26^th Qutb

His Holiness Sheikh

Mahmoud Deccani

 

The Sheikh with Grandeur and Manifestation of Origin, Commended Praiseworthy and Trustworthy, His Holiness Sheikh Mahmoud resident of Deccan. According to Abdul Jabar Hendi’s citation in the book “Tadhkirat ul-Ouliya of Deccan” narrated from Anwar-ul-Akhyar, the birth place and origin home town of His Holiness was Najaf Ashraf and the ancestors of His Holiness were custodians of that angels-guarded threshold.

His Holiness as a result of the fate of Almighty God and vicissitudes of time departed for India from his original home country and after sightseeing and excursion in various parts of that country finally entered the town of Bidar Deccan which was the residence place of His Holiness Shams-e-din Husseini - the Qutb of the Nimatullahi Spiritual Order. And since he observed that the news of spiritual instruction and guidance and the fame of manifestation of generosities of his sublime spiritual guardianship reaching every alley and town in the entire Deccan, the desire to meet the perfect spiritual guide flared in his heart and one day with his companions and kinfolks went to see His Holiness the Sheikh and in that first meeting was fascinated by his divine visage and luminous face; extended his pleading hand and devotion towards His Holiness, and repented, and had the honor of obtaining spiritual instructions. And fastened his heart to reside and retreat in the same region as His Holiness, and till three full years did not seek to go far from the presence of his sublime spiritual guide and during that period knocked the door of his heart with full endeavor till finally reached the intention and became perfect in spiritual journey and ability to guide and instruct the people manifested in his outward appearance and received the position of caliphate and the permission to sit on the throne of guidance from His Holiness Shams-e-din. After that, from the honorable Sheikh was ordered to depart to Hyderabad.

His Holiness illuminated that province with the light of his divine beauty during the end of the monarchy of Sultan Abdullah Qutb the king of Hyderabad and resided on the top of a hill which at present is famed as "Shah Mahmoud Hill" and occupied himself with the worship of God the Almighty. His Holiness sometimes would be intoxicated by the divine cognition wine and limpid love in such a way that for some time would be in a state of faint and coma. After recovery from one of these states, said: my grave will be in this same place and on the top of this same hill and the hour of death will be in this place. And after sometime on top of the same hill laid the foundation of a khaneghah and started building with full diligence and endeavor and for more progress of work would give the hired workers and labors more and more wages, than their expectations.

Perchance during those days Sultan Abolhassan Tana Shah the ruler of Deccan at that time was occupied in building a palace for himself and building a dome on the shrine for his spiritual guide called Shah Raju and most labors were busy working on both construction and less labors could be found and the construction of the khaneghah of Sheikh Mahmoud was slowly progressing, therefore, His Holiness Sheikh doubled the wages of the labors. For this reason the workers came towards the khaneghah of Hazrat-e-Sheikh and the progress of the construction of Abolhassan Shah was coming to a stop. Regarding this matter the King was furious, ordered that all the workers should be brought to the construction site of the king with force. The workers during the day were taken to the construction site of the king with compulsion, but with greed to get more wages they would go to the khaneghah at nights and would work and would receive double wages of the usual day’s wages. However, night work and being awake would make them tired and exhausted and during the day time at the construction site of the king they would work with slackness and negligence, by this visage Tana Shah was severely enraged and planned to find a way to cease construction work of the khaneghah. Since construction work of the khaneghah at night necessitated lamps and lanterns and needed oil as fuel, therefore Tana Shah decreed that no oil manufacturer and oil sellers has the right to sell oil to relatives and workers of Hazrat Sheikh Mahmoud and that resulted the work of the khaneghah to be suspended. After hearing this case Hazrat Sheikh felt disgusted and said: instead of oil, use water from the well of the khaneghah in the lanterns and torches to kindle them, and from the generosity of His Holiness, water of the well was burnt in place of oil and the workers would continue their work in lighted environment. And His Holiness cursed Tana Shah and said: the construction of this khaneghah will be completed with the help of God, but the palace of Tana Shah and the dome of Shah Raju will remain incomplete and Tana Shah will be defeated and would lose his monarchy in the near future. In the end, likewise whatever he had said came true and Alamgir Shah attached and invaded Tana Shah in the year 1097 Hijri (1686 AD), and surrounded him for 10 months in his capital: Golgondeh and in the year 1098 Hijri (1687 AD) conquered Golgondeh and enslaved Tana Shah in the fortress of Doulatabad. After four years imprisonment in the year 1112 Hijri (1700 AD) he died in the prison and his palace and the dome of Shah Raju thus was left incomplete.