________________ 425 Shaikh Muhammad Qazin Shuttari of Basarh the son of Syed Muhammad Chakkan of Jaunpur. Besides the mystical and theological ideas which have been made to correspond with positive and real teachings of orthodox. Islam, the book contains something about the life and thoughts of the saintly author which cannot but attract one's attention. II. Life and Work i. Parentage, Birth and the Epithet 'Qazin' The autbor of Maadan-ul-Asrar or Manahi j-us-Shuttar frequently refers to, and names himself as, "this mean slave (of God) Muhammad alias Qazin Bin Ola Bin Alam Tirhuti Maneri Hashmi", because his father, Alauddin, son of Alam, was the fifth in descent from Makbdum Ismail whose father, Imam Taj Faqih, a direct descendant of Abu Darda, 1 an uncle of the Prophet of Islam, was one of the first of Muslim missionaries in India. Imam Taj Faqih is said to have wrested Maner2 in Patna district in 576 A. H. or 1180 A. D. from Rajah Maniyar, as is evident from the chronogram "Din Muhammad Shud Qavi". The Imam is said to have left his two sons, the eldest Israil (grandfather of the celebrated Makhdum Sharfuddin of Bihar) and the youngest Abdul Aziz (the ancestor of the Kako and Shaikhpura5 families of saints) to propagate Islam in South Bibar while he deputed his second son, Ismail, to preach his faith in Tirbut (North Bihar). 1. This has been taken from a very old MS. which contains the Ijazat nama of Hazrat Muzaffar Balkhi in favour of his nephew and successor Makhdum Husain Balkhi, dated 842 A. H. But in * Zaria-i-Daulat Zobair bin Abdul Matallib bin Hashim is substi tuted for Abu Darda. Elsewhere ( The Comprehensive History of Bihar, Vol. II, Part I, Patna, 1983, p. 404) Syed Hasan Askari says : "Maulana Muhammad, better known as Imam Taj Faqih, the traditional conqueror of Maner, [was) probably a Mujahid in the army of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar." [Ed.] 3. Zaria-i-Daulat, a late work, contains the couplet : "Yaft Chun Bar Raja-i-Magyar Zafar-Dad Imam Az Din Jabanera-Navi-Hast Manqul Az Buzurgan-i-Salaf-Sali An Din Muhammad Shud Qavi." Manaqib-ul-Asfia by Sbah Shoaib, a grandson of Abdul Aziz, is one of the earliest and the most authentic authorities on the Maner and Bibar families of saints. 5. This Shaikhpura is in the Munger district. (Ed.] 27
