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Muntakhab al-tawarikh 26: The Emperor's Heretical Associates.

Muntakhabu-t Tawáríkh of 'Abdu-l Kádir Badáúní (extracts) 26

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26

[Text, vol. ii. p. 211.] [In this year (983) there arrived Hakim Abu-l Fath Gilani, Hakim Humayun (who subsequently changed his name to Humayun Kuli, and lastly to Hakim Humam), and Nuru-d din, who as a poet is known under the name of Karari. These three were brothers, and came from Gilan (near the Caspian). The eldest brother, by his subserviency, obtained an extraordinary ascendancy over the Emperor. He flattered him openly, adapted himself to every change in the religious ideas of His Majesty, and pushing forward, he soon became a most intimate friend of Akbar. Soon after there came to Court Mulla Muhammad of Yazd, who got the nickname of Yazidi. He attached himself to the Emperor, and concocted the most extravagant censures against the sahaba, (companions of the Prophet, the peace of God be upon them !). He told extraordinary stories (about them), and tried hard to make the Emperor a shi'a. But this man was soon left behind by Birbal, that bastard, and by Shaikh Abu-l Fazl and Hakim Abu-l Fath. They turned the Emperor from the Religion, and made him a perfect sceptic of inspiration, the prophetic office, the miracles and wonders, and the law. They carried matters to such a length that I, the author, could no longer bear them company. The result of all this, as regards each one of them, will be told in its proper place. About the same time His Majesty ordered Kazi Jalalu-d din and several other learned men to write a commentary upon the Kuran, but they fell to squabbling about it. That scoffer, Deb Chand, Raja of Manjhola, used to say, that if the cow had not been greatly esteemed by the Almighty, she would not have been mentioned in the first chapter of the Kuran. As history was read from day to day, His Majesty's faith in the Companions of the Prophet began to be shaken, and the breach grew broader. The daily prayers, the fasts, and prophecies were all pronounced delusions as being opposed to sense. Reason, not revelation, was declared to be the basis of religion. Europeans also paid visits to him, and he adopted some of their rationalistic tenets.]