His father's name was Shaikh Kākū, and the people of Lāhōr believe him to have been a saint.* He (Shaikh Isḥāq) was a profoundly learned man, resigned to God and abstinent. He never went to the houses of worldly men or begged from them. He was always teaching, and was a compendium of all branches of knowledge. He was a Ṣūfī by religion and was ever employed with the Truth (God).* He would not speak unless questions ^52. were put to him. One day he met in the road a contemptible wretch who gave to him an earthen pot full of rice and milk, saying, “Take this and come with me.” Without any objection or refusal he took it on his head and passed through the market­place until he came to the place where the man lodged, and from that day forth his heart was washed clean from the guile of pride, and he was also distinguished among those learned in profane knowledge.* In the course of the year H. 995 (A.D. 1587) I had the honour of waiting on that reverend man, and one day I told this story, in some connection or another, to Shaikh Faiẓī,* who shortly afterwards received the title of Maliku-'sh-Shu‘arā* and he, according to his habit, which was to decry* all holy men,* past and present, and to exalt himself, began scoffingly to belittle the Shaikh, while I remained silent. I cannot say whether it was that night or some other night that I saw in a dream that Shaikh Abū-‘l-Faẓl had alighted in a plain, in an old ruin which had no more than two or three* walls standing. Shaikh Isḥāq was standing in the company of gunners, with a musket in his hand, just as though it were the night of the new moon and the usual custom in the Royal Court of firing off guns on the occasion were being observed. He took aim at me and fired, and the sparks fell all round me and in front of me, and* I awoke, terrified. The next day I took an offering to the Shaikh and it was honoured with his acceptance, and I told him what had happened to me.*

Owing to his great age he had lost the power of speech, but he used to raise his hand and recite the Fātiḥah, praise be to God! He was the instructor of most of the famous learned men of Lāhōr, such as Shaikh Sa‘du-‘llāh, who had no rival* in his time, and Shaikh Munavvar and others.

In his youth the Shaikh was inclined mostly to sport,* and took his delight therein, so that whenever he had leisure from study he would take his falcon and hawk and would go out hawking, traversing the ground on foot.

His venerable age exceeded one hundred years when, in the year H. 996 (A.D. 1588), he hastened away to the close com- ^53. panionship* of God.