Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

NOTES
despair and would come to me asking for an amulet, I would give them
that curl. They would take it with them and keep it till they were
relieved of their affliction’ (Amir Hasan 1992: 153).
17 Hamid Qalandar cites in Khair al-majālis the only instance when Baba
Farid lost his patience. A persistent dervish asked him for an old comb
promising instead ‘a lot of blessings’. ‘Get out’, blew up Shaikh Farid
in anger, considering the request to be foolish, ‘otherwise I will throw
you and your blessings in the river’. On the way back from the cloister
the dervish fell in the Sutlej and drowned (Hamid Qalandar 1959:
202).
18 According to Amir Khurd, Farid had seven khalīfas: Najibuddin
Mutawakkil (the saint’s own brother), Badruddin Ishaq (the saint’s
son-in-law), Jamaluddin Hansawi, Nizamuddin Awliya, Shaikh ‘Arif,
Shaikh ‘Ala’uddin ‘Ali Sabir (founder of a derivative branch of the
fraternity, Sabiriyya) and Fakhruddin Safahani. Early hagiographic
sources give quite scanty information about Shaikh ‘Arif and ‘Ali Sabir
and it is reasonable to assume that they were not close to the saint
in his lifetime. Fakhruddin Safahani, who lived in Bilgram and had
never been to Ajodhan, was given the khilāfat-nāma in absentia on
Nizamuddin Awliya’s request.
19 According to Jami in Nafah˝āt al-uns, Nizamuddin took the final
decision to go to Ajodhan under the impression of the āyat of Qur’ān
heard by him at the time of prayers: ‘Has not the time come for those
who have come to believe, so that their hearts submit while praying to
Allah’ (57: 16).
20 The only instance when Nizamuddin provoked displeasure of his
murshid is linked with the arrogance of learning. Shaikh Farid was
studying with him ‘Awārif al-ma‘ārif in quite an imperfect manuscript,
correcting the copyist’s mistakes in the course of reading. Nizamuddin,
tired of the breaks which were interrupting the studies, reminded his
preceptor that a better and corrected copy was available with Shaikh
Najibuddin Mutawakkil and that was the one which should have been
used. The saint was indignant and sent him away with the words ‘Has
the dervish no power to correct a defective manuscript?’ (Amir Hasan
1992: 109). In the seemingly inoffensive remark of the disciple the saint
had discerned a lack of humility and the impatience of presumption.
21 The example of speculative inclusion of Baba Farid in the history of the
Punjabi literature is the poem ‘Saif ul-mulūk’ by Miyan Muhammad
(1855) in Punjabi, where the author wrote:
Many are the wise poets of the land of the Panjab,
Whose kāfīs, bārāņ-māhs, or baits and doh´rās shine.
First stands Shaikh Farīd, the saintly Shakarganj,
Each word he uttered guides us on the righteous way.
Then came Sulţān Bāhū, a special man of God,
Whose holy doh´rās are so glorious in both worlds,
Bullhe Shāh swam in the sea of Unity,
His kāfīs from the heart remove all unbelief.
(Shackle 1993: 289)
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