The Institutes of Akbar 250.11

250.11

Every grandee, and even the princes, accused him of secret friendship with the rulers of the Dak’hin, and Abulfazl, on one occasion, gave his fatwa that M. ’A. was a rebel. Under Jahangir, he was the open friend of Malik ’Ambar; and Muhammad Ma’sum, one of his servants, once informed the emperor that he would find Malik ’Ambar's correspondence in the possession of ’Abdurrahim of Lak’hnau (No. 197), who was much attached to M. ’A. Mahabat Khan was appointed to enquire into this; but ’Abdurrahim of Lak’hnau would not betray his friend. People said, M. ’A.’s motto was, ‘people should hurt their enemies under the mask of friendship,’ and all seem to have been inclined to blame him for maliciousness and faithlessness. He used to get daily reports from his newswriters whom he had posted at various stations. He read their reports at night, and tore them up. But he was also proverbial for his liberality and love of letters. The Maasir i Rahimi is a splendid testimony of his generosity; it shews that he was the Maecenas of Akbar’s age. People, by a happy comparison, called him Mir Ali Sher (vide p. 101, note 1.) M. ’A. wrote Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi with great fluency. As poet he wrote under the name of Rahim. Though his father had been a Shi'ah, M. ’A. was a Sunni; but people said, he was a Shi’ah, but practised taqiyyah.