1873.] Major Stubbs — Inscriptions from Lakhnau. 11 



Muhammad, bis chosen apostle, and bis family and companions. Blessings 

 on the angels and prophets and all believers from the beginning to the end 

 of time ! 



2. From Major F. W, Stubbs, Lakbnau, forwarding a copy of the 

 following inscription on the tomb of Shaikh Mina, the patron saint of 

 Lakhnau. 



(*•** c£j"~J cJj^ l ^* 9 J cA^ 3' lPj £ i+i^ wi-^ ^° S^* 



When Shaikh Mina, the gem of heaven's ring, left this world for non- 

 existence, I said, "0 Friend, the date of his death lies in the words 'Shah i 

 Marcldn u qiblah i 'dloum' (the king of men, and the cynosure of the world)." 



Mr. Blochmann said — - 



According to the above verse, Shaikh Mina would have died in A. H. 

 881, or A. D. 1179. The biographical works on Muhammadan saints 

 mention A. H. 870, or A. D. 1165, as the year of his death. I extract the 

 following notice from the Khazinat ul Acfia (Labor Edition, p. 389). 



Shaikh Mina's real name was Shaikh Muhammad. He was born at 

 Lakhnau, and was brought up by Shaikh Qiwamuddin, a dervish of 

 repute. Shaikh Qiwam had a son, named Nizamuddin Muhammad 

 Mina, who, disgusted with the retired life he had to lead in his fa- 

 ther's house, went to Sultan Muhammad Shah, son of Firiiz Shah (1389 

 to 1391 A. D.), and obtained a lucrative post. His father never forgave 

 him for his worldliness. After several years, he returned to Lakhnau, in 

 order to ask his father's pardon, and in his thoughtlessness he went on horse- 

 back into the courtyard where his father's cell was. The father saw him, 

 and said, " Unworthy son, do you dare to come on horseback to the cell of 

 Darwish Qiwamuddin ?" The son pulled back the reins of his horse ; but 

 in turning, the horse fell, and he was violently thrown on the ground, and 

 broke his neck. The father looked upon this accident as a punishment in- 

 flicted by God on his worldly son, and adopted Shaikh Muhammad, and 

 gave him the name of Mina, which his own son had borne. Shaikh Mina, 

 in course of time, became a great saint. 



A story is told of Shaikh Mina to shew that he was marked out 

 a saint from his childhood. When five years old, he was taken to his 

 teacher, and in the beginning of the first lesson, he was asked, according to 

 Muhammadan custom, to say the formula ' Bismillali irrahmdn irralum? 

 After be bad repeated the words, he was told to say A (alif), and when he 

 had done so, to pronounce Be. But the boy would not say Be ; for, said he, 

 " A is the first letter of Allah, and this is sufficient knowledge." In 

 after-life even, Shaikh Mina is said to have frequently expounded the 

 mysteries of the letter A. 



