His descent was from the Bōharas,*
a tribe in Gujarāt whose
occupation is trading. By means of one of the intimate friends
of Mīr Sayyid Muḥammad of Jaunpur (may God sanctify his
soul!) he constantly followed the path of poverty and self-effacement,
walking steadfastly in that way to the end of
his life. When the Khalīfah of the age, after the conquest
of the country of Bang,*
reached Ajmīr on his return from
Patna,*
Āṣaf Khān II, the Mīr Bakhshī, in obedience to the Imperial
order, brought him with him from Gujarāt. The Emperor, calling
the ‘Ulamā together one night in the courtyard of the Hall of
Audience, questioned Shaikh Muṣaf on the truth about the
Mahdawī question, and he readily answered, and the discussion
51. was prolonged; and Ḥājī Ibrāhīm of Sirhind,*
in accordance with
his vile disposition, was overbearing in the argument, and vexed
the Shaikh; and I also related circumstantially and at length
what I had found in the commentary on the Gulshan-i-Rāz,*
a
work by Shaikh Muḥammad-al-Ahjī, who was the immediate*
disciple of Mīr Sayyid Muḥammad-i-Nūr Bakhshī,*
who also, in
his time, had set up a claim to being the Mahdī, and had brought
various troubles on himself thereby. Since what I said was
opposed to the Shaikh's contention it was evidently the cause of
his being vexed with me. The Emperor ordered the Shaikh,
after his arrival at Fatḥpūr, to stay for some days in the house
of Khāja ‘Abdu-'ṣ-Ṣamad the painter, of sweet pen.*
To make
amends for my fault I waited on him with my apologies, and
asked him for forgiveness. He was very feeble, and in that very
assembly a basin was brought to him, and he brought up a great
quantity of blood. It seems that after he received leave to
depart for Gujarāt he removed the baggage (of existence) from
this transitory lodging to the eternal abode, either on his way
to his native land or immediately after his arrival there.
This event took place in the year H. 983 (A.D. 1575-6). He is
the author of works which bear witness to his separation from
the world and self-effacement.*
May God deal with him according
to His graciousness.