XVII. SHAIKH KABĪR.

He was the spiritual successor of his holiness Shaikh Bahā'u-'d-dīn Zakarīyā* (may God sanctify his soul!). The people of Multan gave him the title of Valī (saint), and so great was their faith in him that he could, if he chose, assemble a thousand horsemen in one day. He employed his time so busily that he took his meals at variable times, as it were, and owing to the redness of his eyes, caused really by his night watches, the common people believed him to be a drunkard.

“So much is my own blood my drink that all night long I
am beside myself,
“And for this reason men charge me with wine-bibbing.”

Nevertheless, Shaikh Mūs-i-Qādirī, who has been mentioned above, always attributed the redness of Shaikh Kabīr's eyes to actual drunkenness, and he would continually say, “I fear that the saints of old, too, whose morals we read of in books, were like Shaikh Kabīr, who is well known as a “Saint,” and that the old poets, also, were like Shaikh Faiẓī and the rest of them.” God forbid!

I saw Shaikh Kabīr once at Fatḥpūr, when I was with Ḥusain Khān, and observed his dignity of appearance, and I firmly believe that inwardly he was a knower of hidden secrets.

(A fragment* from Sa‘dī.)
“Whomsoever thou seest clad in the garments of holiness,
“Believe him to be holy, and a pious man,
“If thou knowest not his actual state.
“What business has the police officer within the house?”

His death took place in the year H. 995 (A.D. 1587) and he is buried in the burial place of his venerable forefathers (may blessing and peace be upon them!).