Muntakhab al-tawarikh 188: LXX. MAULANA ILAHDAD OF AMROHA.

188

He was an able Mulla, of a pleasant disposition, unaffected, a good conversationalist, a charming associate and a boon companion, ever ready with a pleasant jest. He attracted many to his society and delighted all who associated with him. He obtained an appointment in the military service of the empire which enabled him to live contentedly. He was much attached to me throughout his life. In the year H. 990 (A.D. 1582) when the victorious army was marching towards Atak on the river in the neighbourhood of Sialkot, he delivered up the life which had been entrusted to him and his corpse was taken to a village in the pargana of Amroha, which he had beautified for himself, and was there buried.
This concludes the brief account of those Shaikhs and learned men of the age whom, for the most part, I have had an opportunity of meeting and waiting upon, and by whose illuminating regard I have been honoured; as for those of them whom I have not seen, be it as God will! Of all those of whom my pen has given an account, but very few remain here and there, like moles on the face of the age, in these days in which there is such a dearth of men worthy to be so called. Those who remain avoid and flee from the world and have been completely forgotten by those of feeble and defective nature, the vulgar, that is to say, who are no better than cattle. These learned men, counting as a loan the few moments of life which are left to them, await the arrival of the swift-footed messenger of death, and, having fully realized the dignity of old age, now hearken with the ears of the soul for the cry “Prepare to set out!” expectantly waiting to answer obediently to the shout.
Quatrain.
In the history of the world the lives of all, both small and great, Are written, and accounts of brave men and heroes, Read, and on each page of it you will see “In such a year Died such one, the son of such a one, the son of such a one.”
And other Shaikhs and learned men are and were scattered throughout all parts of India, throughout its length and breadth, in such numbers that the reckoning of them is left to the knowledge of the Knower of Secrets. Likewise the number of those who are famed and known for the natural wickedness of their dispositions and innate baseness, for their hypocrisy, vileness, worthlessness, crooked dealings and injustice is beyond computation, and there is no need for me to soil my pen by recording anything concerning this handful of rubbish, these base fellows, for I have a great task before me and but little hope of long life, and my condition resembles that of the ice merchant of Nishapur who was selling ice in the summer, and when the sun waxed hot cried out, “O, ye Muslims! Have pity upon him whose stock-in-trade is melting away on his hands!”