He was descended* of the line of ‘Alī, but he was not wont to proclaim his descent, on account of his being a foreigner.* He was one of the greatest of the learned men of the age, excelling in devotion, piety, and holy endeavour,* turning not aside from the path of the law, and, firmly seated in the corner of contentment, was constantly occupied in giving religious* instruction. His grasp of all branches of knowledge, both of those which demand the exercise of the reasoning faculty and of those which depend upon the memory,* was such that there was hardly a standard work, from light treatises on accidence* to books of law and medicine and the commentary on the Miftāḥ* and the ‘Aẓudī*
which he had not either written a commentary on or annotated, and the people were continually profited by his auspicious sayings, God, may He be praised, is known by his epithet, “the Healer,” and He made the Miyāṅ a manifestation of that name, so that every day the sick and afflicted, in countless numbers,* used to wait upon him and beseech him to pray for them, and would speedily experience the effects of that prayer. He never went of his own accord to the houses of worldly men, but only once or twice in the course of his life, and then in obedience to a summons, and unwillingly.* He did not even leave* his house and private masjid for the Friday congregational prayers.
His house was the resort of the greatest and best men of the age. In his dress and mode of life he was in no way distinguished from the common people, and contented himself with coarse raiment, distributing in charity whatever he received by way of alms.
He received his religious instruction from Shaikh Muḥammad 44. Ghau* and followed his rule, although he had been the accredited disciple of another. He completed his studies with the Shaikh, drinking deeply and with relish of the fount of Ṣūfī-ism.
When Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau went from Hindūstān to Gujarāt, in the reign of Sulān Maḥmūd of Gujarāt,* Shaikh ‘Alī Mutaqqī,* one of the greatest Shaikhs, most influential religious leaders and greatest sages of that time, wrote a fatw*
for the execution of Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau, and the Sulān abrogated it* at the instance* of Miyāṅ Vajīhu-'d-Dīn. When Miyāṅ Vajīhu-'d-Dīn went on the first occasion to the Shaikh's house he was powerfully attracted by his face, and tore up the fatw,* and Shaikh ‘Alī came, beside himself (with rage), to the Miyāṅ's house, and rent his clothes and said, “Why do you assent to the spread of heresy, and to a schism in the faith?”* He answered, “We follow the letter and the Shaikh the spirit.* Our understanding cannot reach his perfections and (even), as far as the letter of the law* goes, no exception, by which he could be pronounced blameworthy, can be taken* to him.” And this was the cause of the great faith which the Sulāns and rulers of Gujarāt had in Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau, and of his deliverance from that position of peril. (The Miyāṅ) from that time repeatedly said in assemblies, “one ought to obey the letter of the law after the manner of Shaikh ‘Alī Mutaqqī,* and the spirit* after the manner of my spiritual guide” (i.e., Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau.) Miyāṅ Vajīhu-'d-Dīn passed away from this abode of gloom in the year H. 998 (A.D. 1589-90) and the words “Shaikh Vajīhu-'d-Dīn”* were found to give the date of his death: may God turn him towards acceptance!
I may explain that I never had an opportunity of waiting on these four honourable men, and that what I have written of them is only what I have been able to learn incidentally.*