himself wore ordinary clothes and believed that it was the
baya’,
or pledge,
that bound the disciple to his mentor and to the Sufi order, and not the
wearing of a
khirqa
.
Once, when Jahangir was passing through Lahore, he heard about Miyan
Mir and requested him to grace his camp with his presence. Apparently,
the Emperor was so impressed with his asceticism that he dared not present
him with any gift except the skin of a white antelope to pray on.
18
The most prominent of Miyan Mir’s disciples was the celebrated
pir
of
Prince Dara Shikoh, Shah Muhammad known as Mulla Shah (1584-1661).
He was born in a small village in Badakhshan in Central Asia and was initially
educated there. Later on he left for Balkh where he studied theology and
Arabic. From there he moved to Srinagar in Kashmir, where he stayed for
the next few years. Subsequently, while traveling in Hindustan, he heard of
Miyan Mir and decided to become his disciple. He found in him the perfect
pir
. Miyan Mir was singularly proud of Mulla Shah and prophesied that the
Qadri
silsila
would gain fame through him. He remained celibate throughout
his life, never missing his obligatory prayers, even when sick, and was
considered an unsurpassed master of
dhikr
, as well as a great adept of breath
control, or
habs-i nafs
.
Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan, was an ill-fated prince who
lost his life and the throne at the hands of his youngest brother Aurangzeb,
in 1659. His fame rests on his scholarly pursuits, his interest in comparative
religion and fascination with spirituality. In this last quest,Mulla Shah became
his
pir
as well as the
pir
of his sister JahanAra, teaching the highborn disciples
the intricacies of
wahdat ul wujud
and initiating them into the practices of
the Sufis.
18
quoted from Tuzuk-i Jahangiri after Rizvi, S.A.A., A History of Sufism in India, Delhi, 1992, vol.
II, p. 106
Th e Qa d r i Or d e r 128
