[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) › 296 # Muntakhab al-tawarikh 296: 275. LXXXVI. ‘Itabi. Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 296 - **Language:** English ### 275. LXXXVI. ‘Itabi. ### [296.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296.1) He is Sayyid Muhammad of Najaf who made a name in the Dakan and came to Ilahabad and paid his respects to the emperor. He was very unconventional in all outward observances and was bold and slovenly. It was reported to the emperor that he had written a satire in the Dakan on Shah Fathullah, and when he was questioned on this point he denied that he had done so, saying, ‘In that country I would have taken no notice of a ‘Alā‘ud-daulah it is mentioned that Mīr ‘Abdul Ḥayy devoted some attention to the study of accomplishments and that nobody had learnt to write in the difficult Bābarī style more quickly or better than he, but Mīrzā ‘Azīz Kōka wrote in the margin of the memoir that Mīr 'Abdul Ḥayy had no knowledge of any branch of learning, and that his one accomplishment was some knowledge of the Bābārī script, with which he was very imperfectly acquainted, that he was wonderfully simple and would apropos of nothing and without consideration relate in social gatherings strange tales which no child would believe. As Mīr 'Abdul Ḥayy was better known to Mīrzā ‘Azīz Kōka than to Mīr ‘Alā ud-daulah, it is beyond doubt that what the Mīrzā wrote is nearer to the truth than that which is written in the memoir, for Mīr 'Alā ud-daulah has recorded much incongruous nonsense in the memoir. ### [296.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296.2) Mīr ‘Abdul Ḥayy had some aptitude for poetry, and wrote an answer to that fantastical quatrain which was written in the form of a square by one of the accomplished men about the court in honour of Muḥammad Humāyūn Mīrzā, and is so well known that it is the first thing that children are set to learn. The quatrain is as follows:— “O thou, before whose court a hundred Rustams have cast down their crowns, That, the rose has bloomed and we know not where the garden is.” “In thy country the name of faithfulness causes weeping, Both, the messenger, and the letter which he bears cause, each separately, weeping. The drum of thy munificence sounds loudly, but I can find no way to the sun (of the assembly). This special custom and public assembly of thine will kill me.” “I have left thy street, besmirched with accusations; I brought to it chastity, and I leave it defiled with sin. May the black night of thy locks be pleased with the multitude of hearts (offered to it) While I stray, miserable, from thy street. The fountain of Khizr prides itself on receiving the dust of my feet While I go, thirstier than ever, from the dimple in thy chin. Sugar was poured out at each door at which I knocked, thou wouldst think That I had been to beg from that laughing lip. I knocked at the door of the seventy-two sects of Islam, and from the door of despair I turned, hopeless of help from either fire-worshipper or Musalman.” ### [296.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296.3) “In my impatience, ‘Itabi, I resolved to part from her, and now Each time the thought of her enters my heart I weep unrestrainedly.” man of that sort.” This remark increased the suspicion that he had written the satire and he was imprisoned, and it was ordered that all his papers should be examined in Fathpur in order that it might be discovered whether he had written satires on anybody while he was in Hindustan. Some incriminating papers were discovered, and he remained in prison in Gwaliyar for ten years until at length he was pardoned at the intercession of the eldest prince and other courtiers, and was summoned to Lahor, but he still retained his evil disposition. One day he came to the house of Qazi Hasan of Qazvin, who has the title of Khan, and the doorkeeper opposed his entering. ‘Itabi grappled with him, entered the assembly, which was a party of friends who had sat down to food, and said to Qazi Hasan, “It was this food, that led you to cause your door to be shut in the face of a learned man, a foreigner, and you have a perfect right (to keep your food to yourself).” In spite of all that the master of the house and his guests could do in the way of excusing themselves, saying that the doorkeeper had not recognized him, ‘Itabi would not be appeased, and refused to sit down and eat. He had great skill in writing Persian and Arabic poetry, also in penmanship and in prose composition. He has composed a divan. The following couplets are by him:— ### [296.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296.4) “We have scorched our wise hearts in the furnace of desire, “We have burnt the lamp of the Ka‘bah at the door of the idol-temple.” “We have given thee permission to shed this innocent blood, We have given it to thee verbally, in writing and under a formal attestation.” “We swear by thy honour that we are the nightingales of this meadow, A quatrain: “In the love of thy face I have lost both learning and sense: But what of these? I have lost my very soul: In following thee, whatever I had at the end of my life Have I lost, and yet I have lost all evil.” “It would not be wonderful if from the atmosphere of thy face, And from the heated iron of my heart, a film should form on the mirror.” After his release from confinement he was given a sum of a thousand rupees for travelling expenses and was placed under the charge of Qilij Khan, who was ordered to send him off from the port of Surat on a pilgrimage to the Hijaz, but on the way to Surat he escaped and fled into the Dakan, where he took refuge with the rulers of the country, and there he still wanders about in the condition in which he formerly was. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.296) · Pramāṇa