abstemious and well versed in the holy law, while in devout piety even Abu Hanifa, the greatest of the Imams, was his inferior. For many years he was engaged in teaching and in instructing the people. He had committed the whole of the glorious word of God to memory, according to each of the seven methods of reading it. He used also to give instruction thereon. He reckoned his spiritual succession from Mir Saiyid Ibrahim of Irij, who was himself the most learned of the learned men of his time. The Shaikh would never mention the Sufi mysteries in a public assembly, but only in private to those who had been initiated into their secrets; and one of his sayings was, "If the mystical profes sion of the Unity of God be made public, it returns solely to him who uttered it, or to the learned few." He would not listen to singing, and outwardly reprobated it. He left numerous children who attained perfection, all of whom were adorned with the embellishments of rectitude, piety, wisdom, knowledge, and virtue.
'The compiler of these historical selections was honoured, in company with the late Muhammad Husain Khan by being permitted to pay his respects to the Shaikh in Lakhnau. It was the month of Ramzan and a certain one brought to the Shaikh a work on logic, asking him to set him a task in that book. The Shaikh said, "You should read some book on divinity." The Shaikh's death occurred in the year A.H. 981 (A. D. 1573-4).'
Badauni states that when Muzaffar Khan rose in revolt against Akbar, he on one occasion pitched his tent near the burial place of Shaikh Bhikan, no doubt with the object of praying for his intercession for the success of his enterprise.
Badauni also speaks of 'that pilgrim to the two sacred precincts Haji Bhikan Basawani.' This, however, may have been a different person from Shaikh Bhikan of Kakori.
