The void created by Mian Shah Din’s appointment to the Chief Court was filled by his cousin and brother-in-Law, Mian Muhammad Shafi. He was born on 10 March, 1869. He went to England to study for the Bar in August 1889. He also took active interest in Anjuman-i-Islamiya of London and was elected its President for a term. He returned home in 1892. After some years’ practice at Hoshiarpur, he moved to Lahore in the beginning of 1898. He interested himself in public affairs and was a member of the Simla Deputation. When a branch of the All India Muslim League was started in November 1907 in Punjab, he became its General Secretary.

His differences with Mian Fazl-i-Husain had started about the same time. Mian Fazl-i-Husain had started an organization for which he coined the name of “Muslim League” and which held its first meeting in February 1906. A few months later, Mian Muhammad Shafi organized a Muslim Association, but when the All-India Muslim League was formed, he formed its powerful branch in the Punjab of which he became the General Secretary. This branch, organized in November 1907, was known as the Punjab Provincial Muslim League, while Fazl-i-Husain also continued to call his organization by a similar name. Both claimed allegiance to the All-India Muslim League and both had attended the first formal session of that body at Karachi in December 1907. Their differences came to a head at the second meeting of the Muslim League. “The second sitting of the Aligarh meeting dealt with the problem of squaring up the differences between the two provincial Leagues in the Punjab. The whole of the Muslim community was anxious on this score, Mian Muhammad Shafi presented the names of twenty-four members and Mian Fazl-i-Husain of eighteen to constitute the executive body of the Punjab Provincial League.

After long discussions, it was decided that both of them should confer together and arrive at a unanimous decision to submit the names of twenty four members which was actually done. In this way, the ill prospect of disunion in the Punjab was shattered.” As a result of the compromise, Mian Muhammad Shafi continued as General Secretary of the Punjab Muslim League while Mian Fazl-i-Husain became its Joint Secretary. “The Muslim demands in the forthcoming Minto-Morley Reforms was the result of the efforts of Mian Muhammad Shafi and Mian Shah Din”. Shafi presided over the annual session of the All-India Muslim League in 1913 and retained his control of the Provincial League till 1916, when his organization was disaffiliated by the All-India Muslim League. According to his daughter, Begum Jahan Ara Shah Nawaz, Mian Sahfi’s differences with the All-India body were due to his opposition to the “Lucknow Pact which sacrificed the Muslim interests in the Punjab and Bengal”.

In July 1919, Mian Muhammad Sahfi, who had been elected as the President of the Chief Court Bar, became a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council during 1919-24. The fact that he was taken away from the Punjab at a time when, owing to the introduction of the Dyarchy, politics was to become fruitful in the provincial sphere, in a way, reduced his usefulness. His tenure as Education Member was, however, marked by many important developments, including the setting up of the Muslim University of Aligarh. When he returned after completing five years’ term, he again became active in Muslim politics, and played an important role when the Simon Commission visited India and, again, at the first Round Table Conference 1930-31. He passed away on 7 January, 1932, shortly after his appointment as Education Member of the Government of India during Sir Fazl-i-Husain’s absence on deputation in South Africa. His two daughters namely Begum Jahan Ara Shah Nawaz and Begum Geeti Ara Bashir Ahmad earned fame as leading Muslim women who took active part in the Great Struggle for Pakistan.