In 1855, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan finished his scholarly, well researched and illustrated edition of Abul Fazl's "Ai'n-e Akbari", itself an extraordinarily difficult book. Having finished the work to his satisfaction, the work was brought to Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib believing that he would appreciate his labours. He approached the great Ghalib to write a "taqriz" (in the convention of the times, a laudatory foreword) for it. Ghalib obliged, but what he did produce was a short Persian poem castigating the Ai'n-e Akbari, and by implication, the imperial, sumptuous, literate and learned Mughal culture of which it was a product. The least that could be said against it was that the book had little value even as an antique document. Ghalib practically reprimanded Syed Ahmad Khan for wasting his talents and time on dead things. Worse, he praised sky-high the "sahibs of England" who at that time held all the keys to all the a’ins in this world.