He has composed a dīvān and has studied to some extent. He used to tell the following story:—
I was once in an assembly convened for the ecstatic dancing* of darvīshes by that king of saints and greatest* of pious men, Shaikh Ḥusain of Khwārazm (may God hallow his soul), and the chanters were chanting the following quatrain:—
“Throughout my life I have been one of those who wear my
skin as Thy garment,
I am one of that brotherhood who wear the ring of Thy
service in their ears,
If Thou showest me favour I am one of those who shout for
joy of Thee,
And if Thou showest me none I am one of those who are
silent for Thee.”
And his holiness the Shaikh, on hearing the last verse, was seized with holy rapture, and an ecstasy that communicated itself to others,* so that I too, blessed by being in his company, experienced holy rapture, and, springing up from my place as one beside himself, uttered the following couplet:—
“Whether Thou showest me favour or whether Thou show-
est it not
I am one of that brotherhood who wear the ring of Thy
service in their ears.”
His holiness the Shaikh seized me by the hand and whirled me round with him, and the delight of that moment never leaves my heart.*
He died in Āgra, in the neighbourhood of Shaikh Farīd's College, in A.H. 966 (A.D. 1558-59).
The following opening couplet of one of his odes is well known:
“The mouth of my Friend last night told me a secret mys-
tery,
‘I am the fountain of the water of life, and thou knowest
it not.’”
292 The following verses are also by him:—
“Why does not fate shed my blood where thou art not?
It would seem that this is beyond the power of fate.”
The words which fell from her lips were brief, and I could
not understand them,
The down around her lips is a marginal commentary*
brief enough.
In travelling the road of love for thee I arrived at no stage
At which I did not find that the pain of love for thee had
preceded me.”