Muntakhab al-tawarikh 116: XXXIV. MIR SAYYID ‘ALĀ’U-’D-DĪN OF AWADH. (May God have mercy upon him!)

116

He possessed sublime perfections of nature and manifested miraculous powers, and gave clear proofs (of his sanctity). He was one of God’s most wondrous works and many miracles are related of him. Notwithstanding the glorious position and exalted degree (as a saint) to which he attained he would sometimes declare holy mysteries and sacred truths in verse, and this opening couplet by him is the admiration of the world:—
“I know not what colour and scent that smiling rose hath, “With which the birds of every meadow hold converse.”
And he has composed a tarjī‘-band of which this is the refrain: —
“View with the eyes of thy heart nothing except the Friend, “Whatsoever thou seest regard as a manifestation of Him.”
And Shaikh ‘Irāqī (may God sanctify his soul!) has said on the same subject : —
Refrain.
“The world is outward show; its reality is the Friend, “If thou lookest to reality, He is everything.”
And another has said : —
Refrain.
“The world is a veil from the Face of the Friend, “All things existing are the shadow of Him.”
And I have written the following : —
Refrain.
“He is the kernel of the world, the world is nought but the shell, “But what of kernel and of shell, when all things are He?”
Many of the holy men of the time have sat at the Mīr's feet, one of them being his own worthy son, Mīr Sayyid Māhrū who walks in the footsteps of his illustrious father. Another was Mīr Sayyid ‘Alī-yi-Halharī, who was subject to overpowering fits of religious ecstasy, and always remained secluded, and in whom a wonderful degree of religious poverty and separation from the world was apparent. He spoke wonderfully well on the mysticism of the Sufis. I, in company with Husain Khan, waited on him in Kant-u-Gula in the sarkar of Sambhal and received much profit from his precious utterances,—praise be to God therefor!
Mir Sayyid ‘Ali used always to say in his prayers, “O God! make me a martyr!” Accordingly on one occasion some of the robbers of that town, which is a noted den of thieves, entered the Mir's house at midnight, and an outcry was raised. The Mir, notwithstanding his ninety years of age and his bodily feebleness, seized an iron mace, and shouting out “Allah, Allah!” followed the thieves, wounding and sending to hell one or two of them. At last an arrow struck him in a vital spot and he attained the rank of a martyr. This event occurred in the year H. 998 (A.D. 1589-90), and the words “What has happened to that perfect spiritual guide?” were found to give the date.