Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.4
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.4
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79.4.1
After this event the Emperor appointed Sharif Khan Atgah governor of Malwah in his place, and having visited him at his quarters and received the greatest hospitality, he despatched him to that district. In this year the Emperor sent for Khan-i A‘zam from Agrah, where he had been for a long time under surveillance, and treating him with kindness sent him with 5,000 horsemen to assume the governorship of Bengal. And having sent for Shahbaz Khan from the district of the Kanti, he appointed him with a well-equipped army to assist Khan-i A‘zam, with orders that he should proceed to the confines of Hajipur and traversing the jungle of Kachiti should compel ‘Arab Bahadur to come out of that place. In this year Hakim-ul-mulk Gilani, being reckoned by the Emperor as one of those not to be trusted in matters of religion and faith, was sent, as has been already narrated, to Mekkah with a sum of five lacs of rupees, to be given as presents to the worthy among the sharifs and poor. And there he remained for the rest of his life:— “I will not move from the head of thy street, I am not the rolling-heavens, but the stationary earth.” And however much the Emperor sent for him he still remained there, and committed himself to God.
79.4.2
In this year he sent for the renowned Shaikhs from all sides and quarters, and had a private interview with each, and investigated several matters. Most of them made themselves agreeable, having a grant of some biqahs of land in view (may dust be scattered on their heads!), and indulged in flattery, and wheedling, and open blasphemy. And their real intentions broke through their cloke of dissimulation. This is the portion of the enemies [of the Faith]: Morals remained after the loss of Renunciation, Solitude, Trust, Contentment, Aspiration; and even that too men saw stripped from them all, and so suspicion of them crept into other quarters:— “This lot of fools are clothed in rags, They mumble some mysterious words. They have never advanced far in sincerity and purity, Though they have destroyed many a good name.” Of the number of these was Shaikh Chanildah, successor of the great Shaikh ‘Abd-ul-‘aziz, an inhabitant of the town of Siwahnah. In accordance with the Emperor’s command he went down to the ‘Ibadat Khanah and began to display and sell perverted prayers. He foretold that a certain lady of the harem would bring forth a son, but as it so happened that a daughter was born, the prophesy fell rather flat. In the same way Sayyid Hashim Firozabadi opened that kind of business with a hundred marvels; and they became the cause of discrediting former teachers.
79.4.3
But when the Emperor sent for Shaikh Muttahi Afghan Kasi from the Panjab, in obedience to his summons he came from the monastery on foot in company with the messengers, while they carried his litter behind him. At Fathpur he alighted at the house of Shaikh Jamal Bakhtyar, and sent word: “My eye has not rested on any blessed sign of the Emperor.” So the Emperor without granting him an audience sent him quickly about his business. Also Shaikh-ul-hadyah Khairabadi came to Court in accordance with a message from the Emperor, who received him standing with great respect. He had traversed the desert of Poverty with the foot of Trust and Solitude, and had not accepted any land from the Emperor. He was very intimate with the own son of Abu-l-Fath, with whom the Author at Samb’hal towards the end of the reign of Islam Shah, in accordance with the command of the famous Moulawi, the great Master Miyan Hatim, Sambhali (God have mercy on him!), read the Irshad-i Qazi, and the commentary thereon. He has now succeeded his father, and is the great authority on all knowledge and practice and Cufi-ism. When a question was asked Shaikh-ul-hadyah, he pointed to his ear and said: “I hear an exalted word!”, and the Emperor having excused him hastily dismissed him.
79.4.4
In this year low and mean fellows, who pretended to be learned, but were in reality fools, collected evidence (P. 287), that His Majesty was the Çâhib-i-Zamân, who would remove all differences of opinion among the seventy-two sects of the Islam and the Hindus. Sharif brought proofs from the writings of Mahmud of Basakhwan, that he had said that in the year 990 a certain person would abolish lies, and how he had specified all sorts of interpretations of the expression "Professor of the true Religion," which came to the sum-total 990. And Khwajah Moulana of Shiraz, the heretic of Jafrdan, came with a pamphlet by some of the Sharifs of Makkah, in which a tradition was quoted to the effect that the earth would exist for 7,000 years, and as that time was now over the promised appearance of the Mahdi would immediately take place. The Moulana also brought a pamphlet written by himself on the subject. The Shiahs mentioned similar nonsense connected with 'Ali, and quoted the following Ruba'i, which is said to have been composed by Nasir-i-Khusrou, or according to some by another poet: "In 989, according to the decree of fate, The stars from all sides shall meet together. In the year of Leo, the month of Leo, the day of Leo, The Lion of God will stand forth from behind the veil." All this made the Emperor the more inclined to claim the dignity of a prophet, perhaps I should say, the dignity of something else.
79.4.5
Meanwhile a despatch arrived from Rajah Todar Mal, stating that all this while he had kept Ma'çum Khan Farankhudi along with him by conciliatory treatment, and all sorts of expedients. But that Khwajah Shah Mansur Diwan had claimed a good deal of money due from him and Tarsun Muhammad Khan, and had written them exceedingly harsh and threatening letters and had caused them great annoyance. And, that at this critical juncture these payments were the cause of dissensions in the army. Since the exactions of Shah Mansur had several times been reported at Court, the Emperor refused him admittance, and after some days, thinking it the best thing to do, handed him over as a prisoner to Shāh Qulī Khān Muḥarram, and in his place appointed Vazir Khān, brother of Āṣaf Khān of Herāt, as Dīwān-i-kul. And to Qāzī ‘Alī Baghdādī, a heart-troubler, unlucky, preposterous, owl-like, rejected of God and mankind, he granted the honour of being his assistant, that in conjunction they might decide important cases. Glory to God! what a proper combination it was!
79.4.6
At this time they brought a man to Court, who had no ears nor any trace of the orifices of the ear. In spite of this he heard everything that was said to him, though the place of the ears was quite level. And in this year, in order to verify the circumstances of this case, an order was issued that several suckling infants should be kept in a secluded place far from habitations, where they should not hear a word spoken. Well-disciplined nurses were to be placed over them, who were to refrain from giving them any instruction in speaking, so as to test the accuracy of the tradition which says: “Every one that is born is born with a natural tendency,” by ascertaining what religion and sect these infants would incline to, and above all what creed they would repeat. To carry out this order about twenty sucklings were taken from their mothers, for a consideration in money, and were placed in an empty house, which got the name of “Dumb-house.” After three or four years they all turned out dumb, and the appellation of the place turned out prophetic. Many of these sucklings became the nurselings of mother earth:— “My mother is earth, and I am a suckling, The propensity of children for their mother is not strange. Soon will it be that resting from trouble I shall fall drunk with sleep on my mother’s bosom.”
79.4.7
In this year the Emperor sent the prince Daniyal with Shaikh Faizi, who was his teacher, and Shaikh Jamal Bakhtyar, and a number of courtiers to Ajmir. And he presented a donation of 6,020 rupees to the faqirs of that monastery. In this year Rajah Todar Mal and the other imperial Amirs passed the rainy season in Hajipur. (P. 289.) And Ma'sum Khan Farankhudi, who was in a discontented state of mind went to Jounpur without the permission of the Amirs, and broke out into rebellion. The Emperor sent Peshrou Khan, known as Mihtar Sa'adat, the head of the chamberlain department (daroghah-e-farashkhanah), with a farman to appease him, and the government of Jounpur was given to Tarsun Khan, and that of Oudh to Ma'sum Khan Farankhudi. He uttering some wild speeches like a crazy man, and considering Oudh an out-of-the-way corner of the Empire, went there and began to prepare for war. Meanwhile Mihtar Sa'adat came to Court, and again recounted how that Mulla Muhammad Yazdi had issued a fatwa authorizing rebellion and insurrection. This was the cause of Mulla Muhammad Yazdi and Mir Mu'izz-ul-mulk being sent for, as has been narrated.