[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [General histories](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general) › [Muntakhab al-tawārīkh](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh) › [Muntakhabu-t-tawarikh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig) › 26 # Muntakhab al-tawarikh 26: Another Qasida. Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 26 - **Language:** English ### Another Qasida. ### [26.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.1) Oh thou from awe of whose order the heaven is bowed in submission, the proclamation of thy might is this, Thou standest alone thou hast no companion. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, thy dominion is the dominion of uprightness. Thy empire is no changeable empire. Thy rule is not a divided rule. The rays of the brightness of thy holiness are the portrayers of the sun and moon. The recluse of thy kingdom is in the highest altitude of Simak reaching even to Samak. At one time thou givest to the partridge of the day wings and feathers of fiery hue, at another in the liquid cage of the heavens thou makest the moon-tailed pigeon of the night as an angel. Thou hast broken the cup of the moon at the head and foot of each month. Thou hast bound thine all-encompassing contemplation around the star Farrak. Thy power is the gardener, the four quarters of the earth are his tilth; Thou hast cast around that, as the shelter of an eyelid, the bounty of the seven oceans. From the midst of the oven of the east, thy order bringeth forth the loaf of gold of the west after the silvery loaf. In the garden full of thy skilled works, the hand of the tiring woman of the morning breeze rubs on the rouge of adornment like the beauties do over the patches. The rose with the mark of the mole on its cheek displayed its buds: Like the cheek of the beauty the moon displays its face from the heavens. ### [26.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.2) On the extremity of the plain of spring issuing from the door of thy creation, the tulip sits with a shield, the willow stands with its arrow. The jasmine and the rose proclaim thy skill with lip and cheek. Thy care preserves the sugar of the confection with salt. Except thy eternal existence how can any caravan arrive at secondary existence? In the eye of truth there is kuhl (of ornament) in the eye of infidelity and doubt there is the probe (of destruction). Whoever has the inscription on his ring in accordance with thy way verily is saved, but whoever has on his forehead the brand of opposition to thee verily he is lost. In the glory of thy approbation why should any one take to craft? Why should the saw of Nuh ibn Lamak cut down every tree? The parrot of my life at the remembrance of thee has remained safe from the snare of grief, just as in the ocean of Jupiter the Fish is safe from the net. Like an Ethiopian and a Greek, the day has taken away from thy threshold a gold embroidered mantle, the night has despoiled thee of a dress distinguished by a plumed cap. One draught of thy kindness is equal to the display of several rows (of cups). A morsel of thy favour is for the accountants several laks. 7. As long as thou drawest him as by the end of the cord, no one turns away his face from the door. It were better that the neck of the heaven should be in the noose of the Milky-way. ### [26.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.3) Thy wrath drives out the pride of tyrants from their heads, by means of the point of the sting of a mosquito not by the advanced guard of an army. If the drops of the bounty of thy nearness distil upon the palate of my heart, say to the clouds of supplication “Do not rain” and say to the tear of hope “Do not fall” I am fulfilled with thy bounty like a pearl in the cloudy weather Not like the wine flask which comes forth from the assembly after yielding the benefit of its fulness I have attained the dignity of eloquence from thy consent By thy help it is that this joyful sound has been placed in my hand by destiny How long shall I utter cries of grief round the carpets of Empeors, because at thy door there is a sustenance-gaining world free from vexation Wine which gives you a headache is better cast on the ground A carpet if it be of silk is more fit to be burnt than thorns he ordered Abraham to be brought before him, then turning towards him he said, Oh Abraham, bid your God to come with His army, and array himself against me in battle so that the one who conquers may have the upper hand. Tomorrow, that is Wednesday, we will arrange the battle field before this city, and test man with man. Then having reviewed his army he came out from the city with a countless array, and drew up in line on the battle field. ### [26.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.4) The prophet Abraham came out alone and unaccompanied, in face of that vast host, and stood there. Suddenly, by the command of the Almighty the face of heaven became darkened by a cloud of mosquitos which are the most contemptible of all creatures and they at once began to sting the army of Nimrud, and put them to flight, and most of those worthless ones died. Nimrud, on seeing this, in fear and shame turned his back upon the whirlpool of death, and fled into his fort. Suddenly a single mosquito entering after him stung his lip, and reached his brain. For forty years the mosquito fed upon his brain, after which Nimrud died in abject misery. As the mosquito is known to be the intermediary host of certain parasites and may be the means of conveying infective disease, there may be a substratum of truth in this fable. oh Lord, with that rose of benevolence from the exhalations of whose excellence the olfactory sense of the angels is refreshed while the musk of Chin remains dry as a husk, Let me refresh the olfactories of my soul every moment, until I am on the brink of the grave; that my dust may be like a rose garden far removed from the pricking of thistles. The possession of sincerity, and true equity, the root of modesty, and the secret of truth, the house of religion is founded on all of these both by bond and deed. ### [26.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.5) On the heaven of his prophecy, for the travellers along the high road of the sacred law, each of these four pillars is a sign of the injunction Go on thy way and be pure. May every breath of my life be praise and glory, until the breath of the morning, that each breath may then be a worthy present for the soul. Think that the pupils of my two eyes are four in affection, (i.e., four Khalifs), Otherwise thou wilt fail to gain Paradise, and art ready for the door of hell. What good will apostasy do you when ‘Ali is independent of you? How can gold shew its perfect purity if the touchstone does not shew the shine of it? What blame is it to the body of the lute if during the tune either its silken string breaks, or its bridge slips down. Go, and open the letter of the Prophet in all sincerity, that it may efface from your mind the suspicion as regards “Faddak,” And he who like the ill-omened owl boasts of being a Khariji him, he replied "Thy father said that we who are prophets do not leave hereditary legacies oh that I leave is for Moslims. The Shi'ahs say that Abu Bakr seized Faddak by force. The poet denies this assertion in the above verse compared to the confidant of the cave is like the night-flying bat in comparison with the standard of the day (the Sun). Put aside your desire of rebellion, say not a word save in respect, how can a dog contend with a tawny lion. ### [26.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.6) What power have you to decide between the companions of the Prophet, you who from foolishness like a blind man, seek the softness of ermine from the stoat. It were better that the skirt of the time was freed by skilful management, from the impurity of those abomination-working sects before that this sound reaches their ears What brought you into hell? Oh Lord! although for a long time my heart has been afflicted by the darlings of Chigil, and held fast by the rosy-cheeks of Yamak towards their line bearing copies of the Qur’an fixed to the heads of their lances. “Let the blood of the Faithful cease to flow” they cried “let the Book of God decide between us.” ‘Ali’s soldiers thereupon turned upon him headed by certain men whom Ash-Shahrastani names, and insisted upon ‘Ali recalling Malik Al-Ashtar from fighting against the Moslims “or” said they “we will assuredly deal with you as we dealt with ‘Usman” and insisted upon the matter in dispute between ‘Ali and Mu'awia being settled by arbitration. Yet in the beginning of the year and day of my age (51), after the year kha and nun and he (655 H.), thanks be to God that the bird of my ambition has burst the bonds of this net and gone free. I have washed my hands of the one, and have freed my foot from the other, springing out of both snares like the clay pellets from a pea-shooter. At thy footstool henceforth my constant cry is "I repent," my supplication is to thee, my secret thoughts and open dealings are with thee. ### [26.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.7) Thou shewest me mercy at that time when by the intoxication of the wineskin of death both my chin and jaws are cold and shrunken. When my breath is bound upon the balista of my body like a convulsive, then the stone of the balista of Death strikes my body breaking it as though it were an earthen jar, Grant me a place at the banquet of thy pardoning mercy, Save on thy rose who has ever seen so becoming a bend? Perchance thou didst say, Thy face is like the rose and tulip to look upon, the fragrant down on thy cheek is like the edging of a bed of tulips. Thy cheek was not fit for this, why does it bear its chain, like me who bear my chain in the time of the reign of this monarch. The world conquering king Najmu-l-Haqq (ally of the truth), he who places upon the hands and feet of meanness a thousand fetters by his generosity. Wala Muhammad Dalhan, who entangles rebels in the time of war, in the noose of his wrath. Oh king of the age, by whose auspicious fortune the treasurer of Fate has undone the fastenings of the shell of the mine of prosperity. Beneath the saddle of the confusion of thy enemy on the day of fighting, each girth of thy saddle becomes sixty-four thongs to bind him. He is like the opium, provoking quarrels and suspicion, If his opium remains enclosed within the poppy head. ### [26.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.8) When the aromatic odour of thy good qualities removed the bond from the wrinkled mouth of the musk bag of Tatar, ambergris gained a fresh odour from its fragrant breeze, and the rose bud too was loosed from its prison by the newly arrived spring. The heaven every moment casts the fetter of intoxication on those who are drunk with the cup of thy favour, by the obstruction of their brain. Thy kingdom is a rivulet flowing from the spring of satisfied desire; safety, enjoyment and pleasure are the banks of this stream. In such a way open the road of rapity for the sails of victory, That by thy justice no fetters may exist in the world save the locks of lovers' hair. You see one who has assisted injustice in his soul in whose path Destiny places countless obstacles. Like Naushirwan when thou knockest at the door of justice, Thou keepest not the chains firmly fastened on bad and good. In thy reign, it behoves that no one in his lifetime should see any fetter, save on the foot of the cypress and the finger-bearing leaf of the Chinar. The knot of the dragon's tail and the dragon's head is a fetter on the sky, come and relieve the distressed heaven from its bondage, That the sun and moon may become relieved of the affliction of eclipse in the knot of the dragon’s tail, like me who am in the bond of distress. Thou hast ordered that the learned should be imprisoned; beware that thou layest no bond upon the learned. ### [26.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26.9) Woe is me! Honour them rather out of policy, and on the newly wedded bride of eulogy bind the princely pearl taken from the casket of my heart. Has ever any monarch placed a bond on literary men out of love of empire and usurpation? I, at all events, am a talking parrot, not a hunting falcon; the hawk’s jesses are not rightly placed on the legs of parrots. Why do you imprison me, as from my secret heart there is an evident fastening (of grief) fixed upon the door of my heart’s fortress. Loose my bonds, and by way of conquering the fortress, fix this bond of thy heart upon the mercy of the chambers of the Creator. My heart was wounded by the tyranny and oppression of the heaven, now the chain wounds my leg as well as my heart. No one has seen half a dang mercy of the Most Bountiful; had that not been so the imprisonment would have utterly ruined me. Since you ‘Amid girt the loins of loyalty in the service of the throne, therefore by his care the days of your imprisonment were brought to a happy termination. As long as the young and sprightly maidens to the distraction of their lovers, have purposely bound their cheeks with the chain of youthful bloom. So long may the door of good fortune be closed in every direction to your enemies. And by the sword may the bars of both fortresses be opened. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.26) · Pramāṇa