The Book of Akbar 319.8

319.8

The Mīrzā was also of high family on the mother’s side, for his mother was Kīcak Begum, daughter of Mīr ‘Alā-al-Mulk of Tarmiz, and of Fakhr Jahān Begum daughter of H.M. Khāqān Sa‘īd Sultān Abū Sa‘īd M. He soon attained high rank, and became an Amīr-al-Umrā, for he added good service to his high rank, and, by passing off his outward show as a representation of his inner nature, made pretensions to the exalted dignity of sincerity. This is a Court where people turn a grain of sincerity into a world. Let no wrong thought prove a stumblingblock to you (O reader), and do not say that to show this man (Sharafu-d-dīn) favour above his rank was to transgress the laws of justice. The place of justice is one thing, and the station of benevolence is another, though in matters of this kind an increase of trust on the part of this spiritual and temporal Lord (Akbar) is a means of applying a test, and of ascertaining character, by administration of the world’s wine which o’erthrows the unmanly and sets up the virile. Extraneous nobility is liable to hundreds of molestations, and granting that these molestations (i.e., temptations) be avoided, outward associations and superficial relationships do not result in the attainment of the desired object. Inward links and intrinsic purity of soul are required in order that a true test may be applied by the touchstone of sincerity.