Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.44.3

78.44.3

He had been a pupil of Rashīd Shaikh Zamān of Pānīpat, author of a commentary on the Lawā’ih, and of other excellent works, was most excellent in Sūfīism, and in the Knowledge of Theology second only to Shaikh Ibn ‘Arabī, and had written a comprehensive commentary on the Nuzhat ul-arwāh. Like the preceding he was drawn up the wall of the castle in a blanket, and his Majesty listened the whole to his Çūfic obscenities and follies. The Shaikh, since he did not in any great degree feel himself bound by the injunctions of the Law, introduced arguments concerning the Unity of Existence, such as idle Çūfis discuss, and which eventually lead to license and open heresy. He also interested the Emperor in the question as to the faith of Pharaoh (the curse of God be on him!), which is mentioned in the book Fuçūç ul-hikam, and as to the excellence of hope over fear, and such like questions, to which people, who naturally turn themselves from the warnings of Reason and the prohibitions of the Law, instinctively incline. Thus he became a chief cause of the weakening of the Emperor’s faith in the commands of Islam. He allowed that infidels would be kept for ever in fire, but the eternity of the punishment he thought doubtful, and not actually established: he also introduced many changes into the texts of the Qur’án, and the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him!).