Muntakhab al-tawarikh 366.4

366.4

Mīr Muḥammad Ma’ṣūm is at present enrolled among the amīrs of the empire, and holds some appointment in the imperial service in Sind and Qandahār. He is very strict in religion, in piety, praise and prayer, and in reading the Qur’ān, and somebody once said to him, ‘One cannot do without a director in these duties. You should get a director and receive instruction from him, and you can then take your leave of him.’ Ma’ṣūm replied, ‘I have at present two or three directors, what need have I of another? My first director was his majesty, for this reason, that when I came from my dear native land to the capital I was so filled with the pride and aspirations of youth, which are the sources of extravagant hopes and desires, that I could not bring myself to consider the acceptance of any thing so humble as a commandership of a thousand, or even of two thousand. When I arrived at court I tasted the sticks of the ushers and mace-bearers who keep order, and had to endure insults, and when after a long period of expectation, his majesty honoured me by bestowing on me a command of twenty, then all my extravagant claims took wings to themselves, and I, recognising my proper rank and place, resigned myself to God’s will, and bowed my head in acquiescence, and was at peace; and there is that proverb, “Although I struggled much to become somebody I became nothing, now I let myself alone in order that I may become whatever I am to become.”