Chatī* 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* to Sītpūr,* which is in the Multān country, and the holy Shaikh was himself born in that place. His noble father proceeded * from this world to eternity before his birth, and his mother died* very shortly after it, and he, left alone, as an incomparable pearl,* 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,* (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,* he would dejectedly and perplexedly watch them from afar, and would say, “I see their faces scratched, their bodies* covered with blood, and their skin torn off, and some of them appear to me as though they had lost their heads.”*
When, after many temporal vicissitudes and various hardships, he came to the pargana town of Satgarah,* and from there to Lāhōr, he commenced to study under Maulānā Isma‘īl of Uch,* 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 Iṣfahānī* with such critical acumen,* that the best students from among the natives of the country, who were reading that book in class with him, stood* 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* look towards him with blessing and benediction, and from his noble and profitable words will gain advantage and excellence.”* 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.”*
“My love, though he went not to school, nor wrote a line,
“By means of one glance instructed a hundred teachers in
(difficult) problems.”*
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.”* 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 Ghauu-'-aqalain (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,* 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,* 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.”*
And sometimes when he went to circumambulate*
the blessed
shrine of that holy Saint, obeyed of all the world, Ganj-i-Shakar,*
(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,*
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,”*
or
from the words “Abū-'l-Ma‘ālī, the worshipper of the true
(God),”*
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*
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 Ghau-i-A‘am*
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-
When Mullā ‘Abdu-'llāh of Sulānpūr, who was known
as Makhdūmu-'l-Mulk, girded his loins to strenuous efforts
in uprooting the men of God,*
becoming the means of
the death of several of them, he sent an imperial order
in the name of Salīm*
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*
respect,*
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.”*
After
much talk and conversation the Shaikh asked “What was the
real motive for summoning us religious mendicants?” Makh-
bestowing on him sublime exhortations and advice, and imparting
to him precious knowledge and facts relating to God.*
Makh-
On one occasion the austerity and piety of Miyāṅ Ḥisāmu-'d-dīn of alamba,* 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:—