He was a Ḥusainī* Sayyid, and in early life followed the military profession.* Suddenly, leaving the service, he adopted the occupation of a water-carrier, and at night used to carry water to the houses of chaste and secluded widows,* and used to take water to the people free of charge, until he experienced a mysterious attraction towards God, when he gave up all employment, and, abandoning his own free-will, no longer spoke at all, in the way of conversation, but was ever longing for dissolution. 58.
I passed from Thy street supporting myself in my weakness
with my hand against the wall,
Thou camest in Thy glory, and I was struck motionless as a
picture on the wall.*
He chose for his dwelling a house in the lower market of Gwāliyār,* and always remained there, and passed all his time with his head drooping in meditation. If any question occurred to the minds of those who were present with him he would answer it, after the manner of those who are mysteriously drawn to God, as though he were raving in a delirium,* and would solve the difficulty, and he would recount what was passing at a distance.* He always passed the night in a standing posture, sometimes weeping and sometimes laughing.
I have heard from his confidants* that on one occasion a Sayyid came from a foreign country and asked the Shaikh to prove his claim to being a Sayyid.* The Shaikh ordered firewood to be brought, and a large fire to be lighted, and then, taking the man by the hand, said, “Come, let us both enter the fire,
The Sayyid held aloof, but Shaikh Kapūr, entering the fire, came out of it without hurt; and many other similar miracles are related of him. All accounts of him agree in this respect. For the sake of brevity I have related only this much.
*
In the course of the year H. 979 (A.D. 1571-2) he ran out
one night shouting “Strike, strike!”*
and fell from over the
door of his house, and surrendered his life to God. Shaikh
Faiẓī found the date of his death in the words “Kapūr-i-