Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta, a contemporary of Mirza Ghalib, was an Urdu poet and critic who lived from 1809 until 1869. He came from a well-known Bangash Hindustani Pathan landowning family. Shefta asked Momin for guidance, or islah, regarding his own Urdu poetry and Ghalib for counsel regarding Persian. He also wrote 'Gulshan-e-Be-khaar', or The Thornless Garden, an early collection of Urdu poetry. Beginning his Hajj journey in March 1839, Shefta wrote this travelogue once he returned.