The Rashīdī History 135.7

135.7

Although, in the hour of necessity, the Emperor had clothed himself in the garments of the Kizilbash (which was pure heresy, nay almost unbelief), they sincerely hoped, when he mounted the throne of Samarkand, (the throne of the Law of the Prophet) and placed on his head the diadem of the holy Sunna of Muhammad, that he would remove from it the crown of royalty [Shâhi] whose nature was heresy and whose form was as the tail of an ass. But the hopes of the people of Samarkand were not realised. For, as yet, the Emperor did not feel able to dispense with the aid and support of Shâh Ismail; nor did he consider himself sufficiently strong to cope single-handed with the Uzbeg; hence he appeared to overlook [mudârâ] the gross errors of the Kizilbash. On this account, the people of Mâvara-un-Nahr ceased to feel that intense longing for the Emperor which they had entertained while he was absent — their regard for him was at an end. It was thus that the Emperor began [already] to flatter the Turkomans, and associate himself with them.