The son of Shaikh Mubarak of Nagor, elder brother of Shaikh Abul Fazal, Prime minister and secretary to Akbar the Great. In 1572 he was honoured with the title of Malik-us-shera or king of poets. He had no equal in letter writing, composition and philosophy, translated the story of Nal Daman into Persian at the behest of Emperor Akbar, composed a commentary upon Qur'an using only 13 out of the 28 letters of the Persian alphabet which had no dots, and which he named Sawat ul Ilham and said to have written 101 books. He along with his brother Abul Fazal had a tremendous influence on Akbar's religious and political policies. He was also the first to apply himself to a diligent study of Hindu literature and science.