He was a conspicuous example of the degree of divine know­ledge which is within the reach of man. He was a very crucible of love for God, in which the pure gold of his being was ever at melting heat, until it reached the extreme limit of refinement and purity. This being his condition he was constantly weeping in his ardent desire for God, to such an extent that the world has never seen his equal. No sooner did the sound of a holy song or chant fall upon his ear than one would say that a violent wind had arisen, and was blowing through a fiery tempest. Praise be to God! What love and affection for God were seen in the noble nature of that great man! In the phrensied dance (of darvīshes) and when he was vying with other mystics in working himself up into a state of ecstasy,* occupations which formed the morning and evening exercises of his blessed condition, a flint, could it have looked upon his face, would have become softer than wax.

Shaikh ‘Azīzu-'llāh had been the disciple of his own res­pected father, Shaikh Ḥasan, and acquired some of his excel­lence from his own elder brother, Shaikh Muḥammad Ḥasan, the spiritual guide and master of Shaikh Mān of Pānīpat. His life was governed by the rules of poverty, indigence, and humility. To champion the cause of the poor and helpless who came to him with their complaints he would travel long distances on foot, even though he had at the time entered into a forty days' retreat,* and though he had to visit the house of one who was without the pale of the faith in order to gain his object. After successfully fulfilling the wants of the applicant he would return to the cell of retirement and engage in his religious exercises as though no break had occurred in his retreat. He used to give to this worship, which benefited others, precedence and place before that worship the rewards of which are confined to the worshipper.* And it would sometimes happen that an unbeliever or an oppressor would pay no heed to his intercession on the first occasion, or, (knowing that the Shaikh was without), would purposely remain within doors, and the Shaikh would sit the livelong day expectant at his door, without being able to see his face. But on successive days* the Shaikh would go again and again* to his door and would sit in silence, nor would this slighting treatment produce on the clear mirror of his heart, ^10. which reflected the hidden knowledge of God, the rust of resent­ment. He would thus sit until the person to whom the interces­sion was to be made fell, shamed and remorseful, at his feet, and promptly and obediently fulfilled the desire of the beggar.

One day the Shaikh was present at a meeting of the mystics engaged in ecstatic songs and dances, as their custom is,* held by that prince of holy men Shaikh Niām-i-Auliyā, (may God sanctify his most pure tomb!), when a wretched maniac, uttering a yell, seized the Shaikh by the knees, and, lifting him up, turned him heels over head on the floor, so that his turban was disarranged, and he was hurt, but in outward appearance* he was in no way disturbed. At the time this act of the maniac was attributed to religious ecstasy and he was held to be excused, but the demented fool repeated his abominable trick on a subsequent occasion, when the magistrate of the city proposed to recall his scattered senses by means of a severe caution, a beating, and threats of what would happen to him in the future. The Shaikh made much intercession for him, and, kissing his hands and feet, kept him under his own protection, and did not suffer them to molest him in any way. In exoteric knowledge he was perfect himself,* and used to perfect others, and he used to instruct his pupils in the expounding of the ‘Arā'is,* and of the ‘Awārif* and of the Fuṣūṣu-'l-Ḥikam* and its commentary. He was also the author of some well-known works, among them being the Risāla-yi-‘Ainiyyah written as a reply to the Ghairiyyah* of Shaikh Mān of Pānīpat. Many obscure ques­tions relating to the unity of essence* are therein treated of,* in accordance with the interpretation of perfect knowers of God.*

At the time of the Khān-i-Khānān's disgrace,* and also for some years afterwards, I studied under that master of perfection, and listened to the recital of several books and treatises on mysticism,* and digested their contents—praise be to God. In the year H. 975 (A.D. 1567-68) the falcon of his soul winged its flight to the pinnacle of eternity, and the words “the pole-star of the path is gone,”* were found to give the date of his death. He always wrote himself in his treatises, writings, and letters “the worthless atom,” and it was found that the words “the worthless atom”* also gave the date of his death.