He was profoundly learned and in early life spent many years in teaching and giving instruction. He was a disciple of Shaikh Ṣafī, the spiritual successor of Shaikh Sa‘īd, and held from him a diploma, authorizing him to give religious instruction. In early life he employed* himself to such an extent in the acquisition of exoteric knowledge that there are now living many wise men, masters of perfection, who owe their wisdom to his teaching.* Latterly he devoted* himself wholly to the Ṣūfī-istic rule, founding an order of devotees, vowed to personal poverty, whose rule was resignation to God, retirement from the world, and the giving of alms. A keen appreciation of the ecstatic songs and dances (of darvīshes) and an overpowering religious ecstacy were comprised in his daily system of religious exercises,* and were never omitted. He restrained his steps from wandering to the doors of men, especially of worldly men, and those of position and rank, and on these grounds he never accepted an invitation to a feast. All his offspring and followers secured the good fortune of the assistance of the example of his practice in enduring poverty and want. One of them was his true successor* Shaikh Abū-'l-Fatḥ, who succeeded to his prayer-mat, and is one of the most pre-eminent* among the learned men of this time. In his rules of conduct, both outward and inward, he follows, wholly and completely, his venerable father, and he is the author of many standard works on most branches of knowledge. Never did a beggar go away disappointed from the Shaikh.
One day Muḥammad Ḥusain Khān asked the Shaikh, “What sort of a man was Sālār Mas‘ūd,* whom the common people of India worship?” The Shaikh replied, “He was an Afghān who met his death by martyrdom.”*
Towards the end of his life, in accordance with an Imperial summons, he came to Fatḥpūr and there saw the Khalīfa* (vice- 28. gerent) of the age. When the Emperor heard that the Shaikh, when the messenger conveyed the summons to him, set out from his hospice on foot, without allowing anything to detain him, travelling thus until his servants sent his baggage and travelling litter after him, he was much pleased. When he asked the Shaikh a question the Shaikh would make a sign to signify that he was hard of hearing, and the Emperor would give him a piece of gold. He also ordered that a subsistence allowance* should be assigned to the Shaikh, and then immediately gave him permission to depart.
The Shaikh's death occurred in the year H. 993 (A.D. 1585). May the mercy of God be upon him!