Minyoon Shah Inat
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[edit] Shah Inayatullah (Miyun Shah Inat)
Shah Ïnayatullah, popularly known as "Miyun Shah Inat" belonged to a branch of Rizvi Syeds which separated from the main family stock at bakhar in Sindh Sometimes during the 14-16th Centuries A.D. and came down to settle at Nasarpur, the historical town in the present Hyderabad district.His father, Shah Nasruddin, was a respectable religious man who in his advanced age became a follower of shah khairuddin of sukkur (shah Khairuddin jillani (d.1027 A.H./1618 A.D.), is very famious with the name of JEA SHAH JILLANI, His father name is sayed ahmed shah Bughdadi he was great grand son of SAYED ABDUL QADIR JILLANI , Shah khairuddin was the poineer of Qadiria silsila in sindh , he was died at the age of 109 yr at old sukkur (BY TARIQUE HUSSAIN SOOMRO) The renowned saint of Qadiriyyah order, thus changed inats father from the suhrawardiyyah order to which the Rizvi Syeds traditionally belonged, to the Qadiriyyah order. According to the family tradition, it was due to the blessings of shah khairuddin that Shah Inayatullah was born to Shah Nasruddin in an advanced age. The birth date of the poet is not recorded, and it may be inferred that he was born during the decade of the saint's death (between 1613-1623 A.D.). In accordance with the family tradition of the syeds in Sindh, Shah "Inayatullah must have received his basic education in some madrasah but the internal evidence from his poetry shows his advanced knowledge of Persian, Arabic and Islamic Philosophy. On the other hand, there is ample proof of his intimate knowledge of music, the Sufi saints, the life of villagers in Sindh and their folk-ways and folk-tales, and of various places particularly in the Sindh region and the adjoining country of Kachh. He seems to have travelled far and wide in these areas. During the later part of his life, he saw the decline of the central Mughul Empire at Delhi and the rise of the leaders of the local Kalhora Dynasty with whom he had all his sympathies. In one of his baits, he eulogized the emerging leadership of Mian Nasir Muhammad (1692 A.D.) Who had established his authority over Chanduka, the present upper Dadu and Larkana districts. In another bait we find him appealing to Miyan Yar Muhammad, the son and the successor of Mian Nasir Muhammad, to recover for him the herd of camels taken away by one langah. No further reference is found to the subsequent kalhora ruler, Mian Noor Muhammad whom the poet's grandson Bilah shah, has mentioned in one of his verses. Our poet was already of an advanced age when Mian Yar Muhammad came to power, and most probably he died sometimes earlier during his Chieftainship (1901-1719 A.D.) Thus, "Shah Inayatullah or Miyun Shah Inat" as he has been affectionately called by his progeny and the people, was essentially a poet of the 17th century A.D. He was a classical poet in as much as he used the classical Sindhi idiom and employed the classical forms of Sindhi bait and waee or kafi in his poetry.Yet he heralded a new era in the domain of Sindhi poetry by combining the poetic contents of the age-old bardic tradition and of the more cultivated spiritual thought of the Sufi-saint poets.Prior to this, Sindhi poetry had been nurtured by the country bards and the professional minstrels to commemorate the valour of the heroes in wars or the munificence of the generous in peace and entertain the people by composing and singing their fold tales and pseudo-historical romance. It was also employed by the sufis and the saints as a medium to express their spiritual ideas and experiences or convey their personal approval or disapproval of the deeds of some contemporary individuals.These two streams had not yet come to a confluence: each followed its own course. While the bardic tradition was more widely diffused, spiritual poetry had successively found its great exponents in the great Sufi poets reaching almost its climax both in form and expression, in the compositions of Qadi Qadan (d.1551 A.D.) and Shah Abdul Karim (d.1620/21 A.D.), the great grand-father of Shah Abdul Latif. They were the great predecessors of Miyun Shah Inat and we find their poetry essentially spiritual and didactic in content, little related to the life of the people or their traditional heroes, folk-tales and romances.
According to the family accounts, from his very childhood Miyun Shah Inat was fond of music and sat listening to the musicians and the professional minstrels in the village assemblies. By birth he belonged to an orthodox Syed family and had imbibed the love of Islam, the holy Prophet and the great saints. He had listened to the musicians and the minstrels and was also conversant with the spiritual contents of the poetry of his predecessors.Combining the two traditions, he forged a new line as a saint-poet of the people singing about their heroes in war and peace and their traditional tales and romances as well as about the traders, weavers and the monsoon rains on which depended the prosperity of the people. He also treated the spiritual themes of love and hope in his poetry and composed verses in praise of the saints and selfless devotees in the search of God.
The volume of his poetry that has reached us pertains to twenty two main topics covering all the above themes, each a chapter by itself, headlined in the extant manuscripts as "SURUD" indicating the specific mode in which each one was to be sung. Thus,a background of music tradition is implicit in the poetical compositions of Miyun Shah Inat, though due to a long lapses of time the conceptual pattern of music is lost to us and only the verbal text has survived.
Fortunately, the new era in Sindhi poetry heralded by Miyun Shah Inat, soon found its greatest exponent in Shah Abdul Latif (b. 1689-d.1752) who was yet in his twenties or even younger when shah Inat died. According to the oral tradition current to this day, Shah Abdul Latif is said to have gone and met the elderly shah Inat more than once and they recited to each other some of their parallel verses on common themes. However that may be, there remains no doubt that young Shah Abdul Latif was strongly influenced by the form and technique used by Miyun Shah Inat, and within the framework of his own poetic genius he adopted them even to the extent of using some of the same idioms and expressions though with a more precise skill and insight. No doubt Shah Abdul Latif soared higher in the realm of ideas than Miyun Shah Inat who, as a pioneer, was mainly concerned with the contents of his new themes and experiments in the use of powerful idiom and fresh imagery to render the description more vivid and more poetic. But in so doing, he set the fashion and paved the way for the advent of Shah Abdul Latif, the immortal poet of Sindhi language and one of the greatest poets of the world.
[edit] Poetry of Minyoon Shah Inat
MINYOON SHAH INAT Shah Inat was born circa 1613 C.E. and circa 1701 C.E.
I beg of you with hands folded, O Beloved, let my wishes be fulfilled. With your munificence and blessing, Your bounty on me be bestowing.
If you wish the Beloved to meet, Why beg at the physician's feet? Inayat says, "Do not your ailment Show to the foolish for medicament."
It is only by the Beloved's hand The pain of my heart will end. I shall not ask for medicament From the physicians for my ailment.
My pulse he will touch and feel, And give me powder to end my weal. If my Beloved were on me to smile, My sorrows and tears could end in a while.
With a cup of wine that was brimful The Beloved made me plentiful. O Beloved, another cup fill, My wishes and desires fulfill, So that in intoxicated ecstasy, I come to your door in expectancy.
The moth has flown and is here To set ablaze the flame without a tear. It knows to fly and laugh in glee, To fly as a bird, happy and free. The moth comprehends the mystery Of the tongues of fire, far and near.
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The stars on the run and they set, And meet the Beloved yet. They have come to my courtyard, Who sing to my heart, like a bard. When I beheld the Beloved's face, My wishes were fulfilled with grace.
Hear the rising star speak, The moon has reached its peak. It stands there, transfixed in its place, And tarries to behold the Beloved's face.
Behold the flushes of fire, Aroused by the Yogis and their ire. They, in the darkness of the night, Betook themselves to flight. How can I of their love speak publicly, Which to me they entrusted secretly? Throughout the night I weep, And in my heart their remembrance keep.
Insatiable is their greed, Which in their hearts they feed. They beg from country to country These Yogis with blankets heavy. [1] Where others feel uneasy, There the Yogis rest easy: Ram, the Lord, they entreat, As begs the lotus sweet.
"I trust in God," say and repeat, These words repeat, these words sweet. Listen the Sayed say "O Sanyasi [2], Learn to master that mystery.. O yogis, from your heart efface Scepticism that within yourself you face. Learn to practise what you preach, Then from love learn to beseech."
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Inat says the rains have arrived, And the river's tributaries are flooded. The grass has sprouted in abundance, Of every kind, hue and refulgence. O Lord, end my days of imprisonment, You are the Mighty, the Omnipotent. O Lord, let those days arrive, I see my family members and thrive.
At first let me the Beloved meet, Let me the Beloved in private greet. May I see the earth of my country; May the Lord shower me this mercy. Sayed says, "I am confident, The Lord will grant me this fulfilment. The Lord will allow me to meet My cousins and my sisters so sweet."
Go, go to the door of the Lord, With musical instruments and sarod Caress their strings with your hand, So that He is pleased His land. May the music that you play and increase Become acceptable and the Master please Then, the Kingly Lord, behold, Will grant you treasures untold.
We are those, we are the same, We have come to You of famous name. Inat says, "We are sinful, To you we have come, repentful. O Lord, our sins forgive, And convert them, so that I become dutiful".
Not a good deed I remember, While evil deeds are without number Tell me, how many can I count? By Allah, all I cannot recount. May You my honour shield, You, who over all things power wield!
