Muntakhab al-tawarikh 301: XCII. ‘Ahdi of Shiraz.

301

He has written different kinds of poetry, both long and short odes. He was for some time in Gujarat with Mirza Nizam-ud-din Ahmad. When he came to Dihli, after the deposition of Qazi Muhammad, who was a fanatical Shi'ah and an evil liver, the late Hakim ‘Ain-ul-Mulk in Lahor besought the Sadrs to appoint Mulla ‘Ahdi to the Qazi-ship, and by way of an anticipatory omen found the words Qazi ‘Ahdi to give the date of his imaginary ooze-ship, but it was all of no avail and resembled the story of an imaginary man riding an imaginary horse in an imaginary plain and playing polo with an imaginary stick and an imaginary ball. ‘Ahdi then went with the Hakim to the Dakan, and nothing is known of him after the Hakim’s death, neither what happened to him nor whither he went.
The following verses are by him : —
A quatrain.
“ Though the lip of my complaint was wet with blood, The smoke from my heart arose from the chimney of my eyes, My tears rained down sparks and fire, My sighs kindled and became like a burning coal.”
At the time when Hakim ‘Ain-ul-Mulk departed from Lahor and also (after a short time) from this world of wickedness and strife, the following quatrain, attributed to Hakim Sana’i, was discussed : —
“ Breathe once more, for thy Beloved is near thee, And the bird of thy desire is near to the cage. How long wilt thou say, ‘ I am far from my Beloved ? ’ Look within thyself, for the Friend is very near thee.”
The following couplets are also by him —
“The affairs of the world have no stability, It is better that my heart should be withdrawn from the affairs of the world.”
“My heart is sick with the pain and grief of loneliness, O physician of the sick, heart, what dost thou prescribe?”
“My grief-worn heart has become dust in the road of fidelity, See, my faithless love, the way of those who humble themselves to the dust.”
He laid out a splendid garden in Agra, and in it built a garden-house adorned with paintings, and composed this quatrain for an inscription on the building —
“O Lord, by the purity of heart of men of discernment, Which is dearer to Thee than all other things: Since this house has, by Thy grace, been completed, Of thy favour send me honoured guests!”
There are in the world many records of his doings, one of which relates the story of his high-spirited departure on pilgrimage to Makkah, and of his return in a different frame of mind, — One of the inevitable consequences of those evil days.
Another quatrain.
“We have learnt the way to a cure for ourselves, We have heaped up the harvest of our transgressions, We have kindled the fire of hell for ourselves, We have consumed ourselves with the fire of our own sins.”
Another quatrain.
“So long as the locks of the beautiful curl, So long as the gestures and gait of the lovely are alluring, So long as the arrow of the glance is in the brow of cruelty, I die and live again each moment.”
A couplet.
“There is no rose in the rose-garden of this world which is not tinged with the blood of some nightingale.”
In describing a horse he has written :
“From his great pace as he gallops, his limbs Close on one another like drops of water flowing together.”