Early in the 18th century the greatest saint in Sind was Makhdum Niamat Ullah, the father of a still greater religious luminary, the famous Makhdum Nuh. So renowned was Makhdum Niamat Ullah that an ancient fakir more than a hundred years old and known as La Ikhtyar or the Independent One was so affected by the stories told of the saintly Makhdum Niamat Ullah, that he gave up his independent life and went to Torio in the Hala taluka on the chance of seeing the object of his admiration. Torio was not Makhdum Niamat’s usual place of residence, but La Ikhtyar had had a vision that it would be at Torio that he would see the Desired One.

After some weeks Makhdum Niamat Ullah did go to Torio on business and passed La Ikhtyar, as he sat on his cot. At once the old fakir recognised the passer-by from the radiant glow on his countenance. The fakir got off his cot and made the saint sit on it and knelt at his feet. But as Makhdum sat, the fakir’s tame birds of which he had a large number suddenly flew away. The saint asked the reason and was told that he would be the father of a son who would love to shoot birds. When the fakir’s pets learnt this, they had flown away in terror. After bidding the fakir goodbye, Makhdum Niamat Ullah walked into the bazaar. As he passed a Hindu’s shop, the owner’s wife fell so desperately in love with him, that she begged him to take her away from her husband and marry her. The saint could not stoop to such wickedness; but to get rid of her importunities, he promised to fetch her away that very night. He left her and went to take a siesta in the shade of a high wall, some streets away. As he slept, a certain Amin, the chief of the Lankas, passed by on his way to Lower Sind. He had with him a comely marriageable daughter, who at once fell in love with the sleeping saint. Amin woke up Makhdum Niamat Ullah and [29]offered his daughter to him in marriage. The saint gladly accepted the offer and was married to the beautiful girl the same evening. Next morning the Hindu woman saw the saint and going up to him, reproached him for not keeping his tryst. The saint explained that he was now a married man and must cleave to his wife. He, however, blessed the amorous Hindu lady and nine months from that very day, she presented to her husband a son called Zabhar.

On the same day as Zabhar was born, the wife of Makhdum Niamat Ullah presented her lord with a son, the celebrated Makhdum Nuh. Even as a tiny baby, Makhdum Nuh shewed his precocious saintliness. When only six days old, he compelled the fakir La Ikhtyar, who was his devoted slave, to go through the ceremony of becoming his disciple. The fakir lived until his infantile preceptor was five years old; then he died at the ripe age of 106 and his tomb may still be seen at Old Hala. His reputation for independence has survived him and many persons who are in difficulties still visit his tomb and ask the Independent One for his advice.

Makhdum Nuh took to the Koran, as the proverbial duck takes to water. At the age of seven he knew the mighty book by heart. At the age of fourteen he was vouchsafed a vision of no less a personage than Mahomed himself. As Makhdum Nuh was washing in the river his slate on which he had written some lines of the Koran, he saw a boat approach. In it were the Prophet, his son-in-law Ali and Huzrat Isa or Jesus. The boat stopped and the Holy Prophet called Makhdum Nuh by name. The boy went up to the boat and Jesus took his slate and wrote on one side of it fourteen lines. Then Ali took it and wrote on it eighteen lines and the boat glided away. The astonished Makhdum Nuh took his slate to his teacher, who found that what was written on it far transcended even his understanding. [30]He asked his pupil what hand had written the lines. Makhdum Nuh told him about the three strangers in the boat; thereupon his teacher guessed what had happened and embraced the boy, as one to whom the Prophet had vouchsafed a vision.

Makhdum Nuh became when he grew up, as prophesied by the fakir, a great bird-shot; but he also worked many and mighty miracles. His most famous achievement was connected with the great mosque at Tatta. This mosque had been built at a cost of many lakhs of rupees by the orders of the Moghul Emperor. When it was completed, the faithful noted with dismay that it did not correctly face the Kaaba. This was too dreadful for words; for unless a mosque faces the Kaaba properly, it is useless. The faithful, too, of Tatta had been bragging loudly to their neighbours about their future mosque and they now would be exposed to their mocking laughter. The faithful of Tatta appealed to Makhdum Nuh. He called to his aid another holy man Ali Shirazi and they assailed Allah with continuous and soul-compelling prayers. At first nothing happened and the faithful began to murmur discordantly at the failure of the two saints. “But verily” as the Koran has it, “some suspicions are as sins.” Another half hour’s steady prayer and the great edifice began to quiver. Makhdum Nuh then called on all true Musulmans present to tie ropes to the building and pull it round; and lo! and behold! under the combined pressure of the prayers of the saints and the pushings of the faithful, the great mosque turned round slowly and then stopped dead. It had come to face exactly in the true direction of Mecca.

Even a man so holy as Makhdum Nuh could not escape from the malice of mankind. He had two great friends Muzaffar and Salar. Salar had promised his daughter in marriage to [31]Muzaffar’s son. Unhappily a quarrel broke out between these two eminent men and Salar refused to give his daughter. Now in Sind marriageable girls are few and this was a home thrust. Muzaffar complained to Makhdum Nuh, who after hearing both sides ordered Salar to keep his promise. Salar obeyed, la mort dans l’âme; but he vented his spleen by cursing the said saint in the following quatrain:

The curse of this impious blasphemer was unhappily fulfilled. The river Indus twice threatened the spot where Makhdum Nuh had been buried. The second time the river approached so rapidly that the disciples had to remove their master’s body in broad daylight instead of at night, as was seemly. Heaven, however, came to their help. As they began to lift the body from the grave, the sky became overcast and a mist as thick as a London fog spread over the land, so that none could see the decaying remains of one who in life had been strong and beautiful. The saint’s body found its last resting place about two miles to the west of Old Hala. A small town has sprung up round the tomb and is known as Murtazabad. A beautiful mausoleum now stands over Makhdum Nuh’s grave and the cupola over it was erected in 1795 A.D. by Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur. On the tomb were engraved the following words in order to silence possible slanderers of the dead man:

According to my chronicler, these lines had an excellent effect. They were the proper stuff to hand out to the back-biters.