Muntakhab al-tawarikh 61.7
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 61.7
- Language
- English
61.7.1
Verse. Alas! for him who escapes not from public turmoil, Alas! for him who sets his heart upon the men of this world. The hand of the faqir holds no other coin but that of leisure, Alas! for him if he abandons that also. Shaikh ‘Ala’i, retaining that selfsame habit and conduct which he always had, accompanied by six or seven hundred families, set out for Gujrat in the hope that in the companionship of the chiefs and leaders of this sect he might learn the customs of the inmates of cloisters. At the time of his arrival at the township of Basawar from Baiana, my late father took me, the writer of these pages, to do homage to him. In consequence of my tender years, his form remained fixed in my memory as a dream or a vision. On his arrival at Khawaspur which is near Jodhpur, Khawass Khan who had been appointed to that district, at first came out to receive him and joined the circle of his adherents: but in consequence of his devotion to musical entertainments and pastimes, whereas now every Thursday night Sufis used to assemble in his house, and Shaikh ‘Ala’i forbade music and other prohibited pastimes, and enjoined that which was lawful and opposed that which was forbidden by law, accordingly their association was not agreeable, besides which opposition and disagreement arose with regard to the upholding of the rights of the soldiery. The saying— Verily speaking the truth will not leave me a single friend
61.7.2
is a well known proverb. Shaikh ‘Ala’i in consequence of certain opposition which arose, turned back in the middle of the journey and returned to Baiana, and at the time when Islem Shah had taken firm possession of the throne of power in Agra, and the rumours regarding Shaikh ‘Ala’i reached his ears he sent for Mir Saiyyid Rafi‘u-d-Din the traditionist, and Miyan Abul-fath of Thanesar and other learned doctors of Agra, and summoned Shaikh ‘Ala‘i from Baiana, at the instigation of Makhdumu-l-mulk Maulana ‘Abdu-llah of Sultanpur. He accordingly, accompanied by a party of select companions, all of whom wore mail and were fully armed, came to the Court, and paying no heed to the customary observances of kingly assemblies, greeted the whole assemblage in the manner appointed by the laws of Islam. Islem Shah acknowledged his salutation with indignation, as the appearance of the Shaikh greatly displeased him and his courtiers.
61.7.3
Makhdumu-l-Mulk had fully persuaded Islem Shah that Shaikh ‘Ala’i was a revolutionary who laid claim to being the Mahdi, and that the Mahdi himself would be king of the whole world: consequently as he presumed to revolt he was deserving of death. ‘Isa Khan Hajjab who held a very confidential post, and the other Amirs, when they saw Shaikh ‘Ala’i in this displeasing attire, with ragged clothes and worn out shoes said to Islem Shah: “This fellow, in this condition and with this miserable appearance, wishes to take away the kingdom from us: does he imagine that we Afghans are all corpses?”
61.7.4
Prior to the convening of the assembly for discussion, Shaikh ‘Ala’i in accordance with his invariable custom, had expounded few verses of the Qur’an, and delivered such a profitable discourse, in most elegant language, comprising a criticism of the world, and a description of the last judgment, and contemptuous remarks regarding the learned men of the time, and all their faults and failings, that it had the most profound effect upon Islem Shah and the Amirs who were present in the assembly, notwithstanding their hardness of heart, so that it brought tears to their eyes and left them amazed and confounded. Islem Shah then rose from the assembly, and giving the matter his own attention sent refreshments from inside the palace for the Shaikh and his companions. The Shaikh, however, refused to touch the food himself, and moreover when Islem Shah entered he did not pay him any respect, and merely said to his friends: Any one who chooses may eat of it. When they enquired of him the reason of his abstaining from eating the food he replied: “Your food is due to Muslims because you have possessed more than was yours by right, contrary to the dictates of the law of Islam.” Islem Shah notwithstanding this repressed his anger, and referred the enquiry into the truth of that dispute, and the decision of that contention to the ‘ulama.
61.7.5
Shaikh ‘Ala’i vanquished every one of them in argument by virtue of his quickness of intellect and clearness of apprehension, and whenever Mir Saiyyid Rafi‘u-d-Din (who died in the year 954 H.) was engaged in citing the traditions which existed relating to the appearance of the promised Mahdi, and the signs by which he would be known, Shaikh ‘Ala’i used to say, “you are a Shafi'ite by religion and we are Hanifites, the fundamentals of your traditions are different from those of our’s How can we accept your explanations and interpretations on this question? Nor did he spare even Mulla ‘Abdu-llah himself in his criticism of a single point, saying to him, “you are one of the learned men of the world and a thief of religion, and you engage in so many illegal practices that you have put yourself outside the pale of equity, so that even to this time the sound of pipe and tabor may be plainly heard issuing from your house, and in accordance with the true traditions of the prophet, on him be peace and . . . a fly which settles upon filth is by degrees better than learned men who have made kings and emperors the object of their ambition and gad from door to door. Verse. Learning which exists for the sake of pelf and garden Is like a lamp to the night-loving thief.
61.7.6
In accordance with these premisses he uttered so many spalling satires [on those who preach but do not practise, citing in support of his arguments examples from the Qur'an and Traditions] that Mulla 'Abdu-llah was not able to say a single word in defence. One day in the midst of the argument it happened that the learned Mulla Jalal Halwa of Agra having turned up that tradition which relates to the description and evidences of the promised Mahdi, read as follows, . . . on the form of the aphalul tafzil derived from . . . Shaikh 'Alai smiled, and said, "Good Heavens! You have given yourself out to the world as a marvel of learning, and yet you cannot read with a proper pronunciation, you have no knowledge of the debricies, and subtleties and minutiae of the science of tradition. The real reading is Ajlau-l-jabhah which is the form Af'alu, tafzil from jala, not from jalal which is your own name.”
61.7.7
He was abashed and said not another word. They likewise relate concerning Shaikh Mubarak that he was an ally of Shaikh ‘Ala’i in this assembly, and from that day he became known as Mahdawi, and Islam Shah being deceived by his speech and explanations used to say “You must have been in the habit of expounding the meaning of the Qur’an,” he also gave a message to the Shaikh in these words “Give up this claim of yours to be the promised Mahdi, and renounce this pretension secretly in my hearing, and I will make you chief overseer of religion in the whole of my dominions, and whatever lawful orders you have been in the habit of issuing without my authority, continue henceforth to issue these same commands with my permission. Otherwise, the ‘Ulama of this time have given their decision that you should be killed and gibbetted, but I will revise their sentence, for I am not willing that your blood should be shed. The Shaikh, however, who had been successful at every step, and in this easy pretension and partial object of attainment had got beyond the power of even Islam Shah, cared nought for. any ruler and addressed him in these words, “Why should I change my own belief at your bidding.” If thou desirest safety, reproach is light, If safety is lost, reproach is a mistake. In the meantime tidings reached Islam Shah daily “Today such and such an Afghan general has gone over to the following of the Shaikh and sided with him, giving up all worldly considerations.”
61.7.8
The following day Bahram and Mulla ‘Abdu-llah spent every moment in urging Islam Shah to put the Shaikh to death. At last Islam Shah gave orders for his expulsion, and forbade him to remain in his kingdom, and ordered him to go to the Dakkan. Shaikh ‘Ala’i who had for years desired to travel in the Dakkan and to see how the Mahdawi ideas were progressing there, hearing this good tidings recited the text Was not God's earth wide enough. Then he arose and started without delay for that country. Qasim, curtail thy speech, arise, and take thy way, Cast the sugar to the parrots, cast the carcase to the vultures.