Muntakhab al-tawarikh 294.2

294.2

Tajdid, and also some marginal notes on the Mutawwal, in which he writes, “This book is copied from the book Tuwal, which is equal in length to the Mutawwal, or even longer.” He has also written a book containing accounts of the Shaikhs of India, in which he has entered everything that he has heard from every mosque-sweeper and beggar, adding also some conjectures of his own, and he has named it Wa fawatih-ul-wilayah. When they questioned him regarding this title, saying, “The particle wa (‘and’) requires something preceding it, to be coupled with the latter clause, and what should precede it does not appear,” he replied, “That which precedes it is here understood, and is manifest by transposition, that is to say, the title should be Fawatih-ul-walayah, with a fathah over the waw of walayah as the waw preceding the phrase indicates, not with a kasr under the waw of wilayah, as it is commonly read.” The Mulla was always jealous of Qazi Khan of Badakhshan, on the ground of his having invented the sijdah (‘prostration’). One day in Fathpur he led the late Mirza Nizam-ud-din Ahmad and the author off to his house at early dawn, with much solicitation, and, having given us an appetizing electuary, began to show ‘Azīz Kūka cracked some pleasant jests on his appearance, and the Mulla returned pleasant answers to them.