Emperor, a form of light appeared to him, and asked why he was standing in a suppliant attitude before a fool. The same question was asked Hamid the next day, and the next day again. Upon this he resigned his post and proceeded to Ajodhan, whither he was attracted by Farid's spiritual power. On reaching Farid's dwelling, he fell down and kissed his threshold. When Farid had heard his story, he made him his disciple, and gave him the patched coat of a Khalifa. Hamid remained for some time with Farid, and became a very eloquent preacher. Farid often called him a bright particular star, but at the same time remarked that a star looks not bright in the presence of the sun— a subtle com pliment to himself. Farid suggested that he should return, and live in the town of Andina near Dihli, and benefit God's people by his preaching. Hamid, however, stated that his intention was rather to make a pilgrimage to Makka and Madina, the cities hallowed by the residence of his Prophet. Upon this Farid allowed him to take his departure.
Maulana Badr-ul-Din, son of Saiyid Minhaj-ul-Din Najjari,1 was professor of Arabic in the Muhammadan college of Dihli. In the course of his theological studies he encountered several difficulties for which he could receive no satisfactory solution from the holy men of his acquaintance. He therefore resolved to travel to Bukhara, then the seat of some of the greatest Muhammadan scholars of the age. He went by Multan, whose learned men also he wished to consult. On the way he met some pious hermits, one of whom was a disciple of Farid, and had Farid's name ever on his tongue. Badr-ul-Din, after a short conference with him, told him he was wasting his time in such occupation. The disciple said he could not help it, for Farid's name issued spontaneously from his lips. The disciple and his friends then
suggested to Badr-ul-Din to pay Shaikh Farid a visit, and perhaps he would solve some of his difficulties. Badr-ul-Din replied that he had met several Shaikhs, that they were merely impostors, and that men wasted their time in converse with them. The disciple and his friends argued the matter with Badr- ul-Din, and represented to him that he could only appreciate Shaikh Farid' s merits when he had made his acquaintance. Badr-ul-Din at last gave way, and was conducted by his casual friends to Farid. Farid solved his theological difficulties in a satisfactory manner, and then made him his disciple. Upon this Badr-ul-Din decided not to proceed to Bukhara, but remain in Ajodhan with Farid. He became so humble that he used to wait on holy men, cut fire wood in the forest, and cook their food with it. He was at the same time very attentive to his devotions, and used to mortify his body with fasting.
Once, when there was a marriage in Pak Pattan, Badr-ul-Din, on seeing the relations of the bride draw water with which to bathe the bride and bride groom according to ancient custom, thought that if he were in his own country and among his people his own marriage also might be duly celebrated.
Sometime afterwards Badr-ul-Din proceeded on a pilgrimage to Makka and Madina. On his return Farid informed him of the thoughts which had passed through his mind on seeing water drawn to bathe the bride and bridegroom, and said he could either have a temporal or a permanent marriage, as he deemed most advantageous. By permanent marriage Farid meant death, as among the ancient Greeks ; and if Badr-ul-Din desired it, not only water but milk and sugar should ever be offered at his shrine, and the fame of such a marriage should resound both in earth and heaven.
It would appear from the Jawahir-i-Faridi that Badr-ul-Din accepted both forms of marriage. Farid gave him his daughter Fatima in marriage. He also
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made him his chamberlain with the title of Badr- ul-Diwan. Whenever Farid spoke to him on the subject of appointing him to a position corresponding with that of bishop in partibus infidelium, he used to reply that he desired to live for ever under Farid's shadow. Farid built him a house near the great mosque of the city, and there he lived in the service of God. After his death a mausoleum was erected over his remains. As promised by Shaikh Farid, his marriage ceremonies are celebrated once a year by a fair held on the sixth day of the month Jamadi ul Sani, when copious libations of sharbat are offered at his shrine.
One day as Farid awoke from a trance, he said, ' The eye which looketh not towards God had better be blind ; the tongue which uttereth not His name had better be dumb ; the ear which heareth not His praises had better be deaf; and the body which performeth not His service had better be dead.' After this utterance Farid relapsed into his trance.
Once seven hundred holy men were sitting together. An inquirer put them four questions to which they gave identically the same replies—
Q. i. Who is the wisest of men ? A. He who refraineth from sin.
Q.
2Who is the most intelligent ? A. He who is not disconcerted at anything.
Q.
3Who is the most independent ? A. He who practiseth contentment.
Q.
4Who is the most needy? A. He who practiseth it not.
The following sentences are taken from Farid's sermons : -
God hesitateth to raise His hand against His creatures. Be not overjoyed with worldly wealth, and, if thou have none at all, be not depressed.
The day we obtain not our desires should be to us as
a time of rejoicing like the night of the Prophet's ascension into heaven.
Man should not allow his ambition to be cooled by the discouraging remarks of the world.
When a faqir putteth on rich clothes, they become his winding-sheet.
Of all attractions, attraction towards devotion is the best.
It fareth well with him who thinketh on his own faults and not on the faults of others.
To the pure all things are pure ; nothing can defile them.
If you aspire to attain the dignity of the departed saints, bow not to monarchs.
The learned man is the most noble among men, and the holy man the most noble among noblemen.
The holy man among the learned is like the full moon among the stars.
The most contemptible of men is he who occupieth him self with eating and dressing.
The repetition of the following lines gave great spiritual comfort to Farid : —
Last night sad thoughts possessed me, But afterwards I reflected on my beautiful Lover. I said I would do everything to go to His door. My tears ran, and my Lover then caught my sleeve.
A student asked Farid if singing were lawful and proper. He replied that, according to the Muham- madan religion, it was certainly unlawful, but its propriety was still a matter of discussion.
Nizam-ul-Din Auliya told Nasir-ul-Din, a disciple of his, that one day when he went to visit Farid he stood at his door, and saw him dancing as he sang the following :—
I wish ever to live in Thy love, O God. If I become the dust under Thy feet, I shall live. I Thy slave desire none but Thee in both worlds ; For Thee I will live and for Thee I will die.
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The following was a favourite couplet of Farid : —
Not every heart is capable of finding the secret of God's love.
There are not pearls in every sea ; there is not gold in every mine.
One of Farid' s beloved friends was Shaikh Jamal- ul-Din of Hansi, whom he called his senior Khalifa. Hazrat Shaikh Baha-ul-Din Zakaria of Multan, hear ing of this man's fame, begged Farid to lend him to him to preach to the faithful. Farid refused, but, when pressed by Jamal-ul-Din, who was attracted to Baha-ul-Din by supernatural influence, replied, ' Go and blacken thy face.' It is said that upon this Jamal-ul-Din' s face became black, and he fled to the forest to hide himself from human gaze. Farid for bade all persons to intercede for him or assist him in any way. It happened that, as a man called Alim was going to Ajodhan from Multan, he met Jamal- ul-Din on the way. Jamal-ul-Din begged him to intercede with Farid, and he did so. Lapse of time and importunity caused Farid to relent. He wrote to Jamal-ul-Din the four following lines and then restored him to favour : —
Go round the world, and in wandering raise blisters on thy feet ;
If thou find any one like me, then forsake me.
Come one morning with pure heart to my door ;
If thou attain not thine object, then make complaint.
Jamal-ul-Din returned to Farid, and Farid' s love for him increased after the rupture. Jamal-ul-Din was a descendant of Abu Hanifa of Kusa.
Farid visited Mokalhar, now called Faridkot in honour of the saint. The country was then ruled by Mokal. At the time of Farid's visit, Mokal was build ing his capital, and used to impress all visitors for the work. Though Farid wore the patched coat of a re-
ligious man, he too was pressed into the Raja's service. The masons and workmen on making Farid's acquaint ance bowed at his feet, and prayed him to grant them forgiveness of their sins. The Raja too followed their example, and for some days personally waited on him. Farid asked what name the king was going to give his city. The king replied Mokalhar. Then said 'Farid, ' Berun khair wa andarun darr ' —it is fair without, but a ruin l within— by which the saint meant that it should never be thoroughly inhabited. The king represented his hard fate to Farid. Though thousands of rupees had been spent on his capital, no one came to dwell in it. If his holiness Farid ordered, it should soon be full of inhabitants. Farid then told him to change the name and dwell in it himself. Mokal con sented and called the city Faridkot in compliment to his holy guest. Farid then said, ' Go, God the most high will cause thee and thy descendants to abide in that fort.'
There is a legend that Farid once visited a city on the Panjab mountains. One day, as he was bathing, a beautiful young lady accidentally saw and con ceived a desire to approach him, for a son by such a man should become king of the realm of beauty. It is said that Jamila Khatun — the beautiful lady — while revolving this in her mind, became pregnant. After Farid's departure there was great commotion in the tribe on hearing of the young lady's condition. She averred that she had committed no impropriety, but no one would believe her. Every one said it was of course that stranger Farid's doing. Farid chanced to return to that part of the country six months afterwards. He was charged with the young lady's seduction, which, apart from being a sin, was a grievous offence against the tribe. He solemnly denied the charge, but no one would accept his state ment. He requested his accusers to ask the lady if she had ever conceived a desire to have a child by
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him. She then admitted that such a desire had arisen in her mind. Upon this Farid, in self-defence, instanced the well-known case of Jesus having been born without a human father, and also the case of Adam, who had been produced without father or mother, and said that nothing was impossible to God's Omnipotence, and He might in His mercy have given a son to the virgin. The tribe heeded not Farid' s words, and said they would only believe him if he wrought a miracle in their presence. They found no difficulty in suggesting a subject. They told him that no sugar-cane grew in their country. If he went with them to the forest and caused sugar to rain, they would accept his story of the young lady's immaculate pregnancy, but not otherwise. Farid then said in the Persian language, which he habitually spoke, ' Chi ajab az Afridgare ki zan-i-bikr ra az qudrat-i-kamila-i-khud hamila be wasta shohar sakht, az asman shakar nisar farmayad ? ' What wonder would it be if the Creator, who out of His perfect power maketh a virgin pregnant without human intervention, should rain sugar ? It is said that sugar immediately began to rain, and from that time Farid obtained the name of Shakar Ganj, the treasury of sugar.1 After this miracle all the people of the tribe became his followers, and he was formally wedded to Jamila Khatun, who soon afterwards gave birth to a son. Farid remained there for six months, during which time he fasted forty days. He locked up the house in which he had dwelt, saying that his successor would open it, and then returned to Ajodhan.
As his successor Diwan Taj-ul-Din was returning from a pilgrimage to Makka and Madina, he hap pened to visit that part of the country. He asked the people to what tribe they belonged. They said that they were descendants of Qutub-ul-Alam Baba
Farid Shakar Ganj. He inquired from which of Farid' s sons they were descended. They replied that they had not come in that way, but had been miraculously born. When Taj-ul-Din had heard the whole story, he unlocked the door of Farid' s hut. The people were delighted to see Taj-ul Din, and became his followers in large numbers.
Farid died of pneumonia on the fifth day of the month of Muharrim, A. H. 664 (A. D. 1266). The date of Farid' s death is commemorated by the chronograms (a) ' Farid asari,' (b) ' auliyae Khudai ' — He was unique, a saint of God.1 Farid' s last words were in Arabic, ' Ya hayyo, ya qayyum'— O ever living, O eternal God ! At the last word ' qayyum ' Farid expired.
Farid was to have been buried outside the town of Pak Pattan at a place called the Martyrs' graves, where he had first alighted on his arrival, but his son Makhdum Khwaja Nizam-ul-Din arrived in time to alter the proposed arrangement. This son who had been a general in the Emperor's army, was then living in retreat at Patali. As he lay asleep one night before his father's death, he thought he heard his father calling him. He arose and went to Ajodhan, but, as the gates of the town were all locked at the time, he could not gain access to Farid' s dwelling. Farid knew of his son's arrival, but it was too late to see him. ' His advice, however/ said Farid, ' should be taken in all matters regarding my funeral and burial.' The son advised that the family should wait for Nizam-ul-Din Auliya from Dihli, and expressed his intention of temporarily burying his father in the house where he had lived, and where subsequently his eldest son Khwaja Shahab-ul-Din was buried.
On the arrival of Nizam-ul-Din Auliya from Dihli, he had a mausoleum erected for Farid. He
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directed that the Quran should be read over clean bricks, that the reader should then blow on them and employ them for the construction of Farid's grave. This direction was obeyed. The Hafizes and the Khalifas read the Quran over bricks con secrated as directed, and made Farid's grave with them. A shrine was built with stone windows on the east and north sides for women to see through, and with a door on the south side to be called the bihishti darwaza, or gate of paradise, for men to enter by. The body was then exhumed from its temporary grave, and after being well perfumed placed within the mausoleum thus constructed. It is said that the souls of Muhammad and all the Muhammadan saints appeared on the occasion. At the advice of Nizam-ul-Din Auliya, the stone win dow at the east was broken at Farid's re-interment to admit of the exit of the souls of the Prophet and his saints. Where the soul of Muhammad had taken up its position within the mausoleum, there was a hujra or small chapel built, called Qadam Rasul or the Prophet's footsteps. Nizam-ul-Din then stated that he had received a message from the departed Farid, that God would pardon and save from hell all who passed through the paradisal gate. This was everywhere proclaimed from the rising to the setting of the sun. Some persons, however, who had no internal eyes, refused to believe that the gate possessed such supreme efficacy. Upon this Nizam-ul-Din said to the Prophet, ' If the populace be allowed to behold thee, their spiritual darkness shall be dispelled.' It is said that the Prophet then appeared to the whole multitude, and not a scintilla of doubt remained in any one's mind as to the advantages to be obtained from passing through the sacred portal.
It was subsequently ordered that women should pray at the stone window on the north side, and that a wall should be built outside it to secure their