Muntakhab al-tawarikh 124.3

124.3

Again I said, “I have heard from some trustworthy men that the third volume is not the work of Mīr Jamālu-’d-dīn, but is the work of his son Sayyid Mīrak Shāh, or some other person, and that it is for this reason that its style differs from the style of the first two volumes, being poetical, and not the style peculiar to traditionists.” He answered me, saying, “My child, in the second volume also I have found passages which clearly prove the heresy and misbelief of the author, and I have written notes on them. One of these passages is the statement by the author that ‘Alī, the leader of the faithful (may God be gratified with him!), on the occasion, when Talhah (may God be gratified with him!) was the first to swear allegiance to him, said, “My hand is withered and thine allegiance is worthless,” that is to say, that ‘Alī Murtazā, the leader of the faithful, actually took as a bad omen the fact that Talhah’s arm was withered—that arm which in the battle of Uhud was the shield of his holiness the prophet (may God bless and save him and his family!), and was pierced with eleven wounds,— a presumption expressly forbidden by the holy law. God forbid that such should be the case! It is impossible that ‘Ali should have followed such a custom, and it is impossible to believe that he did so.” I said, “There is manifestly a distinction between foreboding and augury.” Shaikh Abu-’l-Fazl secretly pressed my hand and warned me to be silent.