The Legend of Mauj Darya (By Areebah Imtiaz March 29, 2009)

The Legend of Mauj Darya…

Sunday, March 29th, 2009 | Insight

Meerah Shah’s tomb

AREEBAH IMTIAZ writes about the different myths and stories about the
saint Saiyid Meerah Shah Bokhari

(Published on The Nations – Sunday Plus)

Acknowledgement
I dedicate this feature to my beloved uncle Saiyid Arshad Bokhari (my father’s best
friend). Most importantly, he is a direct descendent of Saiyid Meerah Muhammad
Shah Bokhari and his lineage links up to Saiyid Imam Hussain at 47th Generation.

Concept of Wali-Ullah

Nothing is immortal except Allah Almighty, He’s all in all; He’s a Creator, Omniscient,
Omnipotent, Preserver and Protector of this entire world. Every creature including
the human beings has to depart this transitory world but His existence is never-
ending. He’s also the master of death and birth, He bestowed many blessings on his
chosen and special human beings; their greatness, dignity and nobleness is
unending. Although, these great and dignified people apparently become vanish from
human sight after the death, however their spirituality is perpetual and such
personalities rule on people’ heart. To live dervishlike, possessor to miraculous power
and man of high dignity are moneyed with Allah’s blessings and closeness. They’re
dead right and not greedy about the worldly things. To know and recognize to Allah’
existence, practice the teachings of Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him),
walk on straight path, spread religion, fear God, love, tolerance, equality, modesty,
humanism, brotherhood and cherishing of friends are the main philosophy and the
foremost objectives of their lives, on account of it they’re known as Wali-Ullah (friend

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of God). As stated in Quran, “Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear,
nor shall they grieve. Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil. For
them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; no change can
there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity”.

As stated in Quran, “Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall
they grieve. Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil. For them are
glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; no change can there be
in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity”.
Chapter 10, Surah Yunus, Verse # 62,63,64

Feature

Saiyid Meerah Muhammad Shah Bokhari known as ‘Mauj Daryah was a renowned
‘Wali’ of his time’.It’s a well known legend that he used to meditate by standing on a
single leg and as a pious man he used to recite Quran and pray to Allah Almighty on
the behalf of people to help in their needs. He used to stand in the same posture for
a number of days and nights. The river Ravi used to salute him in honor and regard
by touching his feet. It is also said that his feet were infected because of it, so he
ordered River Ravi to change its direction. River complied with his instruction and
started flowing in different direction.

Saiyid Meerah Muhammad Shah was born in Uch Sharif on 1533 A.D. according to
940 Hijri (the Muhammadan era) in the reign of Mughal emperor Nasiruddin
Humayun. He was nobly born and Legitimate Hussaini Saiyid. He was the ‘Bokharia
Hussaini’ Sufi saint from ‘Saadat’. Bokharia Hussainia was the sect of his ancestors.
Saiyid Mauj Darya also bore relation to ‘Silsala Suharwardiya’ and ‘Silsala Chishtia’. In
his progeny, the nobility, sanctity, miraculous power and sainthood were hereditary.
He was a direct descendent of Shaheed Karbala Hazrat Imam Husain (the son of
Hazrat Ali) at 25th Generation. His Hashmi Quraishi forefathers were the inhabitants
of Makkah. After migration to Madinah, the Sadat started living there. Afterwards,
they migrated to Iraq and dwelled on Samarra, the city of Iraq. From the 8th
generation of Imam Ali Naqi, the Saiyid Abu Al-Moeed Ali was moved to Bokhara from
Samarra. At that place, his son Saiyid Jalaluddin Sharif Ullah Surkh Posh Bokhari Uche
was born who was veracious, magnanimous and great ‘Wali ’of his age. At very first
time, from his ancestors, Saiyid Jalaluddin Surkh Posh Bokhari was migrated from
Bokhara to Sub Continent in 635 Hijri. For a short time, he resided at Bhakkar
(Punjab). Thereafter, he went to Multan and spent most of the part of his life in
serving his ‘Pir-O-Murshid’ (spiritual teacher) Hazrat Baha Ud Din Zakariya Multani.
After the death of his ‘Murshid’, he emigrated to Uch Sharif, started living there and
struggled to spread Islam. Saiyid Jalaluddin Makhdoom Jahanian Jahangasht (the son
of Saiyid Ahmed Kabir and the grandson of Saiyid Surkh Posh Bokhari) was also very
prominent, abstinent and highly respectable ‘Wali’. He’s a forefather of Saiyid Meerah
Shah at 7th Generation.

In 975 Hijri, Hazrat Mauj Daryah Bokhari transmigrated from Uch Sharif to Lahore and
permanently settled in Lahore. Ab-initio, he was absolutely sensible, abstentious and

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elegant. He was the most admirable and revered ‘buzurg’ of his age. He was the son
of Saiyid Safi Ud Din Bokhari who was the most eminent religious scholar,
tremendously benevolent, and meritorious Sufi ‘buzurg’. Meerah Shah got his early
education in Uch Sharif under the supervision and guidance of his father. At very
young age, he read the whole Qur’an and afterwards memorized the complete
Qur’an. By living very close to his father, he was extremely eager about the
acquisition of knowledge and understanding of the holy ordinances of Allah. He was a
true believer and strictly obeyed the Islamic principles. He acquired the worldly
education from different highly regarded scholars but he was particularly interested
in studying theology and mysticism. After accomplishing the education, he did ba’at
(took the oath of allegiance) in his father’s hand and became the disciple of ‘Silsala
Suharwardiya’. Right after the ba’at, a new relationship of ‘Murshid’ and ‘Murid’
(disciple or adherent) was established among the father and the son; his ‘Pir-O-
Murshid’ Saiyid Safi Ud Din Bokhari gave a special attention towards him and guided
him by conferring the spiritual dimensions to his life. It was his habit to remain busy
all the day in divine worship. Recitation & meditation was the victual of his soul.
When the ‘Khirqa Kilafat’ (the religious office or dignity of Caliph) was entrusted to
Saiyid Meerah Shah Darya by his beloved father, then he inclined more to the
religion, his conviction became stronger and he dedicated his life to disseminate the
Islamic perception among the public, reform their manners and confer the favors to
the people. With the passage of time, he became distinctive, prudent and learned
among the people and they accepted him as their spiritual leader. He personifies the
virtues of affection, sagacity and abstinence. In a short time, he became more
reputed, honorable and famous among the general public. People had been visiting
him from very far and wide and also benefiting from him. He was the most amiable
and venerable Sufi saint, as said by him “Love can win even the hard hearted or
extremely rigid”.

In those days, Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar (son of Humayun) was
quite perplexed; he couldn’t conquer the Chittorgarh Fort after battling with ‘Hindu
Rajputs’ for five months. A well acquainted astrologer mentioned about the chastity,
excellence and general munificence of Saiyid Meerah Shah and prognosticated “This
dilemma could be resolved with supplication and endowment of Hazrat Meerah Shah.
I believe if he prays then Allah Almighty will help the Muslims to defeat the enemies”.
Therefore, the delegation of few aristocrats of Akbar’s court bound for Uche Sharif.
After getting there, they conveyed the message of Akbar-e-Azam. Saiyid Mauj Darya
answered, “Go back, take back this Dromedary sent by the King Akbar for me, I’ll
come at Chittorgarh by myself”. Delegation asked Saiyid how we would come to
know about his arrival. The Saiyid replied, “When I’ll reach there, at that night the
hurricane will be blown up, consequently all the camps will be uprooted, the wall of
the tents will be fallen down, the fire kindles (bonfire), flambeau and lanterns will be
extinguished, also the whole atmosphere will be darken, at time only my lodging
place will be lightening in the darkness”. After return, the delegation narrated the
whole story of meeting with Meerah Shah and conveyed his order to the king. Akbar
was waiting anxiously for Hazrat Mauj Darya. When Hazrat Meerah Shah came at
Chittorgarh, at that night horrible hurricane was blown, all the camps and walls of
tents were tumbled, all the flambeau and lanterns were put out, however, only one
camp was lightening which was relatively far away from the war camping ground, the

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king and his army commanders rushed after that camp, when the king came nearer
to the camp, he ordered the soldiers to stay outside the camp, he attended on
‘buzurg’ alone bear footedly. King Akbar observed, not a single lantern was put on
and the entire camp was illuminated from inside. In this dazzling light, a glorious
buzurg was engaged in worship and he was in state of ‘Sijdah’ (bowing so as to touch
the ground with the forehead in adoration of Allah). When ‘buzurg’ raised his head,
he found the king standing bear footedly with folded hands. The buzurg allowed the
king to come inside and asked “What do you want from this dervish”. The king
replied, “I need Allah’s help with your intercession. I’m trying hard, but to conquer a
Chittorgarh Fort is a hard nut to crack”. Saiyid answered, “You’re the lord of the fate
of every part of Hindustan and fussing about the failure in conquering this ordinary
fort. Tomorrow, at early morning attack the fort. ‘Insha-Allah’ (if God the Most High
wills), the fort will be conquered. Early morning, Saiyid came nearer to the
Chittorgarh Fort and invoked ‘Allah, Allah, Allah’ thrice in a loud voice. So the dictum
of Hazrat Mauj Darya was carried out, Akbar’ army attacked on fort forcefully and this
invincible fort was conquered with a prayer of Saiyid Meerah Shah within few hours at
the same day on 25th Sha’aban 975 Hijri.

Akbar was overjoyed with the brilliant success of Chittorgarh Forts, he requested the
Saiyid to stay with me on Royal Fort. Saiyid refused him and replied, “Well, there is
no connexion amongst the royal emperors and dervishes”. Subsequently, Akbar
requested to Saiyid with closed hands to stay at any part of my empire. In order to
satisfy Akbar, Saiyid acceded to stay at Lahore. During this, Akbar rewarded him with
Lands (on Batala) and large amount of cash, so he’d to accept this on Akbar’s
insistence. The ministers of Akbar’s court were conspiring against Saiyid, they spoke
to Akbar “Hazrat Meerah Shah will have to prove his agnation from Sadat, if he’s true
Saiyid, then the fire couldn’t harm him”. Saiyid replied that he wouldn’t be agonized
by the fire. After receiving this reply, they decided to put Saiyid on big Iron burning
stove. When, Shahab Ud Din (the youngest son of Saiyid Meerah Shah) got wind of
intrigues against his father, he was quite raged about this matter and right away
went to the Royal Fort. The door was closed and the guards barred him from entering
the fort. He said to guard, “Father will show the miracle later, first see the miracle of
son”. He disguised himself as lion by the order of Allah. He knocked against the door
so violently as a result the door was smashed. People inside the fort were frightened
and seeking protection. Lion looked towards King and raised his paw to give a slap.
King was terrified and hid behind the Meerah Shah. Saiyid Meerah Shah was aware of
this reality that the lion was his son. After finding the king so scared, he addressed to
his son “Oh Shahab Ud Din, have you been Nehra (in Hindi, ‘Nehra’ means lion), a
dervish shouldn’t be hot tempered”. Saiyid Shahab Ud Din was turned to his original
form and said “I want to jump on this fire for showing the miracle to Akbar and his
grandees”. Meanwhile, the servant of Meerah Shah urged “Fire can’t even harm the
servants of Sadat, allow me to verify your blood relation with Sadat”. Saiyid Meerah
Shah ordered his servant Fareed to enter inside the burning stove, after hearing this
Fareed excitedly exclaimed ‘Allah-ho-Akbar’ (Allah is great) and jumped into the
stove. King was deeply ashamed; he called Fareed back and declared “we’ve
accepted that Meerah Shah is from Sadat lineage”. Fareed turned a deaf ear to the
instruction of King Akbar and sat on the fire as he was sitting on green garden. King

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apologized for his unjust behavior. Meerah Shah called out Fareed to come out of the
fire. Fareed came out and sat on the feet of his ‘Pir’. The ministers of Akbar had to
lick the dust when he found him quite safe and sound. Soon after, king spoke to the
ministers of his court “Now, make clear to me, have I taken any bad decision by
giving lands to Saiyid”. They replied, no doubt your decision was based on wisdom
and we’d admitted the dignitary of Saiyid Meerah Shah.

Hazrat Meerah Shah was a great ‘Wali’ of his epoch, he was endowing with super
natural power and the innumerable miracles are attributed to him. In fact, the
greatness of ‘Auliya-Allah’ (friends of God) doesn’t depend on miracles; they mostly
abstain from showing the miracles. However, from time to time, they unintentionally
perform the miracles or in some inevitable circumstances they’ve to necessarily
demonstrate the heavenly power and supremacy of Allah. Once upon a time, an
incredulous man came to the meeting place of Saiyid Mauj Daryah Bokhari and
arrogantly quoted the Punjabi proverb ‘Saiyid Sunni nahi, Kath de Kanni nahi’ which
means Saiyid can’t be Sunni and kettle isn’t made of wood. He also spoke out “Hair
of Saiyid doesn’t burn in the fire. Times gone when pure Saiyid were around?” After
hearing this flap doodle, Hazrat Mauj Darya was flared up. He was pretty
perspicacious and insightful; he arranged a wood kettle, made a stove of his both
feet and set a fire on it. Afterwards, he placed the kettle on the fire, cooked the rice
and addressed to that man “Look, this Saiyid is Sunni and kettle is made of wood,
also the fire didn’t burn the feet of Saiyid”. That flippant person struck dumb after
watching this whole miracle, he fell at Saiyid’ feet and apologized.

Saiyid Mauj Darya was popular among the public. He was very compassionate and
always strived to help out the lame duck. Once, he was imparting the education to
his pupil at the Islamic institution, a congregation of landlords visited him and
appealed “Oh most valued and respected ‘buzurg’! In our region, the ‘Mazang’ (old
town in Lahore) and its surroundings, the water of all the wells is brackish and saline,
for the reason that our crops get ruin. We’re in trouble and yearn for your favor to
implore the mercy of Allah Almighty, so that this water could turn out to be sweet.
Saiyid was excessively sympathetic, warm hearted and generous human being.
Straight away he raised his hands for prayer and prayed to Allah quite submissively
“Oh Allah, the most beneficial, the most merciful! Make sweet the water of all the
wells of Mazang”. With supreme power of Allah Almighty, the water of all the wells of
Mazang became sweet and remains sweet till now.

The personality of Saiyid Meerah Shah was fabulous. His generosity, kindness and
righteousness impressed the people to such an extent that they give him the title of
Mauj Daryah. He persuaded many people to embrace Islam and understand religion.
He dedicated the entire income of his property for the welfare of Allah’s creature. He
constructed three alms houses to feed poor. Travelers and passengers were deriving
benefit from them. Several wells were dug out. Inns, education institutions and
houses were constructed by him for poor, scholars, travelers and dervishes. One day,
the administrator of ‘Langar Khana’ (alms house) came to him and made a request,
“Due to incessantly heavy rainfall, a bullock cart laden with rice couldn’t reach to the
alms house and the creature is waiting for meal impatiently”. Saiyid inquired as to

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how much rice is in stock? “The rice of only one cauldron could be cooked. However,
the awaited populace is beyond our calculation”, the main replied.

“No matter, cook the food on oven by putting the equal quantity of rice, ghee and
meat in a cauldron”, Saiyid ordered him. The appointed servants of alms house
complied with the order of Meerah Shah, the cauldron was placed in the alms house
and it was covered with some cloth. He ordered to go and take rice according to your
need. The thousands of people ate well and also took it to home but the rice in
cauldron did not finish. This situation continued for seven days. During this,
whenever the rice was taken out from cauldron, at all time it was too hot as the
cauldron was just taken off the burning stove. Ad-interim, the rain stopped and the
adequate amount of rice was supplied to the alms house. Later on, the arrangement
of alms house was set agoing on regular basis.

Saiyid Meerah Shah was married twice in his life. His first wife, Saiyida Bibi Fatima
Sani was belonged to a noble and illustrious Jilani Sadat family. She was descendant
of Saiyid Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani. She was also known as Bibi Kala. She inherited
spirituality and miraculous power from his ancestors. His second wife, Noorang Bibi
(non Saiyid) was the daughter of Muslim Raja. Both wives were very religious,
virtuous, faithful and praiseworthy. Meerah Shah was blessed with three sons. His
first two sons, Saiyid Safi Ud Din and Saiyid Baha Ud Din were born from Bibi Fatima
and his third son Saiyid Shahab Ud Din was born from Noorang Bibi. Saiyid Shahab
Ud Din was entitled as ‘Nehra’ by his father. All the three sons followed the suit of his
father; they served religion and made sincere efforts for the welfare of mankind.

Hazrat Meerah Shah passed away in Batala at the age of 73 on 1604 A.D. (17th Rabi’
al-awwal 1013 Hijri) during the kingdom of Jalaluddin Akbar. His eldest son, Saiyid
Safi Ud din took him to Lahore and buried him in tomb, which is situated on green
doom at Custom House Edward Road Lahore. This tomb was constructed by Akbar-e-
Azam prior to his death. Thousands of people visit the mazar of great saint.

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