Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.34
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 78.34
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78.34.1
During this year there arrived at Court Hakim Abu-l-Fath, Hakim Humáyún (who subsequently changed his name to Humayun Quli, and lastly to Hakim Human), and Nur-ud-din, who as poet is known under the name of Qarari. They were brothers, and came from Gilan, near the Caspian Sea. The eldest brother, whose manners and address were exceedingly winning, obtained in a short time great ascendancy over the Emperor. He flattered him openly, adapted himself to every change in the religious ideas of His Majesty, or even went in advance of them, and thus became in a short time a most intimate friend of the Emperor. Soon after there came from Persia Mulla Muhammad of Yazd, who got the name of Yazidi, and attaching himself to the Emperor commenced openly to revile the Çahábah, told queer stories about them, and tried hard to make him a Shi'ah. But he was soon left behind by Bír Bar—that bastard!—and by Shaikh Abu-l-Fazl, and Hakim Abu-l-Fath, who successfully turned the Emperor from the Islam, and led him to reject inspiration, prophetship, the miracles of the prophet and of the saints, and even the whole law, so that I could no longer bear their company. Their eventual fates shall be told, each in its proper place, if God (He is exalted!) will. At the same time His Majesty ordered Qazi Jalal-ud-din, and several Ulama, to write a commentary on the Qur’an ; but this led to great dissentions among them.
78.34.2
Deb Chand Rajah Manjholah— that fool!— once set the whole Court in laughter by saying that Allah after all had great respect for cows, else the cow would not have been mentioned in the first chapter of the Qur’an. His Majesty had also the early history of the Islam read out to him, and soon began to think less of the Çahabah. Soon after, the observance of the five prayers, and the fasts, and the belief in everything connected with the prophet, were put down as vain superstitions, and man’s reason was acknowledged as the only basis of religion. Portuguese (P. 212) priests also came frequently ; and His Majesty enquired into the articles of their belief, which are based upon reason : — “ Whatever imagination their intellect invents, God laughs at the intellect of people of that creed.”
78.34.3
And in this year the Emperor sent for Shaikh Badr-ud-din to come to the ‘Ibadat-khanah. He was the son of Shaikh Islam Chishti. He was much given to prayer, and having given up all attendance on princes, had become his father’s successor, and had found favour with God, and become a recluse, and occupied himself only in fasting, zeal, repeating God’s name, exercising poverty, and reading the Qur’an. Since the old customs of respect in sitting, rising, and speaking were no longer observed, he committed many breaches of etiquette, and other misfortunes coming in succession, after three or four years, without saying anything to any one, he left the Court in sheer disappointment and despair, and went to Ajmir, and thence to Gujrat, where he took ship alone to make a pilgrimage to Makkah. There he fasted, till he obtained spiritual union with God, and in the hot air with naked feet performed the circuits, so that he attained the honour of reaching the heavenly Ka'bah, and enjoyed union with the Lord of Glory (O God make me a partaker thereof !) : — O Kamal thou art gone From the Ka'bah to the Door of the Friend. A thousand times Ajarin ! Thou art gone like a man.
78.34.4
In this year a learned Brahman, Shaikh B’hawan, had come from the Dak’hin and turned Musalman, when His Majesty gave me the order to translate the At'harban. Several of the religious precepts of this book resemble the laws of the Islam. As in translating I found many difficult passages, which Shaikh B’hawan could not interpret either, I reported the same to His Majesty, who ordered Shaikh Faizi, and then Haji Ibrahim, to translate it. The latter, though willing, did not write anything. Among the precepts of the At'harban there is one which says that no man will be saved unless he reads a certain passage. This passage contains many times the letter l, and resembles very much our La illah illa'llah. Besides I found that a Hindu under certain circumstances may eat cow-flesh; and also that Hindus bury their dead, but do not burn them. With such passages the Shaikh used to defeat other Brahmans in argument, and they had in fact led him to embrace the Islam (God be thanked for this !).
78.34.5
In the month Sha'ban of this year Gulbadan Begum, daughter of Babar Padshah and paternal aunt to the Emperor, who had, in the year nine hundred and eighty-two (982) in company with Salimah Sultan Begum daughter of Nur-ud-din Muhammed Mirza (who was formerly wife of Bairam Khan, Khan Khanan, and afterwards entered the Haram of the Emperor), left A'grah for Hijaz and tarried one year in Gujrat, and attained that felicity; and thus performed the four pilgrimages. On her return, she remained another whole year at ‘Aden through shipwreck, and arrived in Hindustan in the year nine hundred and ninety (990). And from that time it became an established practice, that every five or six years one of the nobles of the Court was made Leader of the pilgrims, and a general permission was given to the people, so that at great public expense, with gold and goods and rich presents, the Emperor sent them on a pilgrimage to Makkah But this was afterwards abandoned.
78.34.6
In this year Mirza Sulaiman, who from the time of the reign of Babar had held absolute rule over Badakhshan — after that his promising son ’Ibrahim Mirza had been slain in war with Pir Muhammad Khan Uzbek in Balkh, and the decease of Wali Ni‘mat Begum, and after that various acts of a perverse and rebellious nature had taken place on the part of Shah Rukh Mirza, son of Ibrahim Mirza, who had gone into rebellion with a view to usurping the whole government of Badakhshan — first of all came to Kabul hoping to obtain help from Mirza Muhammad Hakim. When his hope failed to be realized, he requested that an escort might be given him to conduct him through the dangerous districts as far as the Indus. The Mirza met his request with the greatest urbanity and politeness, and appointed him an escort, which deserted him at the first stage and returned to Kabul, and in accordance with : — “May it not be that thou remain long in this world ! For old age is humiliation, and nonentity,”
78.34.7
taking his daughter with him in full confidence in God he travelled into Hind, alone and unattended. At several places the Afghans opposed his progress by force of arms; but the Mirza, showing the most intrepid bravery, and wounded with an arrow, after a hundred troubles arrived at the river Indus. Thence he sent two or three horsemen, men born in his house, with a petition to the Court. Then the Emperor sent 50,000 rupees and abundant other necessaries, and a team of horses of pure Arab breed by the hand of Agha Khan the treasurer to give the Mirza an honourable reception. And before this Rajah Bhagwan Das, governor of Lahor, in accordance with a farman had gone to the Indus to meet him, and was showing him day by day suitable hospitality. The Amirs and governors also of every parganna and town on the way, in accordance with the recognised laws of hospitality promoted his wish to go forward. In this manner they brought the Mirza [to the Court]. Meanwhile A‘zam Khan (who is also called Khan-i A‘zam) was sent for from Gujrat to appear at the Court, with which command he hastened to comply, and did homage at Fathpur on the 4th of Rajab in the year nine hundred and eighty-three (983). One day he broached the subject of the new regulations about branding horses, and the management of tax-collecting, and of contracting for the army, and of the distressed condition of agriculturists and other acts of oppression.
78.34.8
Everything that he knew about these things he mentioned with unqualified disapprobation. For some time the Emperor, from old habit, could not endure this unpleasant plain-speaking, and ordered (P. 215) that for some time he should be forbidden the royal presence, and appointed officers to prevent any of the nobles from visiting him. After some days he sent him to Agrah, that, closing the door of egress and ingress in the face of mankind, he might practise the retirement of a monastic solitude in his own garden. Now Mirza Sulaiman having arrived at Mattra by continued journeys from Lahor, Tarsun Muhammad Khan, and Qazi Nizam Badakhshi (to whom the Mirza had given the title of Qazi-Khan, and who had obtained from the Court the title of Ghazi-Khan) came from the great Amirs to meet him. And first of all the nobles, and magnates of the Court, and the pillars of the State, and afterwards the Emperor himself, with the assembled Amirs went out five cosses to meet him. And on that day 5,000 elephants, some with housings of European velvet, and some with Turkish cloth of gold, and some with chains of gold and of silver, and with black and white fringes hung on their heads and necks, were drawn up in line on both sides : also Arabian and Persian horses with golden saddles of like splendour. And between each pair of elephants they placed a car of cheetahs with golden collars, and coverings of velvet and fine linen, and an oxen-car with fillets of embroidered gold.
78.34.9
And the whole face of the wilderness, in this manner, became like a vision of Spring, and the desert and hill-country like the reflection of a tulip-bed. And when he saw the Emperor afar off, he alighted with ceremony from his horse, and ran forward to meet him with saláms. The Emperor with politeness quickly descended from his saddle to the ground, and would not permit him to pay any of the formal acts of politeness, and customary humiliations. After embracing him he remounted, and ordered that he should ride with him, and occupied himself in making the kindest enquiries after his welfare. In the palace [called] Anúptaláo (the door, walls, and interior of which they had furnished with painted canopies, brocades, and splendid carpets, and golden vessels and all other kinds of furniture in abundance) he gave him a place by his side on the throne of Sultanate, and also summoned the Prince, his son, and introduced him to him. After they had finished their repast he granted his request for assistance, and promised him aid with such money and troops, as might enable him to reduce Badakhshán, and had apartments prepared for the Mirzá in the tower of the Háthyápúl, where was the Naqárah-khánah. Of an evening he used often to go to the ’Ibádat-khánah, and hold converse with the Shaikhs and sages and cultivate ecstacy, and sometimes loud shouts were heard proceeding from him : and prayer with the congregation was never neglected by him.
78.34.10
One day, after leading in all the other prayers, I considered that I had said sufficient prayers when the Mirzá objected to me that I had not recited the Fátihah.