He appears both in the aspect as a Muslim and Islamologist and as a Vienna University trained professional social scientist working at Madras University (1949-61) and Heidelberg University (1961 - c. 1975) doing scientific, published fieldwork in South Asia 1932-1964.
After his escape from the Nazi terror in Austria after March 1938 Ehrenfels was received as the Guest of the Nizam's Government thanks to Sir Akbar Haydari.