The Rashīdī History 126.5

126.5

A little while after, there came an intimate friend of Khwaja Habib Ullah, who whispered something in the Khwája's ear; whereat the Khwaja's colour fled from his face. He immediately took the man apart, and said: "Now repeat what Shaikham said." The man replied: "Shaikham told me to go and tell Khwaja Habib Ullah that 'this man' has fled with the son of Mirza Muhammad Husain; the child is the cousin of Mirza Khan and of Bábar Pádisháh. Perhaps the Khwaja is keeping him in his house, and in this case he will incur the enmity of Hamza Sultán. Behold, I am going to inform the Naváb Matlab Sultán [of the matter], so that the house and home of Khwája Habib Ullah may be swept away with the broom of plunder, its dust mount to the skies, and its vapour be diffused over the earth." With these words he went away. This Matlab Sultán was the son of Hamza Sultán, a one-eyed wretch, whose inward vision was rendered blinder than his outward sight by the darkness of tyranny. All the oppressed of those countries united, at his court, in a common protest against his tyranny. The leaves of the trees of these people's lives were constantly trembling from the violence of his blasts.