XXXI. SHAIKH CĀYAN LADH OF SOHNA.

(Ladh) Sohna* is a pargana town of Mewāt, eighteen kurūh* distant from Dihlī. There is there a hot spring, rising from a mine of sulphur. The water is green in colour and smells of sulphur. Even in the winter time the water is so hot that it is impossible to bear it on the body. Bathing at that spring is a remedy for scald-head and itch. The smell and colour of the water are clear proof that it springs from sulphur. On summer nights, too, small flashes of fire may be seen on the hills sur­rounding the town, though nobody kindle a fire there.

The Shaikh was one of the most famous successors of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-‘Azīz of Dihlī* and travelled resolutely in the path of poverty. He used to give instruction in Ṣūfī-istic books, such as the Fuṣūṣ* and the Naqd-i-fuṣūṣ,* to his pupils, who were seekers after the truth. The emperor, towards the end of the Shaikh's life, placed great confidence in him and sought the help of his auspices in several important matters of state. He appointed quarters for him in the ‘ibādatkhāna close to the imperial palace and used to admit him to private interviews at night, and the inverted prayers of the recitation of which the emperor was a witness became inverted in their effects.*

In the year H. 998* (A.D. 1590) when the Shaikh fell sick of the complaint of which he died he sent for the worthy son of Shaikh ‘Abdu-'l-‘Azīz Qub-i-‘Ālam, who was then employed in the army, from Dihlī, and, placing before him the patched robe, the staff, and the other insignia of Shaikh-dom, said to him, “These were a trust which I received from your venerable father. You are more worthy of them than I.” He then set out on his journey to the next world. The words “the truth of poverty”* were found to give the date of his death.

Shaikh Qub-i-‘Ālam, guided by God's grace, retired from the 111 imperial service, and, obeying the call to follow in his venerable father's footsteps, guided his life thereby. He is settled in Dihlī, and is employed, by the emperor's order, in the guardianship of the footprint of his holiness the resort of apostleship* (the blessing and peace of God be upon him!), rendering service to all who visit it. If it please God, who is honoured, he will be endowed with the noble qualities of his honoured father.