Muntakhab al-tawarikh 61.9
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 61.9
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61.9.1
First of all he wrote a letter to Islām Shāh in the following terms, “Seeing that the Mahdawī question is not indissolubly bound up with the faith of Islam, and very great difference of opinion exists as to the veritable signs by which the Mahdi is to be distinpunished, it is accordingly impossible to convict Shaikh ‘Ala’i of infidelity and impiety. At any rate, all doubts regarding him should be removed. Here books are very scarce, whereas there are sure to be many books in the library of the learned men of your country, let them settle the truth of the matter.” The sons of the Shaikh impressed upon him that Makhdumu-l-Mulk was the Sadru-s-sudur, and said, “This opposition of theirs to him has undoubtedly been the cause of your being summoned. At your great age it is far from wise for you to undertake so long a journey, and to undergo the severe fatigue incidental to it.” They accordingly cancelled his first letter and, whether he would or not, secretly wrote another letter as if from Shaikh Budh, couched in terms of flattery of Mulla ‘Abdu-llah, and sent it to Islam Shah, saying, “Makhdumu-l-Mulk is one of the most discriminating of the learned doctors of the day. What he says is the truth and his decision is the sound decision.” At the time when Islam Shah was encamped in the Panjab Shaikh ‘Ala’i arrived at the camp of Ban.
61.9.2
When Islam Shah read the sealed letter of Shaikh Budh the physician, he called Shaikh ‘Ala’i to come close to him and said to him in a low tone of voice, “Do you only say to me in my own ear that you are penitent for having made this claim, you shall then be accorded complete liberty to go where you will and do as you please.” Shaikh ‘Ala’i however refused to give ear to his proposals and paid no heed to him; Islam Shah in despair said to Mulla ‘Abdu-llah, I leave him in your hands. This he said and gave orders for him to receive a certain number of stripes in his own presence. Shaikh ‘Ala’i Himself had a wound in his neck, the result of an operation for the pestilence which raged in that year throughout the of Hindūstān, and had destroyed the greater part of the people. This wound had to be kept open by a tent, in addition to which he was suffering from the fatigue of his journey, years. It was in fact an exact counterpart of the affair of Sultan Jalalu-d-Din Firoz Shah Khilji after the execution of Sidi Maula, save that the decay of the kingdom of Salim Shah was even more rapid than that of Jalalu-d-Din. People considered Mulla ‘Abdullah, who was always vexatious to the holy men, to be the cause of all this heart-burning, and this was really the case. This event took place in the year 957 H. (1550 A.D.) the writer of these pages was at that time ten years of age, and invented the two following chronograms : The first is the second Saqahum rabbuhum sharaban.
61.9.3
Among the events which happened in the reign of Islam Shah was the murder of Khawass Khan, of which the following is a brief account. When Khawass Khan, after the battle with the Niyazis fled to the foot of the hills, Islam Shah appointed to that district Taj Khan Karrani who was the brother of Suleiman Karrani, and the most learned and able of the whole Afghan line, and wrote a command from his camp at Bin Ban, that they were to induce Khawass Khan, even if it were by means of treaty oaths, to come down from the hills, and put an end to him. However Taj Khan was unable to effect anything owing to the impregnability of that mountain retreat, and accordingly sent Khawass Khan the message of Islam Shah promising him safety. He, relying upon the word of a Muslim, came and had an interview with Taj Khan, who instantly had him put to death and sent his head to Salim Shah at the township of Bin (Ban), and after burying his body at the township of Sarastu, in the neighbourhood of Sambal, transferred it thence to Dihli. This event happened in the year 959 H. (A.D. 1551). As a chronochronological record they invented the words Musībat ba‘ālam shud, that is to say, A calamity for the world.
61.9.4
One of his magnanimous acts was the following. On his arrival at Kālpī in the company of Shīr Shāh he gave two lāhs of rupees to the sweetmeat sellers of that city so that they might send sugarcane to Rantanbhor without intermission. In the same way also he gave money to all the mango gardens of Baīāna, so that they might send mangoes day after day to the halting-places for the poor and necessitous. In the meantime Shīr Shāh died, and Salīm Shāh appointed persons who recovered the sum of twenty-four thousand rupees which remained of that money, and on receiving it put it into the treasury. In this same year Shaikh ‘Abdu-l-haiyy, the son of Shaikh Jamālī Kanbawī of Dihlī, who was adorned with excellencies of science and poetry, and was a devout man, and the boon companion and specially favoured intimate of Islīm Shāh, delivered up the life entrusted to his keeping, and Saiyyid Shāh Mīr of Āgra invented the following chronogram:— He said:— My name in itself would furnish the tārīkh At such time as ‘abd (the slave) was not in the midst of it. Among the events which happened during the time that Islīm Shāh was encamped at Bīn was the following.
61.9.5
One day in the interfal between two limits of prayer taken Salīm Shāh mounted on his roadster, and proceeded with a small escort from the camp to visit the fort of Mān Gōt, which lies at a distance of five or six krohs or thereabouts, in accordance with his usual custom, when a man sprang up in front of him and blocking the road, holding a sword concealed in his armpit like the proverbial Ta'abbata Sharran, under pretence of seeking redress (for some grievance) came forward and aimed a blow at him. Salīm Shāh, however, with great adroitness caught the blow upon the haft of his whip. The handle of the whip was cut through and a slight wound was inflicted upon his face. When the man raised his arm to strike a second blow Salīm Shāh sprang forward and hurled himself upon that ruffian, and wrested the sword from his hand. At this instant Daulat Khān Ujjain, the son of Sujāwal Khān, who was the chaste inmate and bosom friend of Islām Shāh, galloped up and dealt a blow at that miscreant. Others also came up and enquired from him the reason for his action. Salīm Shāh did not approve of this and said: 'This wretch will destroy the houses of numberless people, lose no time in getting due vengeance on him.' However he recognised that sword as the one he had given to Iqbāl Khān. This Iqbāl Khān was one of the scum and off-scourings of Hindūstān who had rendered Shīr Shāh special services.
61.9.6
He was so exceedingly ill-favoured, mean-looking, and oafish in appearance that they used to call him Bābū-i-kaddū, which in Hindūstān is the term used for applied to a weaver. Islām Shāh himself had raised him from the very lowest of the low, and had given him a position of intimacy with the highest, so that he made him the envy of the noble Amīrs, and would not permit him to be out of his sight for one moment. From that day forward, when he recognised that sword, he deprived him of his rank, so that he made him an example of the saying: 'Everything returns to its original state;' but in spite of the incitation of the Amīrs of the Afghāns that he should put him to death, he replied, "I am heartily ashamed to destroy the man of my own training." Verse. Water cannot swallow down wood, knowest thou why? It is ashamed to destroy that which it has reared. Islām Shāh, who had for this same reason become distrustful of Afghāns, now became afflicted with complications of his disease, and increased the opium in his wine, and the snake-bitten one drank a draught of poison, and thirsting for the blood of the Afghāns, became more than ever set upon eradicating them. The crisis was as though it was saying to him: Verse. Thou hast laid a foundation, which will destroy thy family, Oh, thou whose family is destroyed, what a foundation thou hast laid!
61.9.7
After these events Islem Shah returned towards Gwaliar, which he had made his metropolis, and had arrived at Dihli when tidings arrived that Muhammad Humayun Padshah had reached the banks of the Indus, with the aim of conquering Hindustan. Islem Shah just at the very moment when this tidings arrived, had applied a leech to his throat, but instantly took it off, dashed some water upon his head, and binding up his throat with linen rags ordered his army to proceed, and the first day covering three krohs, encamped, and the rank and file of his army who were at the last gasp from drunkenness, involuntarily followed him as though led by a halter round their necks. Certain of the Vazirs who were well-disposed to him represented that inasmuch as a powerful foe had come against him, and his soldiery were worthless, it would be just as well if orders were given for their pay to be issued to them. Islem Shah replied that if he were to give them money at that particular time they would attribute it to his being weak and in straits, so I will wait, said he, till my return after this victory, when I will give them, with one stroke of the pen, two years pay. The soldiers had patience and without a murmur awaited what fortune Providence would bring them, at the same time expecting some sudden calamity, and in spite of their state of unpreparedness arrived at the encampment.
61.9.8
When it was reported to Islem Shah that the artillery was ready, but that, as the bullocks for the gun carriages had been left at Gwaliar, they awaited his orders, he replied, ‘What possible use are such a crowd of thousands of infantry and cavalry, are they to get their monthly pay for nothing?’ accordingly he made them all do the work of bullocks, and ordered them to drag the gun carriages, thus proving the truth of the following:—