Muntakhab al-tawarikh 108: XXVI. Miyān Muṣṭafā of Gujarāt.

108

His descent was from the Boharas, a tribe in Gujarāt whose occupation is trading. By means of one of the intimate friends of Mīr Sayyid Muḥammad of Jaunpūr (may God sanctify his soul!) he constantly followed the path of poverty and self-effacement, walking steadfastly in that way to the end of his life. When the Khalīfah of the age, after the conquest of the country of Bang, reached Ajmīr on his return from Patna, Asaf Khan II, the Mir Bakhshi, in obedience to the Imperial order, brought him with him from Gujarat. The Emperor, calling the ‘Ulama together one night in the courtyard of the Hall of Audience, questioned Shaikh Mustafa on the truth about the Mahdawi question, and he readily answered, and the discussion was prolonged; and Haji Ibrahim of Sirhind, in accordance with his vile disposition, was overbearing in the argument, and vexed the Shaikh; and I also related circumstantially and at length what I had found in the commentary on the Gulshan-i-Raz, a work by Shaikh Muhammad-al-Ahji, who was the immediate disciple of Mir Sayyid Muhammad-i-Nur Bakhshi, who also, in his time, had set up a claim to being the Mahdi, and had brought various troubles on himself thereby. Since what I said was opposed to the Shaikh's contention it was evidently the cause of his being vexed with me. The Emperor ordered the Shaikh after his arrival at Fathpur, to stay for some days in the house of Khwaja ‘Abdu-’s-Samad the painter, of sweet pen. To make amends for my fault I waited on him with my apologies, and asked him for forgiveness. He was very feeble, and in that very assembly a basin was brought to him, and he brought up a great quantity of blood. It seems that after he received leave to depart for Gujarat he removed the baggage (of existence) from this transitory lodging to the eternal abode, either on his way to his native land or immediately after his arrival there. This event took place in the year H. 983 (A.D. 1575-6). He is the author of works which bear witness to his separation from the world and self-effacement. May God deal with him according to His graciousness.