[1] He was the son, disciple and successor of famous scholar, philosopher and poet-laureate Shaikh Jamali Kamboh of Delhi[2] and brother of the 'Master of Expression' —Shaikh Abd-al-Hai Hayati.
After the disastrous battle of Kanauj and the consequent troubles, Bairam Khan, an important Turkoman noble of emperor Humayun, took refuge in Gujarat where he was rendered a great help by Shaikh Gadai.
With the restoration of Mughal rule in 1555, the political situation changed and Shaikh Gadai Kamboh re-joined Humayun’s court sometime before his death in March 1556.
[6] The "Sadr-i-sadur" or "Sadr-i-jahan" or "Sadrat-i-mamalik" (Office of Lord Chief Justice and highest religious officer combined) [7] had a very important position as all persecution under the canon law required his sanction and the letters of appointments for the qazis of Subah and Sarkars, muhtasibs, Imams and mutawallis for the stipends and the bills for charitable endowments were issued by him and under his sole authority.
[9] Apparently hurt by this drastic administrative action, Badāʼūnī accordingly makes very vitriolic and personal attacks on Shaikh Gadai Kamboh.
Mughal historian `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (Abd al-Qādir ibn Mulūk Shāh Badāʼūnī) witnesses that Shaikh Gadai Kamboh achieved the rank of "Sadr-i-sadur" of emperor Akbar and, “for several years, he was resorted to as an authority on the religious questions by the sages and principal men of Hindustan, Khurasan, Transoxians and Iraq “ .
He was also the highest ecclesiastical law officer and exercised the powers of High Inquistor [13] Mughal historians of Akbar's reign who compiled their works after the fall of Bairam Khan are very critical of Shaikh Gadai and accuse him of arrogance, high-handedness and favoritism in the distribution of land grants and stipends among the Shaikhs, Sayyids, Scholars and other deserving persons.
So much so, even Akbar complained in his firman to Bairam Khan issued at the time of latter's dismissal that one of his misdeeds was the elevation of Shaikh Gadai to the "Sadarat" in preference to the Sayyids and other Ulemas.
However, it was soon later found that these complaints and grievances were concocted by Chugtai Turk nobles to provide young Akbar with a pretext to remove Bairam Khan, a Turkoman, from the power.
[17][18] Badāʾūnī plaintively writes: "The honor (Sadr-i-Sadur) thus conferred gave the Shaikh the precedence over the magnates or grandees (akabir) of Hindustan and Khorasan".
Thus according to Badayuni, for several years, he was resorted to as an authority on religious questions by the sages and principal men of Hindustan, Khurasan, Transoxiana and Iraq.
Badayuni praises him for his wisdom, generosity, sincerity, goodness of disposition, and humility and that the second conquest of Hindustan and building up of the empire was due to his valour.