THERE are hymns and sloks bearing the name of Farid found in the Granth Sahib. The Persian historian Farishta states that when Taimur Lang approached Ajodhan (Pak Pattan) in the Panjab in the year A. D. 1318, Sad-ul-Din,4 a grandson of Shaikh Farid, who was then on his spiritual throne, fled with several of the leading inhabitants of the city to Bhatner in the state of Bikaner, where
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they subsequently made peace with the invaders. Guru Nanak was born in A. D. 1469, so he could not have met the original Farid. It is stated too in the oldest account of the Guru's life that it was with Shaikh Brahm (Ibrahim), Farid' s successor, known as Farid the Second, he had two interviews. It is certain that it was Shaikh Brahm who com posed the sloks and hymns bearing the name of Farid in the Granth Sahib, though he used the name of the founder of his spiritual line as his poetical nom de plume.
The following is the genealogy of Shaikh Brahm. He was the son of Khwaja Shaikh Muhammad, who was son of Diwan Pir Ataulla, who was son of Diwan Shaikh Ahmad Shah, who was son of Diwan Pir Baha-ul-Din styled Harun, who was son of Khwaja Munawwar Shah, who was son of Khwaja Diwan Pir Fazal, who was son of Khwaja Diwan Muiz-ul- Din, who was son of Khwaja Diwan Pir Ala-ul-Din called Mauj-i-darya — a wave of piety — who was son of Diwan Badar-ul-Din Sulaiman, who was son of Hazrat Baba Farid-ul-Din Masaud Shakar Ganj , the original Farid of Pak Pat tan.
Shaikh Brahm holds a distinguished place in the list of great saints, and bears several titles or appella tions. He is called Farid Sani or Farid the Second, Salis Farid or the arbitrator Farid, Shaikh Brahm Kalan (Shaikh Brahm the elder), Bal Raja, Shaikh Brahm Sahib, and Shah Brahm. He is said to have performed many miracles. The following is given as an example. A thief once entered his house with criminal intent, but by God's will was struck blind and could not find his way out. When Shaikh Brahm rose at night to pray, he told his servant to fetch water for his ablutions. The servant saw the blind thief standing helpless on the floor, and informed his master. The thief prayed for forgive ness, and promised that, if he recovered his sight, he would renounce his evil ways. Upon this Shaikh
Brahm prayed for him ; he recovered his sight, and became a devout Musalman. Another of Shaikh Brahm's miracles is this. In a season of drought he took off his turban and began to whirl it about, upon which rain fell abundantly.
Two sons of Shaikh Brahm are mentioned— one Shaikh Taj-ul-Din Mahmud, a great saint, and another Shaikh Munawwar Shah Shahid. Shaikh Brahm had several disciples, such as Shaikh Salim Chishti Fatahpuri, Shaikh Almadi of Chunian, Baba Ahmad Lanak of Dipalpur, Maulvi Jalal-ul-Din of Shaikha- bad, Shah Abdul Fatah of Ghazipur, Haji Niamat Ulla of Shaikhupur, &c.
Shaikh Brahm died on the 2ist of Rajab, A. H. 960 (A. D. 1552), after a spiritual reign of forty- two years. The Khulasat-ul-Tawarikh states that he was buried at Sarhind. Whatever other details are known of him have been given in the life of Guru Nanak, who went on two occasions to meet and converse with him.
There is a great deal known or written regard ing the original Shaikh Farid, and it appears that this sketch would be incomplete without some account of him.1 Two genealogies of Shaikh Farid, subsequently called Farid Shakar Ganj, are given in
Ali Asghar's work, the Jawdhtr-t-Faridt, was completed during the reign of Jahanglr on the 4th day of the month of Rajab A. H. 1033 (A. D. 1623), Ali Asghar took the work for examination and correc tion to Maulvi Shaikh Muhammad. The latter was grandson of Shaikh Taj-ul-Dm Mahmud, who was, as we have seen, a son of Shaikh Brahm, called Farid the Second. The details given in the Jawahir-i-Faridi are said to have been obtained from several volumes deposited in the sacred library at Baghdad.
\
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the Jawahir-i-Faridi — one spiritual, the other tem poral. He received his spiritual position from his priest Khwaja Qutub-ul-Din Bakhtiyar Ushi1 of Dihli, whose spiritual predecessors ascend in a direct line to the Prophet of Makka. Farid's temporal or family genealogy is traced back through princes and kings to Hazrat Amir-ul-Mumanin Umr-bin-ul Khitab Qureshi Makki Faruqi, the second Khalifa of the Muhammadans.
When Farrukh Shah, from whom Farid was descended, was king of Kabul, the kings of Ghazni and other states were subject to him. When Kabul was subsequently captured by the king of Ghazni, Farrukh Shah's son went to him in quest of a liveli hood. The king of Ghazni treated him with respect, and not only restored him his kingdom of Kabul, but gave him his daughter in marriage. It would appear that the kings of Ghazni and Kabul at the time were relations, for Shaikh Farid's father, Shaikh Jamal-ul-Din, was nephew of the king of Ghazni.
Shaikh Farid's great-grandfather was killed in the struggles of that period.2 Farid's grandfather, Shaikh Shaib, with his relations, including three sons, the eldest of whom was Jamal-ul-Din Sulaiman, aban doned their country and took refuge in the Panjab in A.H. 519 (A. D. 1125). The Qazi of Kasur, who had been educated in Kabul and who was acquainted with the high position Shaikh Shaib had held there, treated him and his relatives with great respect and hospitality.3 After some time Shaikh Shaib pro-
ceeded to Multan where he deemed he should be less exposed to worldly influences or the temptings of ambition. When he heard of the attentions in store for him in that city, he decided that he could not there carry out his intention to lead a life of obscurity and self-effacement. He accordingly took up his abode in Kothiwal, now known as Chawali Mushaikh, not far from Dipalpur.
Shaikh Shaib, established in Kothiwal a private college for religious instruction, and in spite of him self attracted much attention. His eldest son Jamal-ul-Din married Bibi Miriam,1 daughter of Saiyid Muhammad Abdula Shah— a descendant of Ali — and adopted daughter of Maulvi Wajih-ul-Din, a descendant of Abbas, uncle of the Prophet of Makka. Wajih-ul-Din had fled from Kabul during political difficulties and taken up his abode in Karor in the Multan district. Miriam is described as a very pious lady and worker of some great miracles. She had three sons, Khwaja Aziz-ul-Din, Farid-ul-Din Masaud, Khwaja Najib-ul-Din, and one daughter, Bibi Khatun Jamila, the mother of Saiyad Ala-ul- Din Ali Ahmad Sabir.
Nizam-ul-Din Auliya, a disciple of Farid, relates a legend of a robber who went to Farid' s mother's house to steal. On beginning his operations he lost his sight. He then cried out that there must be some saint or miracle- worker present. He vowed that, if his lost sight were restored, he would renounce thieving and become a good Muhammadan. On hearing this vow Miriam prayed for him, and his sight was restored. He went home, and returned to her the following morning with an offering of milk. Accompanied by his wife and children, he expressed a desire that they should all become Muhammadans.
Emperor of Hindustan was then Prithwi Raj. Shahab-ul-Dm's victo rious Indian career did not begin until about fifty years afterwards.
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Miriam caused his wishes in this respect to be grati fied, with the result that they all became holy. In reply to her, he said his name was Chawa. His shrine among others in that locality subsequently became a place of devout pilgrimage.
When Farid was conceived, his mother used to spend her days and nights in prayer. He was born at Kothiwal on the first day of the month of Ramzan, A. H. 569 (A. D. 1173). The night of his birth was dark and cloudy, and the moon, whose appearance indicates the beginning of Ramzan— the Muhammadan Lent— could not be seen, so men did not know when to begin their fast. A holy man arrived and said that a wonderful son had been born to Jamal-ul-Din Sulaiman. If the infant suckled, the time for fasting had not yet begun, but if, on the contrary, he refused the breast, then all good Muham- madans must fast. Farid did not suckle, and so it was apparent the fast had begun. During the whole of the month of Ramzan, it is said, the infant only took milk by night in the Muhammadan fashion and fasted by day.
* When Farid was a few years old his mother taught him his prayers. The boy asked what was gained by prayer. His mother replied ' Sugar '. She used accordingly to hide some sugar under his prayer- carpet, and, when he had finished his prayers, draw it forth, and give it to him as a reward for his devo tion. On one occasion, when his mother was absent, he prayed a great deal, and, it is said, a great supply of sugar— a miraculous gift of God— was found under his carpet. Some he ate himself and the rest he gave to his playfellows. He related the circumstance to his mother on her return. It was then his mother gave him the surname Shakar Ganj, meaning a treasury of sugar.
The following is another version of the reason why the name Shakar Ganj was bestowed on Farid. It is related that, when the Prophet Muhammad ascended
into heaven, God gave him a plate of sugar, which He said was from the treasury of a saint who should be born in his sect. The Prophet was to eat some of it himself, and give the remainder to his disciples. When the Prophet returned to earth, his friends asked him whence he had obtained the sugar. He replied that a holy man should be born in his sect, who would become a mediator for sinners. When the Prophet was asked the holy man's name he said, ' He shall receive from God the name Farid, as being fard-i-alam, unique in the world, and he shall be called by me Shakar Ganj.' A third reason for the name will subsequently be given.
His mother sent Farid to school at the age of four or five years. In a short time he committed the whole of the Quran to memory. He was then sent to Multan, where he became proficient in secular learning. His mother, it is said, was then counselled by an angel to send him on a pilgrimage to Makka. Farid himself had previously conceived the same desire, though he was then hardly more than a child. He was at the time reading the Abul Nafa with Saiyid Nazir Ahmad. When the latter heard of Farid' s intended departure, he began to weep at the loss of his beloved pupil. His parents then resolved to take the boy's preceptor also. They set out from Kothiwal on the I3th day of Jamadi ul Sani, A. H. 585, and arrived in the harbour of Jadda on the I2th of Zi Qada of the same year, that is, after a journey of five months. Thence they proceeded to Makka.
Farid's party stayed in the house of Abdul Rahim Ansari, whose wife was very attentive to them. They heard that Abdul Qadir Jilani, styled Hazrat Ghaus Pak Qutub-i-Alam, had come from Baghdad to perform the great Muhammadan pilgrimage, and taken up his position in the cave of Hura on mount Abu Qabis near Makka.1 Hazrat Ghaus's praises
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were in every body's mouth, and Farid did not conceal his admiration of the distinguished saint. An unkempt faqir on hearing Farid' s language fore told the boy's subsequent greatness. The faqir whispered something into his ear, and he at once became insensible. He was taken up and carried to Abdul Rahim's house.
Farid afterwards averred that while he was in this state of apparent insensibility the Prophet appeared to him, and foretold his future distinction and the fame of his shrine. Muhammad promised he would stand on Farid's tomb every fifth day of the Mu- harram for nine hours through all time. Farid's mother suggested to him to commit to writing all the details of his interview with the Prophet ; but the memorandum made in obedience to his mother's suggestion has not been found.
When the pilgrimage to Makka was over, Hazrat Ghaus invited Farid and his party to visit him in his cave. Hazrat Ghaus there produced an iron box containing relics of the Prophet. They consisted of two banners which used to precede him in war, two covers for them, a cup made of olive wood, a pair of buskins, a saffron-coloured turban, and some alpaca cloth for a neckcloth. When these things after examination were restored to the iron box, it was placed on Farid's head and bestowed on him.
After this Farid's party went to visit Madina, and after a brief sojourn there returned to India. On their way from the sea they visited Ajmer, where Farid received instruction from Khwaja Gharib Nawaz.
Farid was in due time sent to Kabul to study theology. Having completed his course there he returned to Multan. At Minhaj-ul-Din's mosque he met the saint Qutub-ul-Din, and became his disciple.
Farid's cousin, Baha-ul-Din Zakaria,1 Saiyid Jalal-
ul-Din Bukhari, and Lai Shahbaz Qalandar asked Farid to join them on a religious peregrination. They were to proceed as fancy dictated in quest of some man of eminent sanctity. Farid said that he only believed in his own priest Qutub-ul-Din. Baha-ul- Din, however, pressed him to join the party, and Farid finally consented. On the journey they arrived at a place where two ways met. On one way which was short there were thieves, while on the other which was long they might travel in safety. Baha-ul-Din advised them to go by the safe road even though it cost more trouble, lest they might be deprived of the money they had with them for their travelling expenses. Farid gave it as his opinion that they should divest themselves of everything that was likely to be stolen, and then proceed by the short road. This advice was adopted.
On their way they arrived at the river Indus, where they found fishermen casting nets. Farid and his party were hungry and agreed to cast nets into the river, each in his turn and in his own name, in the hope of catching some fish for their dinner. The nets were cast and found empty until it came to Farid' s turn. His net became so full of fish, and therefore so heavy, that the fishermen could not draw it out of the water. Farid repeating Bismillah easily drew it forth.
The party then proceeded to cross the river. On the opposite shore there lived a saint called Shaikh Suf, under whose spiritual guidance Farid and his party wished to place themselves. Shaikh Suf told Farid and his friends that he had no power to make them his disciples, and referred them to Shaikh Shahab-ul-Din Saharwardi, the cynosure of the age, who lived in Bukhara. Farid and his three friends then set out for Bukhara. Shahab-ul-Din declared that Farid was a man of wonderful courage, and destined to obtain a high spiritual position. At the same time he ought to return to his own priest
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Qutub-ul-Din. Before the return of the party Baha- ul-Din became a disciple of Shahab-ul-Din.
As Farid, Baha-ul-Din, Saiyid Jalal-ul-Din Bukh- ari, and Lai Shahbaz Qalandar were returning from Bukhara they stayed near a village in Sindh. A charit able person gave them a little corn for food, which they much required after a long fast. Farid bade his companions go and pray in the forest, while he took the corn to the village to be ground. He went to a woman's house and asked her to grind the corn and take some of the flour for her labour. She seeing that he was very handsome invited him into her house, and told him that he might grind the corn himself. When he entered, she proposed that he should make love to her. Preparatory to the hoped-for act she put her child of three months old into a cradle. Farid repulsed her, and when she further pressed her pro posal took to flight. She then cried out, called all her neighbours to witness an indecent assault, and charged the runaway with having dishonoured her. The villagers collected, pursued and arrested Farid, and took him before the magistrate. He was called upon for his defence, and asked to produce witnesses of his innocence if he had any ; otherwise he should suffer the punishment provided for such a heinous crime. Farid said his witness was the woman's child, who would support his statements. The child was brought to court in his cradle. Farid adjured the child by his Creator to speak the truth, and tell what had occurred. He, to the astonishment of all, not only spoke intelligently, but gave evidence calculated to completely establish Farid's innocence. Upon this the magistrate rebuked and imprisoned the woman.
When Farid reached Khwaja Qutub-ul-Din, the latter was at the height of his fame. The author of the Jawahir-i-Faridi states that he enjoined the observance of the following four rules on all who aspired to perfection— sleep little, eat little, speak
little, associate little with the world. Farid said that, even were every hair on his body a tongue, he could not describe Qutub-ul-Din's virtues.1
Qutub-ul-Din, on rinding Farid deficient in scholar ship, sent him to the shrine of Abdul Shakur of Sarsa to finish his education.2 On that occasion Farid repeated the following : —
Who is there who hath knocked at God's door for whom it hath not been opened ?
Lose thy life on the way of the Friend if thou desire to be even as those holy men.
The high reputation Farid obtained in Dihli soon became irksome to him. He therefore made his way to Hansi, where he remained for some time. Mean time his high priest in Dihli appears to have died. Upon this Farid paid a second visit to that city, and assumed the mantle of his late spiritual guide. He ultimately left it in the keeping of Jamal-ul-Din of Hansi, and thence proceeded to Ajodhan, the present Pak Pattan, where he afterwards died, and where his followers now reside and receive offerings at his shrine.
Qutub-ul-Din's tomb near the natural spring called Jhalra in Ajmer was a favourite place of pilgrimage of the Emperor Akbar. — Badauni.
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The manner in which the name of the place became changed to Pak Pattan may be here stated. A canal which derived its water from the Satluj passed near the town. It was usual for all who visited Farid to wash their hands and feet there. The place then became known as Baba Sahib ka Pak Pattan, or Farid' s cleansing ferry.
When Farid first went to Ajodhan, it is said that he lived on the fruit of the jal and the wild caper. These formed his staple food even when he subse quently became great and famous.
Abu Musalla, a qazi of Pak Pattan, grew jealous of the new-comer Farid, and complained to the subadar of Multan that he sang and danced. The subadar forwarded the complaint to the Emperor, who issued an order, as usual, in the Persian language, 1 Anra az shahar ba dar kuned/ turn him out of the city. When this order reached the subadar he read, ' Qazira az shahar ba dar kuned/ turn the qazi out of the city. The words, it was said, had been miracu lously changed during the transit of the order from Dihli to Multan. When the qazi heard of the order he, deeming repentance convenient and more profit able than expulsion, fell at Farid's feet, implored his forgiveness, and became his disciple. The qazi in due time gave his daughter in marriage to Farid's son Makhdum Badr-ul-Din. From this marriage was born Hazrat Ala-ul-Din Mauj-i-Darya.
Farid after some time, in accordance with his mother's advice, went to a forest, and lived there as an anchoret for twelve years, subsisting on the leaves of trees. On his return she began to comb his dishevelled hair. Farid complained that the opera tion caused him pain. His mother replied that he must have caused similar pain to the trees when he robbed them of their leaves and fruit for food. It is written in the Quran that everything prays to God, hence the trees must be sentient beings. Farid then felt for the first time that his penance had been profit-
less. He accordingly set out on another pilgrimage of twelve years. This time, so as not to hurt any living thing, he tied a wooden cake to his stomach, and, it is said, subsisted on the imaginary sustenance it afforded him for the full term of his vow. If any one asked him to eat, he used to point to the wooden cake, and say that he had already dined, and that the remainder of his meal was attached to his stomach. One day in the dire pangs of hunger, it is said, he bit the wooden cake in the hope of satisfy ing his appetite. The reputed marks of his teeth are shown on a piece of wood still preserved in Pak Pat tan.