Hazrat Main Mir
Published: 02/24/2009
According to Dara Shikoh the name of the Saint was Mir Muhammad Alias Mian Mir and he was addressed as ‘Mian Jio’ out of reverence and respect. He was born in Sistan in 938 A. H. a city lying between Bhakkar and Thatta (Sindh). The language of the area was Sindhi. His father’s name was Qazi Sain Ditta bin Qazi Qalander Farooqi, who descended form Hazrat Umar Farooq. Hazrat Mian Mir, first went to Shaikh Khizar for spiritual guidance in the mountains of Sistan. At 25, with the permission of Shaikh Khizar, Hazat Mian Mir left for Lahore, for worldly education and knowledge. Here, during the reign of Akbar, the Madrasah of Maulana Saadullah was the most established seat of learing with great men of letters to teach and guide. For some time he received instructions form Akhund Nimat Ullah, who was a disciple of Maulana Saadullah. Hazrat Mian Mir used to visit the Mausoleum and gardens during daytime or sit at isolated places under trees, in jungles or sometimes around the river. The saint avoided meeting people and did not sleep for many years.
Prince Dara Shikoh was the disciple of Shah Muhammad Alias Mullah Shah, from Dadakshan; in turn a disciple of Mian Mir. Mullah Shah was a man of much piety and was a great orator of his time, and a poet. Both mian Mir and Mullah Shah pre-deceased Dara Shikoh who constructed a spacious mausoleum of Mullah Shah and had also commenced building a more superb shrine over the remains of Mian Mir, when he was murdered at Delhi by his brother Aurangzeb. The costly stones on the tomb of Mullah Shah were removed later by Ranjit Singh for their temple at Amritsar.
Hazrat Mian Mirwas a born Saint and in the realm of spiritualism happened to be “Avaisi” and was from the direct ‘Taabeen’ of the Holy Prophet. According to Dara Shikoh, Mullah Niamat Ullah narrated that Mian Mir learnt everything but never revealed anything about himself. Mian Murad Naqi tells that Hazrat Mian Mir used to suspend his breath and spend the whole night meditating and praying. For some time Mian Jio went to Sirhand where he developed pain in his ankle, and during this period Haji Niamat Ullah looked after him.
Hazrat Mian Mir did not like to have many disciples and would only accept who appread generally in search of spiritual light. He had no known source of food and for days he would remain without food. One day his brother came to see him but as he had no food for him he got worried. He asked his brother came to call him that a young man had brought the food and was waiting for him. On reaching home, and on inquiring, the reply of young man was that God had sent him food. The young man, however, did not join as he was fasting.
Dara Shikoh in his work has dealt with at length the accomplishments of Hazrat Mian Mir. Dara Shikoh writes that “although my grandfather had little faith in Fakirs, he, however, enterained the greatest esteem for Mian Mir (Bala Pir)”. He once invited the Shaikh. He accepted the invitation and went to King’s palace. The Emperor received him with great respect. There was a lengthy discussion. The Shaikh chiefly concentrated on the instability of the word. The oration of the saint had such an effect on the Emperor’s mind that he expressed a desire to become Shaukh’s disciple and abandon the world. The Shaikh, however, admonished him to continue in his worldly pursuits observing that kings had been made for the protection of God’s people and that in attending to this he too was discharging an important duty, entrusted to him by the Creator and he may continue to perform that duty. The Emperor was much pleased to hear this from the Shaikh and said to him ‘Tell me, Oh’ Shaikh, if you want anything “will you promise to give it to me,” said the Bala Pir. “Most certainly, I will grant it , “rejoined the Emperor. On this the Holy Shaikh said my only want is that your Majesty would not give me the trouble of “coming to you again”. With this assurance from the Emperor that he would not be troubled to visit him again, the Shaikh withdrew. Since the Emperor benefitted from the company of the Faqir, inspite of his promise, wrote two letters to Hazrat Mian Mir asking for prayers and spiritual favours especially in connection with attack on Kandhar by the Iranian Ruler. After the death of Emperor Jahangir, Shah Jahan visited Hazart Mian Mir teice. On both the occasions Dara Shikoh was there. He writes in his book that there were light and lengthydiscussions and the King was so impressed that he always used to say he has not seen any pious ‘Darvesh’ like Hazrat Bala Pir. The first time, the Emperor entered the closet of Pir Bala, he was accompanied by four persons. The first thing the Shaikh remarked was that the king should be just and caring for his “ra’ayyat” and should divert all his energies for the betterment of the empire. For, if the public at large is well off, the Government will be rich and thus a strong and stable Kingdom. Dara Shikoh was suffering from disease which had been declared incurable by ‘Hakims’ and a period of over four months had elapsed. At that time Dara Shikoh did not Hazrat Bala Pir.The Emperor took him to the Bala Pir and with reverence and respect requested that all the Hakims have shown their helplessness and only his kind prayers could help. The Shaikh picked up the bowl he used to take water, fill with water, read something and gave Dara Shikoh to drink. After drinking that water, the disease disappeared within a week. During the week Dara Shikoh again sent someone for prayer and Hazrat Mian Mir said that in four days, at such and such time, you will be fully fit and exactly at that time and day “I was all OK.,” writes Dara Shikoh. The second time Shah Jahan visited the Shaikh he was accompanied by the same people. He had fine and detailed talk and requested for blessings on which Hazrat Mian Mir advised him that whenever he did some act of benevolence and a Mussalman was happy, at that moment pray for himself and not ask anything except for ‘Rehm’ of the Almighty. The Emperor remained with the Shaikh for some three hours and then left. According to Sh. Muhammad Lahori after departure of the King, someone asked Hazrat Mian Mir about the meeting. The Faqir observed kings are perfect and embodiment of wisdom and his arrival, sitting and discourse had little to do with him. The Emperor had brought a “Shawl” (as turban) for the Faqir and a rosary chaplet (string of beads) of dates. The resary or ‘Tasbih’ was retained but the shawl returned. Dara Shikoh in his work writes that once Hazrat Akhund Shah went to see Hazrat Mian Mir and I (Dara Shikoh) sent a letter for the Bala Pir. The Akhund was received with great kindness. The letter had been tied by the Akhund that he had not seen any ‘Karamat’ of Hazrat Mian Mir. Hazrat Bala Pir took out the letter from his ‘Dastar’ with his own hand and read out in detail. Hazrat Mian Mir used to say that after his death he may be buried in saline land so that the bones also dissolve after sometime. He also addressed his friends and asked them that his shrine should not be a commercial point. Shaikh Abdul Wahid Banbani, who served Hazrat Mian Mir for two years, narrated that once Hazrat Bala Pir was lying in thegarden of Mirza Kamran Baradari and he was massaging his aching foor and “I suddenly noticed, a python coming towards them. When it reached nearer, I told the Shaikh a python was coming. He said let him. When it reached near, the Pir got up but kept sitting. The python also sat just in front of Hazrat Mian Mir. The python spoke something. The Shaikh replied ‘all right it will be like that’. The python got up, took three rounds of the Pir and went away. When the python disapperared, Abdul Wahid asked about the exchanges, the Shaikh replied that the snake conveyed that he had decided that when he will see him (The Pir) he will take rounds around him and would only then leave. Hazrat Bala Pir agreed and he went away after taking rounds. Mullah Muhammad Sialkoti, who had been in attendance of Bala Pir for twenty years narrated (according to Dara Shikoh) that one day the Shaikh was sitting outside his ‘Hujra’ with some disciples. Suddenly a windstorm developed and it started raining. Hazrat Mian Mir said that now was the time to move in. On this, Mian Natha, a very dear disciple and close friend said, if permitted he could see that theclouds disappear and they would keep sitting. Hazrat Mian Mir was seriously annoyed and snubbed him that you want to show your own super-natural powers and miracles. Beware not to repeat such words interfering in nature’s system. It was not desirable. Instead one should go by the things as ordained by the Almighty. Hazrat Mian Mirdied in Lahore in 1045 A.H. (1635 AD) at the advanced age of 88 years, having lived in Lahore for a period of about sixty years. He breathed his last in the room in which he resided in Mohallah Khafipura.
His longevity is said to have been due to his practice of suspending the breath to which he was accustomed to, and it is said he used to respire only once or twice in the course of a night. When he began to feel the weight of years, he breathed four times in the night. In piety, virtue, beneficence and learning he had no equal in the country in the age in which he lived. He had great respect for the saint of Gilan, the Pir Dastgir, and never mentioned his name without ablution.
The dome over the tomb of Hazrat Mian Mir is supported by a quadrangular tower rising from a large platform of marble, reached by a flight of steps of the same material. The courtyard is spacious and paved with red sand-stone. To the west of the dome, in the same courtyard, is a beautiful mosque, and to the south and east are chambers for the accommodation of the Darveshes and travellers.
The lower portion of the tomb of Hazrat Mian Mir and of the mosque attached to it, covered with marble, is the work of Dara Shikoh. The upper portion, built of masonry, is the work of Aurangzeb, who, with the materials collected by Dara for the tomb of Mian Mir and the construction of a road form Chowk Dara to Mian Mir, built the Badshahi Mosque at Lahore, bearing his name. According to Dara Shikoh, the saint was buried in the suburbs of ‘Alam Ganj and Darapur’ described as half a kos distant from the town, but no vestige of this has been left by the urban habitation now. Mullah Abdul Hamid Lahori writes in his Badshahnama:- “His reverend tomb is in the village Ghiaspur in the vicinity of ‘Alam Ganj’ in the capital of Lahore”. Besides the fair on the anniversary, other fairs are held at this mausoleum during the two months of the rainy season, on each Wednesday. They are called the Budh fairs”. The author of the Badshahnama says: “His Majesty (Shah Jahan) used to say that, in his whole life, he had come across two fakirs having the knowledge of God; one Mian Mir and the other Shaikh Muhammad Fazlulla of Burhanpur. His Majesty felt the greatest reverence for both these saints”. We have stated in the historical chapter of this work that Shah Jahan, while Emperor of Hindustan, twice paid a visit to Mian Mir, on his march to Kashmir and back. Presently the shrine of Hazrat Mian Mir, has its original boundary on one side intact. On western and southern sides the “Qabza” group and land grabbers have totally occupied, the area. There a mushroom growth gives the look of a third rate lacality on the northern side. A small piece of land, about 20 kanals, is lying vacant but the gradual process of occupation through, ‘Katcha’ houses, is in progress. The Baradari on the eastern side , which was built by Dara Shikoh, is in a very bad shape and badly in need of repairs. The courtyard of the shrine has now lengthy patches of cement & mosaic looking as walk ways, with old red stone patches. The raised plinth around the Mausoleum was most probably damaged and had been removed and now repairs are under way.On the eastern side of shrine practically a small graveyard has developed over a period of time where the “Sajjada Nashins” and local influentials had their graves. A mosque on the western side of masuoleum, recently painted and renovated, exists. There is no indication of grave of Mian Natha, which according to Dara Shikoh was near the place of Mausoleum of Hazrat Mian Mir. There dose exist grave in the Baradari, with a sarcophagus (one-piece marble) on which it is written in persian “Nadira Begum wife of Dara Shikoh” She died somewhere in the North, but her body was brought and buried in the graveyard of Hazrat Mian Mir as wished by her. Maharaja Ranjit Singh removed most of the marble on monuments in and around Lahore. He used to see monuments himself and then order removal of marble & other precious, for the Sikh temple at Amirtsar. He ordered the same in case of Hazrat Mian Mir mausoleum, and while on his horse the labour and masons were ordered to remove the stone suddenly his horse became frightened and he fell down. Ranjit Singh got up, stopped the masons from demolition of work and committed an amount of Rs.6000 for the annual “Urs” of saint which continued until the British period. Now the shrine is under control and management of Auqaf Department of Punjab Government. The encroachmentss on the vacant land around the “Mazar” and onslaught of land grabbers who are raising construction in the name of offices of Political parties is going on – which is unfortunate.
