He* also is one of the successors of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-‘Azīz. In asceticism* he has no equal in these days, and in seeking solitude, he is the “Shibli* of the age. At the beginning of his career, when he was a student in Badāon, he used to be overcome by re­ligious ecstasy, and sometimes even in the midst of his studies on hearing the chanting of a mystical song he would remain in­sensible for a whole watch of the day, more or less. When his intimate friends asked him what he had seen to bring this ecsta­tic trance upon him he would reply, “I know nothing of it.”

In consequence of the responsibilities which he incurred by his marriage, which is* a pitfall for enlightened seekers after knowledge,—

Couplet.

Who are the robbers whom we encounter on our road to
God?
Those robbers are no other than women—

he came to Dihlī in search of a livelihood, and there entered the service of Tatār Khān,* the governor of the city, who, though clad in the habiliments of the great ones of the earth, was one of the godly. The Shaikh attached himself as a disciple to Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-‘Azīz, and under him he studied all those books which are generally current and are included in the ordinary curriculum. He then spent several years in teaching, and was then suddenly drawn mysteriously by God's grace, and, abandon­ing all his occupations, he joined the circle of ascetic darvīshes in the Shaikh's hospice, and employed himself in striving in the path of holiness and in self-mortification. After attaining per­fection he left human habitations and took up his dwelling near ¹¹² the footprint of his holiness the resort of apostleship (may the blessing and peace of God be upon him!), in a masjid known as the masjid of Khān-i-Jahān. There he dwells in religious seclu­sion, and, in spite of his having a large family, he follows a reli­gious rule, with a firm trust in God. He had not taken one step from the corner of retirement when in the year H. 1003 (A.D. 1594-95) the Khān-i-Khānān* waited upon him, and asked him for his advice. He said, “Deem the following of the holy law* of Muḥammad (may the blessing and peace of God be upon him!) to be of the first importance.” At the time when this hastily compiled history was written Aḥmad-i-Ṣūfiyak* and Ḥisā-mak * of Banāras, men newly converted to Islām, who in the reli­gious strife of these latter days are branded with the mark of eternal execration—

Manawī.

Stand aloof from the Sūfīs of the city and the country,
All of them are unmanly wretches, devourers of men.
Whatever one gives to them that they devour,
Whatever lies in their power that they do.
They have no occupation but sleeping and eating,
They take no thought on the day on which they shall die—

for the purpose of averting from themselves their evil reputation and concealing their gross immorality, formed the design of dis­patching a farmān summoning from Dihlī to Lāhōr Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-Ghanī with one or two of his surviving children, whose names will be mentioned hereafter, for the purpose of urging him to submit to the new orders,* which they themselves had most readily and cheerfully accepted. The Shaikh wrote a letter to me setting forth his helplessness and asking to be ex­cused, and accordingly, after many representations Aḥmad-i-Ṣūfiyak was appeased, and abandoned his design, and he caused a letter to be written and sent to the Shaikh excusing him from attending in obedience to the summons and asking forgiveness for what he had done. Please God, the matter will end satis­factorily.