹ who after being perfected received authority to impart religious instruction to other disciples, and whose history is wellknown. Another was Shaikh Kamāl of Alwar, an old man inflamed and enwrapped with zeal, resembling in disposition the leaders among holy men. Another was Shaikh Piyāra of Bangāl, a man distracted with the grief of longing after God. His fame is great in the country of Bangāl.^21a Another was Shaikh Fatḥu-'llāh Tarīn of Sambhal. Another was Shaikh Ruknu-'d-dīn of Ajūdhan,^21b and another was Ḥusain the Khādim, who was the best of Shaikh Salīm's deputies, and the midmost pearl in the string (of his disciples). He was the chief decider of abstruse questions in the hospice at Fatḥpūr. When Shaikh Salīm returned a second time to India the writer of these lines heard that he had attained to an extensive knowledge of, and pre-eminent proficiency in the Arabic language. I therefore sent him a letter containing two chronograms^21c of his two auspicious arrivals, which have been mentioned above. A verbatim copy of the letter is set forth below.

Verily the religion which is approved by God is Islām.

Verse.

Salutations to those who walk round the Ka‘bah,
By the circumambulation of which the pilgrimage of noble
men is consummated,
Salutations to those who dwell in a place,
In which he who surpassed all men lodgeth.²²

I present the duties of prayers, the breezes of the sweet odours ^13. of which perfume the cells of the gathering places of holiness, and I send pages of greetings, the sweet odours of the waftings of which scent the meetings of the caravans of kindly fellowship. (These I send) to that high presence and to that exalted throne, the place of prostration for the foreheads of the great kings of the age—the spot to be kissed by the lips of the emperors of the cycle—the titles of which the imagination cannot comprehend by its intelligence, before the door of which titles are cast down— the high presence of the sun, which stands in need of neither praise nor description—that is, to the presence of the pattern for men, of him who is followed at this time, the Shaikhu-'l-Islām, may his shadow be ever extended over the heads of all creatures in general, and over the foreheads of the bands of feeble seekers after knowledge in particular. And since they (scil. my prayers and greetings) spring from sincerity of intention and proceed from singleness of heart, I hope that they will meet with the honour of acceptance, and the attainment of everything that is hoped for and prayed for is from God. After the performance of what is incumbent on the neck of one of your slaves²³ and on the conscience of my soul may it become clear to your enlightened mind, the mirror of what is hidden, aye, to your great heart, the mirror of certainty, that not the half of a line of the hardship of separation from you and of the violence of the pain of longing after you can be contained in vessels of letters,^23a should all the trees in the earth become pens, and should the sea (become ink) with seven more seas^23b to swell its tide, in the passage of time and its changes. And the heart is the most faithful witness, as is well affirmed.

Verse.

“God knows that my soul has perished
“With desire of thee, but thou revivest it;^23c
“And a sight of thee, Oh, object of my desire, and my hope!
“Is more pleasant to me than the world and all that it
contains.”

And your slave, distracted with love, has striven with an utter striving and has endeavoured with a supreme effort to obtain the felicity²⁴ of enjoying your noble company, and of hearing some of your polished discourse, but Fate assists not my designs, and ascent to the heaven of eminence is no easy matter.

Verse.

It is not everything that man desires that he obtains,
The wind blows in the direction which the ships do not
desire.

^14. In spite of this my reliance on the noble beneficence^24a of God is firm, and my hope in His gracious and boundless favours is sincere, (my hope being) that my eye may be suffused with light by the sight of your beauty, even as my heart is filled with the contemplation of the idea of you. Verily, God answereth our prayers and doth not disappoint us.

Verse.

I place my hope in God for the attainment of gifts,
And my Lord is the giver of what his slave desires.

And it is not far from your wonderful beneficence that you should give me to read an odour-diffusing epistle and send for me with a kind invitation. It is not fitting that the footsteps of my pen should wander more than this over the carpet of familiarity, and that the dove of composition should (any longer) sing on the branch of the tree of glee, and it is best to stop short at this period, and most meet and fitting to curtail (my letter) at the point of prayer (for you). May your exalted nature not cease to be protected from the casualties of ill-hap, and secured from the lightning-like mishaps of night and day.

Verse.

May you last as long as time, O refuge of the people of the
time!
This is the prayer of all creatures.

May God answer the prayer of his servant, by the right of him after whom there comes no one.”²⁵

This letter was dated in the course of the years mentioned above. When I paid my respects to the Shaikh in the year H. 976 (A.D. 1568-69) having been introduced by Shaikh A‘ẓam of Badāon, who was both son-in-law and cousin to Shaikh Salīm, he asked me “How has the position of the tomb of the prophet^25a (may God bless and save him) been determined in the books of ‘the sayings’ with regard to the tombs of the two Shaikhs?^25b

(may God regard them both with favour!)” I said “In such a way, and others have said ‘in such another way.’” He said, “Sahrawardī, in the ‘Wāqi‘a-yi-Ṣā‘iqa,’²⁶ where he verifies the forms of the three tombs, gives preference to the former statement of the case.” In accordance with the Shaikh's exalted command I remained for two days with Shaikh A‘ẓam, who has been ^15. already mentioned, in a cell in the old hospice, and enjoyed detailed conversations with the Shaikh. Then I obtained leave to depart for Basāwar.^26a Subsequently, in the year H. 978 (A.D. 1570-71) I repeatedly had the honour of paying my respects to the Shaikh, and one of his extraordinary acts^26b which I observed was that in the cold wintry air of the highlands of Fatḥpūr he never wore anything on the upper part of his body but a shirt of a single thickness of fine cotton cloth,^26c woven thin, and an upper garment of muslin,^26d and this in spite of the duty that he imposed upon himself of bathing twice daily. His daily food in the quadragesimal fasts of union with God²⁷ was half a water-melon, or even less than that. He passed away to the next world in the year H. 979 (A.D. 1571-72) and the words “the Indian Shaikh”^27a were found to give the date of his death.

Ambeṭhī is the chief village of a pargana in the District of Lakhnau.^27b Shaikh Niẓām was the disciple and pupil of Shaikh Ma‘rūf-i-Cishtī, the line of whose spiritual descent goes back to Shaikh Nūr Quṭb-i-‘Ālam. He followed the ordinary rule of life (of an orthodox Muslim) but was at the same time drawn towards God in a mysterious manner.^27c Although he was at first one of the students of remunerative branches of knowledge^27d his exalted disposition yet led him to turn much towards the things of the next world. His eyes were ever fixed on the page and his heart fixed on God, nor was he neglectful of the service of ẕikr,^27e and the employment of the soul (in God's service).

Couplet.

Not for one moment do I turn my attention from that moon,²⁸
I fear lest it should glance towards me and I should not be
on the watch.

In a short time he obtained from his spiritual guide permission to impart religious instruction and to perfect disciples, and in the village of Ambeṭhī drew his foot within the skirt of contentment and withheld his footsteps from the doors of high and low, going nowhere except to the principal masjid of the Living God (in that ^16. place) and sometimes to Khairābād^28a to walk round the illustrious tomb of the venerable Shaikh Sa‘d, (may his tomb be sanctified!) and to see Shaikhu-'l-Hidyah,^28b the successor of Shaikh Ṣūfī, (may God sanctify his most pure tomb!), or to Gopāmau, in consequence of the friendship which he had for Qāẓī Mubārak of Gopāmau^28c who was one of his faithful disciples, a master of perfection, skilled in the holy law, and abstinent, and a very wealthy man. The Shaikh in the early days of his student life had first been attracted to God in the hospice of the Qāẓī's father. At long intervals he would take the trouble to go to Fatḥpur, by way of making a tour, to see Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-Ghanī,^28d who also was one of the greatest among famous elders, and was held in the highest respect. Whenever he visited the hospice of Shaikhu-'l-Hidyah and the other places he would give of his worldly goods a rupee, a tanka, or some other offering, in accordance with the saying “Send presents to each other and you will love each other,”^28e and then would fall into an ecstasy of delight. I have heard that he once snatched the book “Fuṣūṣu-'l-Ḥikam”²⁹ from the hand of Shaikh Abū-'l-Fatḥ, the son of Shaikhu-'l-Hidyah, who is now his great father's representative and sits on his prayer-carpet of Shaikh-dom, and, taking it from him, gave him another book, saying, “Read this.” He made the books “Iḥyā'u-'l-‘Ulūm,”^29a “‘Awārif,” “Risāla-yi-Makkiyya,”^29b “Ādābu-'l-Murīdīn,”^29c [and other books of the same sort, the pivot on which his doctrine and practice turned, both in his religious duties and in the daily business of life. He always first recited the midday prayers with the congregation on Friday and afterwards recited the regular Friday prayers. In the khuṭbah^29d he altogether omitted the praises of kings. I saw him reciting the Friday prayers with his shoes on his feet, and he said “His holiness, the resort of apostleship, (may God bless and save him!) recited his prayers with his shoes on.” On one occasion one of his pupils desired to learn a lesson from the book known as Kāfiyah,^29e asking for the Shaikh's blessing on ^17. his lesson. The Shaikh pretended not to hear him. After much insistence and persistence on the part of the pupil the Shaikh said “Read some divinity.” He said, “This work too is on divinity, inasmuch as divinity depends upon it.” The Shaikh, in the warmth of his love for God, said, “How can divinity depend upon a book on which the first argument that has been advanced is that the author has omitted the praises of God, (may He be honoured and glorified!) from the introduction on account of his humility?” He rarely accepted a disciple, and (when he had one) he did not appoint his tasks for him or give him instruction.³⁰ Among his chosen disciples was Shaikh Ḥātim of Gopāmau whom he had removed from the class of students who read in the hospice of Qāẓī Mubārak and kept with himself. To please the boy he would sometimes read lessons to him, and would sometimes give him a book, and set tasks for him, until he completely won his heart, and sometimes he would give him a turban, or shoes, or clothes. The Qāẓī and the other students, when they saw these favours (bestowed upon Shaikh Ḥātim) were envious^30a of him. The holy Shaikh Niẓāmu-'d-dīn, perceiving signs of this jealousy, said, “What can be done? God the Most High has willed to bestow upon Ḥātim a portion of prosperity by means of these unsatisfactory gifts, a few clothes and old shoes.” Shaikh Niẓām obtained such complete power and utter influence over Ḥātim that in a short time he (Ḥātim) attained a great reputation, and Shaikh Niẓāmu-'d-dīn in expounding Divine truths and the mystic knowledge of God used to restrict the title of Shaikh to him alone. In the meanwhile^30b Shaikh Ḥātim experienced many ups and downs, and he was troubled with asthma, and various sicknesses, and just as he had acquired the right to be Shaikh Niẓamu-'d-dīn's deputy and successor he chose the path to the next world. The Shaikh would often say, “There was a servant of God to whom I used sometimes to teach the word of God, and he used to understand it. Now that he is gone to whom shall I speak of it?”

When I, the compiler of these historical selections, paid my respects to the Shaikh, Shaikh ‘Abdū-'z-Razzāq, who was both ^18. brother-in-law and father-in-law³¹ to him, was generally in conversation with him, and sometimes, but rarely, the Shaikh would go to see (or would go out walking with) Shaikh Muḥammad also, his true deputy (or successor),^31a who now adorns the prayer-carpet of the Shaikh with his presence, sitting as his successor. Since the late Muḥammad Ḥusain Khān,^31b some account of whom has already been recorded by my chronicling pen, and who was a man to whom I was bound by the bond of regard more closely than can be expressed in writing, entertained a desire to become a disciple of the holy Shaikh, he was privileged to pay his respects to him by the co-operation of Sayyid Aṣghar of Badāon and Qāẓī Aḥmad, the brother of Qāẓī Mubārak of Gopāmau;^31c and this happened at the time when Lakhnau was settled on Ḥusain Khān in jāgīr, in A.H. 976 (A.D. 1568-69). I observed³² that the Shaikh at the beginning of the interview addressed to everybody a few words appropriate to his condition, contenting himself with saying “Praise be to God” with the utterance of prayers, or restricting himself to such remarks as, “Glory be to God,” “there is no god but God,” “We seek protection of God,”^32a “In the name of God,” “there is no power or strength but with God,” or to the recitation of a verse from the glorious word (of God), or from the ḥadīth,^32b or from the sayings of noted saints. And every moment he glanced to his left, so that it seemed as though he were seeking from the master of the assembly^32c permission and leave to say something. On receiving leave from one of the company,^32d at the time when we were shaking hands with one another, he gave the Sayyid, mentioned above,^32e his blessing, saying to Qāẓī Aḥmad “Glory be to God,” and to me, “In the name of God,” using similar (pious) expressions to everybody present. At this very moment, before he could commence a conversation, a miserable worthless wretch of a student came up and recognized^32f the Shaikh, who, saying to him “I seek protection of God from the Devil, the execrable one,”^32g admitted him to the interview. He then began to expound^32h the verse of the Qur'ān, “Everything shall perish, except His face,”³²ⁱ

addressing his discourse to Shaikh ‘Abdu-'r-Razzāq who contented himself with saying “It is indeed so,” and “Yes,” (at intervals), occasionally pointing out some allusion. Nobody else had power ^19. to utter a word, awe and reverence preventing them. As for me, I was as though I was not,³³ and, reviewing my sins, sat in fear lest they should have been revealed to the Shaikh, and lest my inmost being should be laid bare to the light of day,^33a secretly watching all the while for an opportunity to escape from the assembly. At that moment that student asked, “Why should not the (possessive) pronoun affixed to the word wajh^33b (face) be referred to some thing, as masters of the secret knowledge of God have said?” The Shaikh, the moment he heard this speech, became much agitated, and the colour of his blessed countenance^33c turned to red and yellow, and he said, “Did I not, when I first set eyes on this devil, repeat the formula “We seek protection, etc.,” and now, in the manner which we have just heard, his devilry has become apparent?” And when he discovered what the student's design was he repeated several times the formula, “There is no power or strength but with God,” and quoted the following couplet from the Qaṣīda-yi-Burda:—^33d

“O thou who blamest me for my pure affection, excused
“Thou art by me therefor, but had'st thou done justice thou
would'st not have blamed me.”^33e

Intense love for God overpowered the Shaikh and he ordered the student to be turned out of the assembly, but afterwards, calling him back again, he appeased him, and the contemplation of this matter was a great warning to us who were present. That night passed very uncomfortably for me in the hospice, and I watched for the morning in order that I might escape. The early morning prayers³⁴ were recited with the Shaikh at the moment the true dawn began to appear, when we could not see one another's faces without a lamp, I indeed thinking that it was yet night. At sunrise the Shaikh came out of his cell and stood at the door of the masjid, ordering Miyāṅ Shaikh Muḥammad^34a to bring for us three whatever food might be ready, and I was in great agitation of mind, ever and again endeavouring to get Miyāṅ Shaikh Muḥammad to obtain leave from his master for me to depart. The holy Shaikh, with his Qur'ān in one hand and salt in the other ^20. was appositely expounding the blessed verse, “Make ready then against them what force ye can, and squadrons of horse,”^34b and so on to the end of the verse, ignoring my application for leave to depart. Apropos of what he was saying he then mentioned, in a most affectionate manner, Ḥusain Khan, who was at that time in the pargana of Isaulī,^34c and said, “He is my son.”^34d Then, following the dictates of his generous nature, which led him to bestow on every one, rich or poor, a piece of gold, or salt, or some other gift, he gave to me a tanka.

Of the miracles which I saw him perform, when I made that journey to visit him, this was one. As we three³⁵ were on the road to Ambeṭhī, journeying to pay our respects to the Shaikh (the road-police) had arrested a man dressed as beggar on a charge of theft and highway robbery, and had seized him by his clothes.^35a He in some way managed to effect his escape, and in that very hour came begging to the holy Shaikh; but notwithstanding all his persistence and lamentation the Shaikh gave him nothing. We who were present were much astonished, as we had often witnessed instances of the Shaikh's generosity. The Shaikh at once opposed and objected to^35b (our expressions of surprise) saying, “Look at the^35c thief, who both robs on the highway and poses as a beggar,” and he drove him out of our assembly. This caused great astonishment, and when we looked closely at the man we recognized him as the same person whom the road-police had laid hands on.

On the same day another occurrence, similar to this, took place, but an account of it would occupy much space.

On the last day of Ramaẓān, in the year already mentioned, we were travelling rapidly at night^35d with Ḥusain Khān, from his pargana to Ambeṭhī, and all our efforts were centred on reaching that place in time to recite the early morning prayers³⁶ in company with the Shaikh. The dawn had already appeared when, at three kurūh^36a distance from Ambeṭhī, we put spurs to our horses, and regretted that we were not in time for the public prayers.^36b We reached the Shaikh's masjid in Ambeṭhī as the sun was about to rise. At that moment the holy Shaikh, having come out of his house, was just commencing his prayers with the “Allāhu Akbar,”^{36c 21.} and he broke off, and we thought that we were just too late, but we nevertheless attained the great honour (which we sought). Now this act of the Shaikh was contrary to his usual custom, for he always recited the early morning prayers at a time when we thought that the true dawn had hardly appeared.

It chanced that towards the close of the same day the Shaikh was explaining the mysticism of the Ṣūfīs^36d in the masjid, and he read some^36e verses from the Dīvān of Khāja Hāfiẓ.^36f One of the companions of the late Ḥusain Khān asked whose disciple Khāja Ḥāfiẓ was, and the Shaikh said, “He was the disciple of Khāja Naqshband,”³⁷ (may God sanctify his soul!) Another, apropos of the same subject, asked “How was horse-flesh regarded in the religion of the greatest of the Imāms?”^37a (i.e., was it lawful food or not?) The Shaikh replied that the greatest of the Imāms himself ate horse-flesh, and when he reached this couplet:—

“The Ṣūfīs celebrate in one moment two ‘īds (great feasts)
“Spiders make pemmican of a fly.”^37b

then I too, trusting in my own singleness of heart, thoughtlessly asked, “What is meant by the ‘two ‘īds?’” This question annoyed the Shaikh and he angrily said, “Let Bāyazid^37c and Junaid,^37d or Shiblī^37e and Manṣūr^37f ask such a question as this. What have you to do with such a question?” And falling into this vein he spoke much on the subject, and I, hanging my head with shame, repented my indiscretion. Ḥusain Khān, biting his finger with consternation, looked ever and anon towards me, and his friends were all bewildered. Suddenly my lot was lightened by the rising of the (joyful) clamour which is heard on the appearance of the new moon of the ‘īd,³⁸ and all rose and busied themselves in mutual congratulations and hand-shakings. I rose, and on the plea of being fatigued went to recite my evening prayers in a tent which was pitched in a garden beside the masjid, feeling sick of life. When the holy Shaikh, going indoors, set food before his guests, he asked “Where is such an one?”^38a (i.e., Badāonī), Shaikh Muḥammad, his worthy successor,^38b answered, “By reason of the ^22. impertinence of which he was guilty he could not appear in the masjid, and he absented himself also from the public prayers. The Shaikh then sent me some food from his own table, with his blessing, and I was somewhat consoled, and entertained hopes of forgiveness. Early the next morning Ḥusain Khān went to Lakhnau, to join in celebrating the ‘īd there, and I alone remained in Ambeṭhī. The holy Shaikh recited the prayers of the festival in his masjid and afterwards occupied himself in giving instruction in the book known as the ‘Awārif.^38c Meanwhile Shaikh Muḥammad rose up to intercede for me, and asked that my fault might be forgiven. The Shaikh sent for me, and breaking off his teaching turned to me with great kindness, and when I, my eyes full of tears, placed my head on his foot, he embraced me and said “I bear no enmity or malice in my heart against anybody. Whatever I say is in the way of advice and spiritual instruction to the slaves of God, and abuse from me, as was the case with abuse from the prophet of God, (may God bless and save him), has on its object the same effect as praise (from another), and even if I utter a curse on anybody it has the same effect as a blessing.³⁹ Then, in affection, taking his cap from his blessed head, he gave it to me, and took me apart into the cell which was in the gate-house, and said “Perform your ceremonial ablutions in my presence, and recite your prayers.” I recited them wonderingly. He said to me, “Men say of me that I do not instruct students. What instruction can I give? My instruction and religious teaching are just this much, a tongue never weary of praising God and a thankful heart.” Then he became agitated like a stormy surging sea and said “My life is instruction sufficient for seekers after God, and walkers in His way.”^39a Just then two darvīshes from Sindh, breaking the Shaikh's custom, began to sing outside an Indian melody in mournful and grating tones, and my spiritual condition underwent a change^39b by means of the influence brought to bear on me at that time. Apropos of this (influence) the Shaikh said that the great companions (of Muḥammad),^39c (may God be gratified with them!), when they saw that the desert ‘Arabs newly converted to Islam were much affected by hearing the glorious Qur'ān read, ^23. regretted their own state, and the leader of the faithful, Abū-Bakr, the faithful witness of the truth, (may God be gratified with him!), said, “We were like you, but afterwards our hearts became hard: that is to say, they became firmly fixed and immoveable, so that they were like stones for lack of ability to be softened.”⁴⁰ Then the Shaikh read some sentences which were quite unfamiliar to my ear, and gave me permission to use the following prayer constantly:—“O God, I seek protection of Thee against deafness, dumbness, madness, leprosy, and leucoderma.” ^40a When I took my leave and came to Lakhnau I made a stay of some days there, and the Shaikh would sometimes send me a piece of salt, which he used generally to hold in his hand and lick when in an assembly, reciting this saying of Muḥammad, “Salt is a cure for seventy diseases, except death.”^40b And he would sometimes also send me some uncooked^40c rice, and sometimes an earthenware jar, and other presents, and he received my younger brother, the late Shaikh Muḥammad, into the company of his disciples and pupils, and in a short time, being blessed^40d with the holy Shaikh's regard he acquired angelic qualities and a love for the practice of ascetism. He generally observed the continued fast,^40e and spent his time in reading the glorious Qur'ān, in reciting God's praises, in exorcism, and in works of supererogation, so that not one hour of his precious life was wasted, or was passed in idleness, as mine has been.

“In respect of rose-water and the rose the decree of fate
from time without beginning has been this,
“That the former is a courtesan of the market-place, and
the latter a chaste and curtained dame.”

And at that time he left the world, and it is certain that, preserving his faith intact, he retired to the garden of Riẓwān.⁴¹ The venerable age of the holy Shaikh extended to more than eighty years, and even at that great age he begat children, and ^24. his departure from this abode of decay took place in the year H. 979 (A.D. 1571-72).

Kākōrī^41b is a pargana town in the Sarkār of Lakhnau. The Shaikh was the most learned of the learned men of his time, abstemious and well versed in the holy law, while in devout piety even the greatest of the Imāms^41c (Abū Ḥanīfah) was his inferior. For many years he was engaged in teaching and in instructing the people. He had committed the whole of the glorious word (of God) to memory, according to each of the seven methods of reading it. He used also to give instruction in Shāṭibī.^41d He reckoned his spiritual succession from Mīr Sayyid Ibrāhīm of Irīj,^41e (may God sanctify his soul!) who was himself the most learned of the learned men of his time. The Shaikh would never mention the Ṣūfī mysteries in a public assembly, but only in private, to those who had been initiated in their secrets and one of his sayings was “If the mystical profession of the Unity of God⁴² be made in public it turns again solely to him who uttered it, or to the learned men (present).”

He would not listen to singing, and outwardly reprobated it. He left numerous children who attained perfection, all of whom were adorned with the embellishment of rectitude, piety, wisdom, knowledge, and excellence.

The compiler of these historical selections was honoured, in company with the late Muḥammad Ḥusain Khān,^42a by being permitted to pay his respects to the Shaikh in Lakhnau. It was the blessed month of Ramaẓān, and a certain one brought to the Shaikh a work on logic, asking him to set him a task in that book. The Shaikh said “You should read some book on divinity.”

The Shaikh's death occurred in the year H. 981 (A.D. 1573-4).

He also was one of the more esteemed among holy men. His line of spiritual descent came through his own revered father, Shaikh Muḥammad (may God render his soul fragrant). Shaikh Muḥammad wrote a commentary in Persian on Shāṭibī,^42b which covered nearly seventy quires of paper. His true successor, ^25. Shaikh Sa'dī, was subject to fits of overpowering religious ecstasy, and was pure both in body and soul. He was ever cheerful and light of heart, and lived happy and free from care. To one of his friends he wrote in a letter, when saying farewell to him:—

“Thy Sa'dī's eyes and heart are with thee on thy way,
“So deem not that thou goest alone, they bide with thee
alway.”
His death occurred in the year H. 1002 (A.D. 1593-4).

He was one of the successors of Shaikh Muḥammad Ghauṯ,^43a and was a master of the art of exorcism. He had a great reputation for asceticism, holy poverty, and resignation, and was generous and open-handed. He came to Lakhnau, where very many were honoured by converse with him, and received from him permission to give instruction in religious matters. There he died.

In his youth he served in the army, in the reign of Sulṭān Ibrāhīm Lodī,^43c but^43d when the Emperor Bābar conquered India he gave up that profession for a life of holy poverty, sacrificing all his ambition thereto.^43e He became a disciple of Shaikh Buhlūl, devoting himself to the service of God and to asceticism. From his spiritual instructor he learnt the proper use of some of the names of God in exorcism, and lived the life of a recluse in a garden, most of the trees of which had been planted by himself, shutting in his own face the door of entry into and exit from the houses of other men. They used to say that for more than thirty years his food had been nothing but milk alone, and that he never used pulse or any sort of food other than (milk). One day when Muḥammad Ḥusain Khān, accompanied by me, went to visit him, a cat came up to the Shaikh mewing piteously. The Shaikh said “This cat has cause of complaint, for you have wasted both her time and the time of the master of the house, ^26. causing it to be passed in frivolity, and distracting my heart.”

Nārnol^44a is one of the famous cities of India. Although the Shaikh was the disciple of Shaikh Khānūn of the Cishtī^44b order, who was settled in the fort of Gwāliyār, he always declared that he acquired most of his excellence, and education, as well as the spiritual succession, from his own elder brother, Shaikh Isma‘īl by name. He was a Ṣūfī who had attained the first stage of recognition of God,^44c had overcome his desires, and had acquired complete hope in God's mercy. He was thoroughly acquainted with the (spiritual) condition of those who had retired from the world and had chosen the religious life, and possessed great influence over them. I have heard that he used to order the darvīshes of his hospice, during eclipses of the moon, to take oil of the Celastrus,^44d (a medicine well-known in India, on which treatises, describing its virtues, have been written, and of the properties of which the author has had some small experience), and that under its influence the truth about the next world^44e was revealed to them, and that he used to recount to them^44f other wonderful matters—but God knows the truth.

He remained seated on the throne of religious guidance for nearly forty years, and from early youth to the end of his life there were very few years in which he did⁴⁵ not make a pilgrimage on foot, inflamed with strong desire and fervour, losing no time on the way, to the shrine of that holy pole-star of the world, Khāja Quṭbu-'d-dīn Bakhtyār of Ūsh,^45a (may God sanctify his tomb!). Towards the end of his life, owing to old age, and other things which hindered him (from performing this pilgrimage), he used to celebrate the festival^45b of the sainted Khāja in Nārnōl. In abandoning all outward show he followed the footsteps of his spiritual guide, and in his freedom from ceremoniousness and formality he regarded rich and poor alike, observing the same impartiality also in admitting disciples. I saw him when he was surrounded by a crowd, and so did not attain to the honour of ^27. conversing with him. His death took place in the year H. 997, (A.D. 1588-9,) and the words “Alas for Niẓām”^45c were found to give the date.

He was profoundly learned and in early life spent many years in teaching and giving instruction. He was a disciple of Shaikh Ṣafī, the spiritual successor of Shaikh Sa‘īd, and held from him a diploma, authorizing him to give religious instruction. In early life he employed^45e himself to such an extent in the acquisition of exoteric knowledge that there are now living many wise men, masters of perfection, who owe their wisdom to his teaching.⁴⁶ Latterly he devoted^46a himself wholly to the Ṣūfī-istic rule, founding an order of devotees, vowed to personal poverty, whose rule was resignation to God, retirement from the world, and the giving of alms. A keen appreciation of the ecstatic songs and dances (of darvīshes) and an overpowering religious ecstacy were comprised in his daily system of religious exercises,^46b and were never omitted. He restrained his steps from wandering to the doors of men, especially of worldly men, and those of position and rank, and on these grounds he never accepted an invitation to a feast. All his offspring and followers secured the good fortune of the assistance of the example of his practice in enduring poverty and want. One of them was his true successor^46c Shaikh Abū-'l-Fatḥ, who succeeded to his prayer-mat, and is one of the most pre-eminent^46d among the learned men of this time. In his rules of conduct, both outward and inward, he follows, wholly and completely, his venerable father, and he is the author of many standard works on most branches of knowledge. Never did a beggar go away disappointed from the Shaikh.

One day Muḥammad Ḥusain Khān asked the Shaikh, “What sort of a man was Sālār Mas‘ūd,^46e whom the common people of India worship?” The Shaikh replied, “He was an Afghān who met his death by martyrdom.”⁴⁷

Towards the end of his life, in accordance with an Imperial summons, he came to Fatḥpūr and there saw the Khalīfa^47a (vice- ^28. gerent) of the age. When the Emperor heard that the Shaikh, when the messenger conveyed the summons to him, set out from his hospice on foot, without allowing anything to detain him, travelling thus until his servants sent his baggage and travelling litter after him, he was much pleased. When he asked the Shaikh a question the Shaikh would make a sign to signify that he was hard of hearing, and the Emperor would give him a piece of gold. He also ordered that a subsistence allowance^47b should be assigned to the Shaikh, and then immediately gave him permission to depart.

The Shaikh's death occurred in the year H. 993 (A.D. 1585). May the mercy of God be upon him!

Chatī^47c is the chief town of a pargana in the District of Lāhōr. The Shaikh's noble ancestors came first from the land of the ‘Arabs^47d to Sītpūr,^47e which is in the Multān country, and the holy Shaikh was himself born in that place. His noble father proceeded ^47f from this world to eternity before his birth, and his mother died^47g very shortly after it, and he, left alone, as an incomparable pearl,⁴⁸ was brought up under the guardianship of his elder brother, Miyān Raḥmatu-'llāh. When they set him tasks in the reading of the Qurā'n, tears would sometimes flow over the surface of his blessed cheeks, and he would say, “Trouble me not in respect of this matter, but leave me unto God the Most High.” From this time they knew that he had no need of any acquired learning.

Couplet.

“What need had he of instruction in polite learning,
“Who was himself from the first well learned therein?”

They say that one of the two princes of both worlds, either Imām Ḥasan or Imām Ḥusain,^48a (may God be gratified with them!), it cannot be decided which, taught the holy Shaikh in ^29. a dream some verses from the first chapter of the Qur'ān, and sometimes when he went, to refresh his heart, to watch the play of children,^48b he would dejectedly and perplexedly watch them from afar, and would say, “I see their faces scratched, their bodies^48c covered with blood, and their skin torn off, and some of them appear to me as though they had lost their heads.”^48d

When, after many temporal vicissitudes and various hardships, he came to the pargana town of Satgarah,^48e and from there to Lāhōr, he commenced to study under Maulānā Isma‘īl of Uch,^48f who had received instruction from his highness the lord Maulavī ‘Ārif-i-Jāmī, (may God sanctify his tomb!), and in early youth he read the commentary of Iṣfahānī⁴⁹ with such critical acumen,^49a that the best students from among the natives of the country, who were reading that book in class with him, stood^49b astonished at the perspicuous quickness of his apprehension and the clearness of his intellect, and his tutor said, “Friends, just as we, in our time, used to rejoice and contend for superiority in the sight of our respected master, so too will this lad, before long, attain to such a degree of respect that the people will^49c look towards him with blessing and benediction, and from his noble and profitable words will gain advantage and excellence.”^49d At last he became a living witness (of the truth of) and (one might say) the source of (the saying), “Blessed is he who hath seen me or hath seen one who hath seen me.”^49e

“My love, though he went not to school, nor wrote a line,
“By means of one glance instructed a hundred teachers in
(difficult) problems.”^49f

And, having attained the position of a most learned sage he was rejoiced with the good news of the sacred text, “O David, verily have we made thee a vicegerent.”^49g And at the very time when he was employed in the exercise of harsh and severe austerities, having conceived, by means of the attractions of God,—“which are equal to the acts of both men and jinn,”—a ^30. strong craving after God, his spiritual holiness Ghauṯu-'ṯ-Ṯaqalain (may God be pleased with him!) evinced, in all circumstances, great interest in his progress, and became his helper, assister, and guardian, keeping his regard always fixed upon him, openly listening to and returning favourable answers to his petitions, until he perforce drew him, after the manner of beloved ones who are attracted, and attracted ones who are beloved,⁵⁰ to the court of saintship, Divine guidance, and perfection, to the closet of propinquity (to God), to the chamber of the grandeur of God, and to the resting-place of the Holiness of the Lord of Majesty. When under the influence of this strong craving after God he used to wander bare-headed and bare-foot in the desert about Dībālpūr,^50a the dwelling-place of beasts of prey, wild animals, and birds, in a spot now known as Shīrgaṛh:—

Hemistich.

“We are lovers wandering in the plains of Damascus.”^50b

And sometimes when he went to circumambulate^50c the blessed shrine of that holy Saint, obeyed of all the world, Ganj-i-Shakar,^50d (may God sanctify his tomb!) he would there receive signs, and experience happy visions, and engage in conversation and intercourse (with the saint's spirit), a detailed account of which is beyond the limits of this hastily compiled history. They are recounted in detail in the book (known as) Naghmāt-i-Dā'ūdī,^50e which was written by that cream of saints and fruit of the pure at heart, Shaikh Abū-'l-Ma‘ālī, the son of Shaikh Rahmatu-'llāh, already mentioned, the date of whose most fortunate birth may be deduced from the words “the beggar of Shaikh Dā'ūd,”⁵¹ or from the words “Abū-'l-Ma‘ālī, the worshipper of the true (God),”^51a and who is now the successor of Shaikh Mīyān Dā'ūd, (may God sanctify his soul!). When he had spent a period of twenty years, or thereabouts, in ecstatic longing after God and wandering over plains and deserts, he was inspired to revert to a regular mode of life^51b and to the religious instruction of the people, but since he had had no outward religious instructor and guide he hesitated to undertake the charge, until he was initiated and appointed by his spiritual holiness Ghauṯ-i-A‘ẓam^51c for the following duty, namely, to assist, for the sake of preserving the spiritual succession, the reverend Shaikh Ḥāmid-i-Qādirī ^31. (may God sanctify his tomb!) who was the son of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-Qādir the second, and the father of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-Qādir, ^51d who at the time of writing is occupying his venerable father's place in Ucch, by drawing him (more closely) to God. And the late saint, (may God have mercy upon him!) since he had already many times asked for assistance from this disciple, who was after his own heart, and turned to him in every important business, and had asked^51e that a fātiḥah^51f might be offered up on his (the late saint's) behalf, delayed to draw up his blessed tree of spiritual succession and to issue a permit for perfecting of disciples until he himself went one day to the town of Satkara,⁵² where the saint (may God have mercy upon him!) had many times previously lodged, on which occasion, when under the influence of his ecstatic longing after God, he said, “Here is Shaikh Ghauṯ-i-A‘ẓam (may God be pleased with him!) who has come and signifies that he entrusts to me his prayer-carpet, staff, tree of spiritual succession, horse, covered litter, and all the appurtenances of Shaikh-dom and spiritual leadership.” When the saint (may God^52a sanctify his tomb!) was informed from on high of that occurrence, and when his knowledge of it was afterwards completely confirmed, he entrusted the divine charge committed to him to him whom his soul desired, but who appeared as though he were the seeker (not the sought after), returning from his soaring flight (of ecstasy) to ordinary intercourse (with his fellow creatures), and spread the mat of sojourning in the newly-built town of Shīrgaṛh, near to Chatī,^52b and half-way between Multān and Pattan, started a new order, the Qādirīyyah,^52c which is midway between the two exalted orders, Sahrawardiyyah and Cishtiyyah,^52d (blessings on them, all three, from God!) and in the Divine power and by means of close connection with the true God, he so carried forward^52e the work that the sound issuing therefrom will not die away^52f until the sounding of the last trump.

When Mullā ‘Abdu-'llāh of Sulṭānpūr, who was known as Makhdūmu-'l-Mulk, girded his loins to strenuous efforts in uprooting the men of God,⁵³ becoming the means of the death of several of them, he sent an imperial order in the name of Salīm^53a Shāh Sūr, the Afghān, from Gwāliyār, summoning the holy Miyāṅ among others, in obedience to which ^32. order the Miyāṅ set out in haste with one or two attendants, and, meeting Makhdūmu-'l-Mulk, outside Gwāliyār, with marks of the greatest^53b respect,^53c alighted in a spot where he sat down with him, and where a beneficial conversation took place. The pernicious mischief-makers, as soon as they witnessed this conversation, fled away to every corner, so that they could not be discovered even by search being made. Makhdūmu-'l-Mulk said, “Their report is not on this ground (alone) falsified.”^53d After much talk and conversation the Shaikh asked “What was the real motive for summoning us religious mendicants?” Makh-dūmu-'l-Mulk replied, “I heard that your disciples, when performing the religious exercise of ẕikr, said ‘O Dā'ūd, O Dā'ūd!’” The Shaikh replied “There has probably been some mistake in hearing, owing to a similarity of sounds, or else my followers must have said ‘O Wadūd, O Wadūd!’”^53e In connection with this matter the Shaikh remained for a whole day, or a whole night,^53f

bestowing on him sublime exhortations and advice, and imparting to him precious knowledge and facts relating to God.⁵⁴ Makh-dūmu-'l-Mulk was much affected and dismissed the Shaikh from that place with honour.

On one occasion the austerity and piety of Miyāṅ Ḥisāmu-'d-dīn of Ṭalamba,^54a may God have mercy upon him! (some of whose glorious attributes are mentioned in the Najātu-'r-Rashīd) happened to be the subject of conversation in the noble assembly of the Shaikh, and he said “Ah, what a pity was it that the Miyāṅ failed in personal desire of and love for God, and was the slave of mere morality:—

Hemistich.

“Thou hast kept one thing, and (many) things are lost to thee.”
“Beware, at the last,^54b from whom thou remainest apart.”^54c

The liberality and charity of the Shaikh's disposition were such ^33. that on certain fixed occasions,^54d either once or twice in the year, he scattered abroad in promiscuous charity^54e all the money and goods that he had received gratuitously, and he and his chaste wife kept nothing in the cell that was their dwelling but an earthen pot and a piece of old matting, and when he saw that his treasure-chest was full he would again in the same manner disburse its contents in promiscuous charity,^54f and notwithstanding this (profusion), on the birth-day and feast-day of the holy Ghauṯ-i-A‘ẓam (may God be pleased with him!) all the needs^54g of the pilgrims, whether of high or low degree, who, to the number of nearly a hundred thousand souls, more or less, were gathered together, were met by disbursements from the alms-chest of his hospice, and that profusion, praise be to God, is still continued, nay rather, is increased many fold. Some of the auspicious utterances of his inspired tongue, the interpreter of divine truths, are as follows:—⁵⁵

“In the name of God, the Director and Guide in the darkness of occans and deserts.” I have many times seen and experienced the efficiency of this holy saying in positions of fear^55a and danger. Another is:—

“Praised be He in respect of Whose Essence our thoughts are
bewildered,
“Praised be He in respect of the understanding of Whom our
understanding soars.”^55b

And there are many other examples of such prayers, praises ẕikrs and choice phrases, and the signet-ring posy of that holy man, composed by himself, was as follows:—

“Dā'ūd has been effaced in name and trace
“For poverty effaces all traces.”

When I, the author of these pages, in the time of Bairām Khān, (that best of times, when India was as a bride,)^55c was a student in Āgra, I heard from certain darvīshes great reports of the Shaikh's noble and majestic attributes, and from that time forward I sowed ^34. the seed of attachment to and trust in him in the ground of preparation (for meeting him) and was in secret a slave to this desire (of meeting him).

And at that very time I repeatedly made attempts to go and pay my respects to that holy man, clothing myself in the pilgrim's garment meet for the circumambulation of that threshold around which the angels do go, and set out⁵⁶ for Shīrgaṛh (with this object). But sometimes my father, who has now obtained pardon and forgiveness of his sins, withstood me and turned me back in the way, and sometimes I was let by other hindrances, which were the means of disappointing me of the fruition of that good fortune. A period of twelve years passed over me, thus expectant, before one of the servants of that court, Shaikh Kālū by name, a solitary traveller, who had himself^56a formerly been the means of my secret knowledge of the Shaikh, like the humā, from hidden regions cast his shadow on Badāon and its environs, and said to me, “Is it not a pity that the holy Miyāṅ (Shaikh Dā'ūd) should be in the land of the living and that you should (be content to) rest with hope unfulfilled and should not even once see him?” This soul-subduer kindled a fire in my perplexed soul, and the Most High God provided the means (of the fulfilment of my desire), for Muḥam-mad Ḥusain Khān, in whose^56b personal service I was, went in pursuit of Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā from Kānt u Gūla^56c towards the Panjāb, and the means of attaining that happiness were thus prepared ^56d for me, so that, as has been already mentioned,^56e I went to Shīrgaṛh from Lāhōr, and saw with my own eyes a portion of the (spiritual) beauty of the holy man—and what possessor of beauty can be compared to him? As he smiled and spoke light sparkled from his teeth,^56f a light which illuminated the dark abode of the heart, and from which the secret of the Countenance of God was manifested. In short for the space of three or four days I acquired some advantage from this transitory life.

Few days passed on which Hindus, to the number of fifty or a hundred, more or less (on each day), did not come with their families and kindred to pay their respects to that holy man, receiving the high honour of conversion to Islām, and obtaining ^35. instruction in the faith.⁵⁷ I found the gates and walls and trees and dwellings of that delectable town filled with the sound of the telling of rosaries and the reciting of God's praises, and the Shaikh bestowed on me his auspicious cap, saying,^57a “Be^57b thou my deputy to thine own people, for (thus to appoint a deputy) is my wont,” and he sent a kerchief and a veil from his chaste wife^57c to my wives^57d and children, and when I made a representation to him, saying, “If you bestow on me the gift of a shirt, it will be light upon light.” After some reflection he said “That also will arrive in due time.” Having disclosed to him some of the secrets of my heart and my designs and intentions, I endeavoured to obtain leave to depart. At this point^57e that holy man left his masjid in his closed travelling litter, owing to his great weakness, and set out for my first halting-place. I, taking the pole of the litter on my shoulder, walked for some paces with it. While I was thus employed a powerful fit of weeping overcame me, and the Shaikh, stopping the litter, said, “Put me down.” He alighted, and sat down, and spoke so much of the knowledge and love of God, the Most High, that my agitation re-doubled. One day, at the time of leave-taking, I represented, through Mīyāṅ ‘Abdu-'l-Wahhāb, one of the Shaikh's sincere companions, (to whom is applicable the text), “Blessedness awaiteth them and a goodly home,”⁵⁸ that a report was current among the holy men of Hindustān that the time for the rising of a religious leader was at hand, that most of that body, (i.e., the holy men,) concurred in fixing on one of the Sayyids of that country, whose ancestors had formerly been seated on the throne of empire in Dihlī and Badāon for some time,^58a that they were engaged in making preparations for a holy war and in collecting, arms,^58b that they professed to have received directions^58c from the holy Ghauṯ-i-A‘ẓam ^58d (may God be pleased with him!) to engage in this affair, and that they had implicated with themselves some of the Amīrs on the frontier, and that some of them professed to have received supernatural encouragement during their assemblies and when they were in difficulties, and purposed to bring the object of their desire to an issue. The Shaikh asked me, “What ^36. is that Sayyid's mode of life, and condition?” I said “He is a man who lives a retired life, in holy poverty,^58e conformably to the sacred law, a recluse and an ascetic who has resigned himself to God, passing most of his days among the tombs (of holy men) and his nights in his cell in worship and submission to God, but he is a man of good family,⁵⁹ unrivalled and incomparable in his knowledge of the military art, of excellent moral character and following a most worthy mode of life.” The Shaikh said “The members of that body (i.e., the holy men), are no true darvīshes, in that they so traduce the holy Ghauṯ,^59a and do him violence now that he can no longer help himself,^59b and those spiritual encouragements and signs are all part of the delusions of Satan, for how could the holy Ghauṯ (may God be pleased with him!) countenance such matters as this, he whose rule it always was that the people should expel the love of the world from their hearts, and, in all candour and sincerity, should set their faces towards the love of God, the Most High, abandoning vain desires and lusts, and not that one should turn aside from the path of worship, asceticism and holy endeavour to fall again into the net of the world, which is the enemy of God? Say to that Sayyid from me, “May God the Most High vouchsafe to you grace to stand fast in the path which you hold. If the least suspicion of any desire for evanescent delights remains (in your heart), it behoves you to strive to overcome it, and not to be beguiled by the impostures and misrepresentations of a bewildered band of know-nothings,^59c thereby straying from the path. Though the lover of the world should attain to kingship,—the supreme object of worldly men, and the seeker after the (sensual) joys of paradise^59d should reach the rewards bestowed by the Everlasting God, that is, the maidens and mansions^59e of the next world, and the lover of God⁶⁰ should die of grief from the utter hopelessness of attaining his object, yet is the disappointment of this last a thousand-fold^60a better and more happy than the fruition and ^37. attainment of desire experienced by the former two classes of poor-spirited men.” And the Shaikh, speaking on this subject, scattered amongst us so many jewels of profitable advice that pearl-like tears began to fall from the eyes of those that heard him, upon the skirts of their robes, and, that (worldly) object being forgotten, we were thrown into quite a different frame of mind, one above description, and^60b in that state of burning anguish I bade the Shaikh adieu, uttering cries of grief.

“My heart, in the hope that one cry might perchance reach
thee,
“Has uttered in this mountain lamentations such as were
never uttered by Farhād.”

And since the roads between Lāhōr and Shīrgaṛh were, in consequence of the rebellion^60c of the Ulugh Baigī Mīrzās,^60d closed, both at the time of my going to Shīrgaṛh and at the time of my return, and as I was alone, the Shaikh gave me an attendant as a guide, who was to take me to Shaikh Abū Isḥāq-i-Mihrang in Lāhōr,^60e one of the most noted of the holy man's deputies, in order that he might arrange to send me with a caravan to the army of Ḥusain Khān, which had come to Lāhōr from Ṭalamba, and was to proceed thence to Kānt-u-Gūla. “When I reached Lāhōr I set out for Hindustān with Ḥusain Khān's men.” I was sitting one day at our halting-place at Sahāranpūr⁶¹ in a garden, consumed with grief at my separation from that holy man, when a traveller brought to me a Qādirī^61a shirt, which he had in his hand, saying, “Take this, which I received from the hand of a venerable saint, and give me something to help me on my way.”^61b When I questioned him as to the truth of the matter he said, “When Mīrzā Ibrāhīm Ḥusain met with that mischance^61c I, with a party of his troops, overwhelmed with misfortune and a prey to plunderers, arrived stripped and naked at Shīrgaṛh, where we attached ourselves to the holy saint, our helper, and he gave something to each of us. When my turn came round he took this ^38. shirt off his blessed body, and bestowed it upon me. I, thinking that it would be irreverent to wear it, deposited it in safe custody, with a view to taking it away to some place as a rare gift; and now I leave it with you.” I received from him that mysteriously conveyed gift, that treasure wafted to me by the wind, as though it had been a blessing and benediction.

Verses.

The perfume of thy shirt has reached me,
My soul was ravished by that sweet odour.
I had offered a fātiḥah^61d for union with thee,
Praise be to God that my fātiḥah was accepted.

And, remembering the word that he had spoken, I regarded this occurrence as a miracle,^61e and I now preserve that Joseph's coat^61f as I preserve my life—and praise be to God for all this!

Verses.

And as I have been the companion of desire for his excellency
From the cradle, I hope that (that desire) will continue to
the grave.

Verses.

Desire for thee within my mind, and love for thee within my
heart,
Did enter me with mother's milk, and with my life will leave
me.

The following is a brief account of that holy man. He was the cynosure⁶² of his time, an inspired prophet, and a worker of wonders and manifest miracles, giving clear proofs of his sanctity.^62a He had undergone severe discipline^62b and in holy endeavour had striven much. In early life^62c he acquired exoteric knowledge and had also been engaged in teaching. He had resigned himself to God and lived an eremite, going never to the houses of worldly men but once, when in obedience to the (royal) command he went from Shīrgaṛh to Gwāliyār to see Salīm Shāh,^62d and although the Khalīfah of the age,^62e when he was proceeding to Patan sent Shahbāz Khān^62f to summon the Shaikh to bestow on him the honour of a visit, the Shaikh made his excuses, saying, ^39. “My secret prayers are sufficient.” He avoided to the utmost of his power the companionship of the lords of the earth, investing himself with the cloak of “Poverty is my glory.”⁶³ He was constant in almsgiving, and in pointing out to searchers after truth the path of holiness, and whosoever was so aided by fortune as to be led to the Shaikh received great profit from the precious utterances of that blessing of the age and cynosure^63a of the world. In the year H. 982 (A.D. 1574-5) his tent was pitched under the curtain of the Majesty of God the Most High, and in the Court of union with Him, may His glory be exalted! The words “Ah, Shaikh Dā'ūd the Saint!”^63b were found to give the date (of his death). May God bestow upon him His boundless mercy, and raise us with him in that hour when all shall be gathered together.^63c

He was a traveller in the path (of righteousness) and was mysteriously attracted (by the love of God), but notwithstanding this he neglected not one jot of the observances of the pure Law.^63f Many miracles are related as having been performed by him. He lived and received disciples without pomp or ceremony. When I after waiting upon the holy Miyāṅ Shaikh Dā'ūd⁶⁴ (may his honoured tomb be sanctified!) was returning from the Panjāb and travelled to Badāon by way of Amroha, I paid my respects to the Sayyid already mentioned.^64a He read a verse from the glorious word (of God), and delivered an address, not on any fixed theme,^64b but now and again he would turn to me and make some remarks on the excellence of the reward and recompense^64c reserved for the long-suffering, and he quoted the blessed text “But good works, which are lasting…”^64d and so on to the end of the verse. And it afterwards^64e became manifest that this was an indication of the occurrence of a calamity which happened to me. The facts were briefly thus: I had a daughter, whom I dearly loved, and while I was on this journey⁶⁵ she passed away in Badāon from this deceitful world. Probably those consoling subjects were (mentioned) for the comfort of my ^40. heart—but God knows all!

The Shaikh's death occurred in the year H. 987 (A.D. 1579).