Part 40 (1/2)

'Shah Sherif ood deen observed in silence the scene before him; at length he ventured (in the most respectful terms) to suggest to the heads of the a.s.sembly the propriety of vouchsafing the poor man's request; and hinted that, the prayer of some one more pure of heart than the rest might effectually reach the throne of Mercy in behalf of the supplicant.

'”And pray,” said the leader, rising haughtily, ”who gave you leave to suggest or recommend to your superiors in knowledge and virtue? Is not our determination sufficient, that you, insignificant being! should presume to teach us what we ought to do?--you can know nothing of the Durweish's powerful prayers, nor the mystery of a Soofie's holy calling.”

'”I am, indeed, a very ignorant and unworthy creature,” replied Shah Sherif, ”and acknowledge my great presumption in daring to speak before so many of my superiors in knowledge and virtue; but we are told in our hudeeths (true speech) that the prayers of many hearts may prevail in a good cause, whilst singly offered the same prayer might fail,” The proud Soofie's anger seemed to increase as the Durweish spoke; he bade him keep silence, and reviled him with many bitter words, which the good Shah received with his usual humility and forbearance. At length, the Shah looked attentively at the Soofie, who had thus rebuked and insulted him, and said, ”I will believe, Sir, you are the Soofie you aspire to be thought among your fellow-men, if you will immediately offer up your single prayer, by which the suffering man may be relieved; for we know such prayers have been answered by the gracious Giver of all good.”

'”What do you know of the powerful prayer of the Soofie?” replied the proud man, ”I suspect you to be an impostor in your humble exterior.”--”No, ” said the Shah, ”I am but a poor beggar, and a humble, the very humblest servant of G.o.d.”--”You pretend to much humility,” retorted the Soofie, ”suppose we see one of your miraculous works in answer to your prayer; it would please us to witness what you can do.”

'Shah Sherif ood deen raised his eyes to Heaven, his heart went with his prayer, and in a dignified manner he stretched forth his hand towards the afflicted person. The man was instantly restored; then drawing his hand into a direct line with the proud Soofie, and pointing his finger to him, he said, ”What more, friend, dost them now require of me? The man's affliction is removed, but the power which is delegated to me rests still on my finger; command me, to whom shall I present it; to you, or any one of your people?”

'The proud Soofie hung his head abashed and confounded, he had not power to answer. The Shah observed his confusion and said, ”It is not well to pray for relief to one poor weak fellow-creature, and then to afflict another; to the mountain's retreat, I will consign this malady.” Then shaking his hand as if to relieve himself from a heavy weight, he uttered in a solemn tone, ”Go to the mountains!” and resumed that humble seat he had first chosen with a smile of composure beaming on his countenance.'

This miracle is actually believed by the Natives to be true.

Shah Sherif ood deen, say the people who know him, spent the princ.i.p.al part of each day and night in silent prayer and meditation; no one ever ventured to intrude within his small sanctuary, but hundreds of people would a.s.semble outside the building, in front of which he occasionally sat for an hour, but scarcely ever conversed with any one of his visitors.

During the time he was thus seated, he generally raised his eyes once or twice, and looked round on the faces of his audience. It was generally remarked, that no one could meet the eye of Shah Jee--that familiar appellation by which he was known--without an indescribable sensation of reverential awe, which irresistibly compelled them to withdraw their eyes.

The talismanic power of Shah Jee's eyes had become proverbial throughout the city of Delhi. A certain Pattaan,[5] however, of warlike appearance, a man remarkable for his bravery, declared amongst his a.s.sociates that he would certainly out-stare Shah Jee, if ever they met, which he was resolved should be the very first opportunity; he accordingly went with his companions at a time when this Durweish was expected to appear in public.

The Pattaan was seated on the floor with many other people; when the Shah issued from his sanctuary, the people rose to make their salaams, which Shah Jee either did not, or would not observe, but seated himself according to his custom on the mat which had been spread for him; where, his eyes fixed on the ground, he seemed for some time to be wholly absorbed in silent meditation. At length, raising his head, he turned his face to the long line of spectators, saluting with his eyes each person in the row, until he came to the Pattaan, who, according to his vow, kept his large eyes fixed on the Durweish. Shah Jee went on with his survey, and a second time cast a glance along the whole line, not omitting the Pattaan as before, whose gaze, his companions observed, was as firmly settled on the Durweish as at the first. A third time the eyes of the Shah went round the a.s.sembly and rested again on the Pattaan.

Observing the immoveable eyes of their Pattaan acquaintance, the visitors smiled at each other, and secretly gave him credit for a piety and pureness of heart which he was not before supposed to be blessed with; 'How else,' said they, 'would he have been able to withstand the penetrating glance of the revered Durweish.' Shah Jee rose from his seat, and retired, thus giving to the company a signal for their departure from the place.

The a.s.sociates of the Pattaan congratulated him on his success, and inquired by what stratagem he had so well succeeded in fulfilling his promise; but his eyes being still fixed in a wild stare, he replied not to his questioners. They rallied him, and tried by a variety of means to dissolve his reverie; but the Pattaan was insensible, all the boasted energies of his mind having forsaken him. His friends were now alarmed at his abstractedness, and with considerable difficulty removed him from the place to his own home, where his family received him, for the first time, with grief, as he was their whole stay and support, and the kind head of a large family.

The Pattaan continued staring in the same state throughout the night and following day, talking wildly and incoherently. 'The Pattaan is paid for his presumption,' said some; others recommended application to be made to the Durweish, Shah Jee, who could alone remove the calamity. The wife and mother, with many female dependants, resolved on pleading his case with the benevolent Shah Jee; but as access to him would be difficult, they conceived the idea of making their pet.i.tion through the agency of the wife of the Durweish, to whom they accordingly went in a body at night, and related their distress, and the manner in which they supposed it to have originated, declaring, in conclusion, that as the excellent Durweish had been pleased to cast this affliction on their guardian, they must become slaves to his family, since bread could no longer be provided by the labour of him who had hitherto been their support.

The wife of the Durweish comforted the women by kind words, desiring them to wait patiently until her dear lord could be spoken with, as she never ventured to intrude on his privacy at an improper moment, however urgent the necessity. After a few hours' delay, pa.s.sed with impatient feeling by the group of pet.i.tioning females, they were at length repaid by the voice of Shah Jee. His wife going to the door of his apartment, told him of the circ.u.mstance attending the Pattaan, and the distressed condition of the females of his family, who came to supplicate his aid in restoring their relative to reason; adding, 'What commands will you be pleased to convey by me? What remedy do you propose for the suffering Pattaan?'

The Durweish answered, 'His impure heart, then, could not withstand the reflected light. Well, well! tell the poor women to be comforted, and as they desire to have the Pattaan restored to his former state, they need only purchase some sweetmeats from the bazaar, which the man being induced to eat, he will speedily be restored to his wonted bodily and mental powers.'

Upon hearing the commands of Shah Jee, the women speedily departed, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.n.g. blessings on the Durweish, his wife, and family. On their return they purchased the sweetmeats and presented them to the Pattaan, who devoured them with eagerness, and immediately afterwards his former senses returned, to the no small joy of his family circle. They inquired of him, what had been the state of his feelings during the time he was in that insensible state from which he was now happily relieved? He replied, that the first gaze of the Durweish had fixed his eyes so firmly that he could by no means close or withdraw them from the object; the second glance detached his thoughts from every earthly vanity or wish; and that the third look from the same holy person, fixed him in unspeakable joys, transports pure and heavenly, which continued until he had eaten the sweetmeats they had presented, with a kind intention, he had no doubt, but which nevertheless, must be ever regretted by him whilst life remained; for no earthly joy could be compared with that which he had experienced in his trance.

The Durweish Shah Sherif ood deen, was asked by some one why he had selected the bazaar sweetmeats as a remedy in the Pattaan's case? He answered, 'Because I knew the man's heart was corrupt. The light which had been imparted to him could alone be removed by his partaking of the dirtiest thing mortals hold good for food, and surely there cannot be any thing more dirty than the bazaar sweetmeats, exposed as they are to the flies and dust of the city; and how filthily they are manufactured requires not my aid in exposing.'

This Durweish is said,--and believed by the good Mussulmaun people I have conversed with,--to have foreseen the hour when he should be summoned from this life into eternity; and three weeks prior to the appointed time, he endeavoured to fortify the minds of his wife and family, to bear with resignation that separation he had been warned should take place. He a.s.sembled his affectionate relatives on the occasion, and thus addressed them, 'My dear family, it is the will of G.o.d that we should part; on such a day (mentioning the time), my soul will take flight from its earthly mansion. Be ye all comforted, and hereafter, if ye obey G.o.d's holy law, ye shall meet me again in a blessed eternity.'

As may be supposed, the females wept bitterly; they were distressed, because the good Durweish had ever been kind, indulgent, affectionate, and tender in all the relative situations he held amongst them. He tried many soothing arguments to comfort and console them for some hours, but without in the least reducing their grief, or moderating their bewailings: they could not, and would not be comforted.

'Well,' said the Durweish, 'since the separation I have predicted causes you all so much sorrow, it would be better, perhaps, that we part not. I have thought of another method to avoid the pangs of separation; I will offer my prayers this night to the gracious Giver of all good, that He may be pleased to permit ye all to bear me company in death.'

'Oh! stay your prayer!' said the wife of the Durweish; 'this must not be; for if we all die at once, who will perform the funeral rites, and deposit our bodies in the earth?' The Durweish smiled at his wife's objection, and answered, 'This is of no consequence to us, dear wife: the body may be likened to a garment that is thrown off when old; the soul having worn its earthly covering for a season, at the appointed time shakes off the perishable piece of corruption, to enter into a purer state of existence.

It matters not if the body have a burial or not; the soul takes no cognizance of the clay it has quitted. Yet, if it be a matter of great consideration with you, be a.s.sured that many pious men and Durweish, whose respect we have enjoyed in life, will not fail to give decent interment to the remains of those they have loved and respected.'

This for a moment baffled the wife in her argument; but presently she persuasively urged that her daughters were all young, that they had as yet seen but little of this world, and therefore it would be cruel to take them away so soon; they must desire to see more of this life ere they entered on another state of existence. 'Oh, my wife,' said the Durweish, 'you reason badly; this life hath no joys to be compared with those which the righteous man's hopes lead him to expect in the world beyond the grave.

I will a.s.suredly make my promised prayer, if I find a semblance of remaining grief upon separating from me at the appointed time, for our removal to perfect happiness.'

'No, no!' was cried by all the a.s.sembled family; 'do let us remain a little longer here, we are not in a hurry to quit this world.'--'Well, well, be satisfied then,' responded the Durweish, 'if such is your desire; and hereafter let me not hear a sigh or a murmur from one of you, for my appointed time is drawing to a close; if you will not accompany me, let me, at least, depart in peace.'

The people who relate this (and I have heard the anecdote from many) add, that the Durweish Shah Sherif ood deen Mah-mood died at the close of the third week, and on the day and hour he had predicted.

A grandson of this Durweish I have been writing about is still living in India, remarkable for a very retentive memory and propriety of life. I have not met with this gentleman during my residence in India, but have often heard his name mentioned with respect by Meer Hadjee Shaah who knew him well. He says that this Syaad, when but a boy, learned the whole Khoraun by heart[6] in the short s.p.a.ce of forty days; he adds, that this person is exemplary in his life, and in his habits and manners humble; that he is truly a servant of G.o.d; rejects the mystic tenets of Soofieism; possesses an enlightened mind, and is a Moollah or Doctor of the Mussulmaun law. I have heard many singular anecdotes of his life, proving his disregard for riches, honours, and the vain pursuits of the worldly-minded. If I recollect right, he once was engaged in the confidential office of Moons.h.i.+e to a highly talented gentleman at Fort William, from which employment he retired and took up his abode for some time at Lucknow; from whence, it was said, he went to Hydrabaad, where, it is probable, he may still be found in the exercise of a religious course of life. His name is respected by all the good men of his own persuasion, with whom I have been most intimately acquainted.