Makhdoom Ali Mahimi Shafi'i Dargah(1372–1431 A.D) was a saint and scholar of international repute. He lived during the time of the Tuglaq dynasty and that of Sultan Ahmed Shah of Gujarat, and was married to the Sultan's sister. He is widely acknowledged for his scholarly treatises, liberal views and humanist ideals. Mahimi was born into a family of Arab travelers from Iraq who had settled down on the island of Mahim known as nawayath, one of the seven islands that later formed the city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Dargah of Mahimi in Mahim Not much is known of his early childhood. He later became the follower of disciples of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani ShafI'i and became the master of Kubrawiya order. Mahimi's reputation grew after the Sultan of Gujarat, Ahmed Shah of the Muzaffarid dynasty, chose him to be the town's Qazi (the Head Muslim Judge/cleric of a town). Mahimi was the first Indian scholar to write an exegesis on the Qur'an, which gained critical acclimation from numerous Islamic scholars including Shah Waliullah Dehlavi. Authoring more than 100 books but we only know name of 21 books from which only 10 books are available in different libraries in India, he was given the moniker Qutub-e -Kokan (Kokan's Pole Star). He was the first commentator of the Quran in India . His commentary is called "Tafsirur Rahman." It is available in Al Azhar University, Cairo and Ummul-Qura University, Makkah.
