The Institutes of Akbar 2.5.2

2.5.2

Shaikh Mubárak belonged to the most distinguished men of learning of the present age. In practical wisdom, piety, and trust in God, he stood high among the people of his time. In early life he practised rigorous asceticism; in fact, he was so strict in his views regarding what is lawful and unlawful, that if any one, for example, came to a prayermeeting with a gold ring on his finger, or dressed in silk, or with red stockings on his feet, or red or yellow coloured clothes on him, he would order the offending articles to be removed. In legal decisions he was so severe as to maintain that for every hurt exceeding a simple kick, death was the proper punishment. If he accidentally heard music while walking on the street, he ran away, but in course of time he became, from divine zeal, so enamoured of music, that he could not exist without listening to some voice or melody. In short, he passed through rather opposite modes of thought and ways of life. At the time of the Afghán rule, he frequented Shaikh ’Aláí’s fraternity; in the beginning of his Majesty’s reign, when the Naqshbandís had the upper hand, he settled matters with that sect; afterwards he was attached to the Hamadání school; and lastly, when the Shí’ahs monopolized the court, he talked according to their fashion. ‘Men speak according to the measure of their understanding’—to change was his way, and the rest you know. But withal he was constantly engaged in teaching the religious sciences.