Muntakhab al-tawarikh 174.1

174.1

He assumed as a poet the nom-de-plume of Sarfi, and in him were displayed both the accomplishments of learning and the perfect qualities which distinguish a pious man. He was the spiritual successor of the great master Shaikh Husain of Khwarazm (may God sanctify his tomb!), and acquired honour by performing the pilgrimage to the two most excellent holy places. He received from Shaikh Ibn-u Hajar a licence to give instruction in the traditions of Muhammad, and clad in the robes of a Shaikh he travelled much and visited most of the Shaikhs of Arabia and Persia, and profited much by his intercourse with them, and received authority to assume the prerogatives of a religious teacher and spiritual guide, and as such he had many disciples, both in Hindustan and Kashmir. He was the superior of an hospice. He was the author of some sublime and beautiful works, and completed a Khamsah, and wrote many treatises on the art of composing enigmas, and also quatrains on the mysticism of the Sufis, with a commentary. His works, indeed, are too numerous to be recapitulated, and had it not been necessary that some slight mention should be made of his Sufi-ism, and his mystic longing for God, even these few works could not have been noticed. He was illustrious and much relied upon as an authority in all branches of learning which are treated of in Arabic, such as Quranic commentaries, the traditions of Muhammad, and Sufi-ism, and he was an authorized religious leader.