Majalis al-salatin 1: Anecdotes of Muhammad Tughlik.

1

After some time, intelligence was brought that Malik Bahram Abiya, the adopted brother of Sultan Tughlik Shah, had revolted in Multan, and put 'Ali Akhti to death, whom Sultan Muhammad 'Adil had sent with orders to summon the rebel. The Sultan, with a view to subdue the rebellion, marched from Daulatabad towards Dehli, and thence reached Multan by successive marches. Malik Bahram came out to oppose him, but was defeated and slain. His head was brought to the Sultan, who was about to order a general massacre of the inhabitants of Multan, and make streams of blood flow, when the staff of the world, the most religious Shaikhu-l Hakk, came bare-headed to the King's court, and stood before him soliciting pardon for the people. The Sultan forgave them for the sake of that holy man. In short, this King called himself just, and generally before executing persons he certainly did refer the case for the decree of the expounders of the law.
It is said of him, that one day, having put on his shoes, he went on foot to the court of Kazi Kamalu-d din, the Chief Justice, and told him that Shaikh-zada Jam had called him unjust; he demanded that he should be summoned and required to prove the injustice of which he accused him, and that if he could not prove it, he should be punished according to the injunctions of the law. Shaikh-zada Jam, when he arrived, confessed that he had made the assertion. The Sultan inquired his reason, to which he replied, "When a criminal is brought before you, it is entirely at your royal option to punish him, justly or unjustly; but you go further than this, and give his wife and children to the executioners that they may do what they like with them. In what religion is this practice lawful? If this is not injustice, what is it?" The Sultan remained silent; and when he left the court of the Kazi, he ordered the Shaikh-zada to be imprisoned in an iron cage, and on his journey to Daulatabad he took the prisoner with him on the back of an elephant. When he returned to Dehli, on passing before the court of the Kazi, he ordered the Shaikh-zada to be brought out of the cage and cut to pieces. Hence it may be learnt that he possessed very opposite qualities. He was called by the common people "the unjust." There are many similar stories of the atrocities he committed. Tyranny took the place of justice, and infidelity that of Islam. At last he was seized with fever, and departed to the next world, when he was in the vicinity of Thatta, on the 21st Muharram, a.h. 752 (20th March, 1351 a.d.). The period of his reign was twenty-seven years.