Muntakhab al-tawarikh 99.2
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 99.2
- Language
- English
99.2.1
On one occasion the austerity and piety of Miyan Hisāmu-’d-dīn of Talamba, 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 Miyan 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, from whom thou remainest apart.”
99.2.2
The liberality and charity of the Shaikh's disposition were such that on certain fixed occasions, either once or twice in the year, he scattered abroad in promiscuous charity 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, and notwithstanding this (profusion), on the birth-day and feast-day of the holy Ghaus-i-A‘zam (may God be pleased with him!) all the needs 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:— “In the name of God, the Director and Guide in the darkness of oceans and deserts.” I have many times seen and experienced the efficiency of this holy saying in positions of fear 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.”
99.2.3
And there are many other examples of such prayers, praises, sayings and choice phrases, and the signet ring posy of that holy man, composed by himself, was as follows:— “Da’ud has been effaced in name and trace “For poverty effaces all traces.” When I, the author of these pages, in the time of Bairam Khan, (that best of times, when India was as a bride,) was a student in Agra, I heard from certain darvishes great reports of the Shaikh's noble and majestic attributes, and from that time forward I sowed 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). Hemistich “Aye, verily doth the ear, in true lovers, outstrip the eye.” 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 out for Shirgarh (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.
99.2.4
A period of twelve years passed over me, thus expectant, before one of the servants of that court, Shaikh Kalu by name, a solitary traveller, who had himself formerly been the means of my secret knowledge of the Shaikh, like the Huma, from hidden regions cast his shadow on Badaon and its environs, and said to me, “ Is it not a pity that the holy Miyan (Shaikh Da’ud) 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 Muhammad Husain Khan, in whose personal service I was, went in pursuit of Ibrahim Husain Mirza from Kant u Gola towards the Panjab, and the means of attaining that happiness were thus prepared for me, so that, as has been already mentioned, I went to Shirgarh from Lahor, 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, 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.
99.2.5
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 Islam, and obtaining instruction in the faith. 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, ‘Be 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 to my wives 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 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 redoubled.
99.2.6
One day, at the time of leave-taking, I represented, through Miyan ‘Abdu-’l-Wahhab, one of the Shaikh's sincere companions, (to whom is applicable the text), “Blessedness awaiteth them and a goodly home,” that a report was current among the holy men of Hindustan 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 Dihli and Badaon for some time, that they were engaged in making preparations for a holy war and in collecting arms, that they professed to have received directions from the holy Ghaus-i-A‘zam (may God be pleased with him!) to engage in this affair, and that they had implicated with themselves some of the Amirs 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.
99.2.7
The Shaikh asked me, “What is that Sayyid’s mode of life, and condition?” I said “He is a man who lives a retired life, in holy poverty, 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, 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 darvishes, in that they so traduce the holy Ghaus, and do him violence now that he can no longer help himself, and those spiritual encouragements and signs are all part of the delusions of Satan, for how could the holy Ghaus (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.
99.2.8
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, 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 should reach the rewards bestowed by the Everlasting God, that is, the maidens and mansions of the next world, and the lover of God should die of grief from the utter hopelessness of attaining his object, yet is the disappointment of this last a thousand-fold better and more happy than the fruition and 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 in that state of burning anguish I bade the Shaikh adieu, uttering cries of grief.