The Memoirs of Bābur 911.8.6

911.8.6

Maulānā Saifī of Bukhārā was another;[1144] he was a Mullā complete[1145] who in proof of his mullā-ship used to give a list of the books he had read. He put two _dīwāns_ together, one being for the use of tradesmen (_ḥarfa-kar_), and he also wrote many fables. That he wrote no _mas̤nawī_ is shewn by the following quatrain:— Though the _mas̤nawī_ be the orthodox verse, _I_ know the ode has Divine command; Five couplets that charm the heart _I_ know to outmatch the Two Quintets.[1146] A Persian prosody he wrote is at once brief and prolix, brief in the sense of omitting things that should be included, and prolix in the sense that plain and simple matters are detailed down to the diacritical points, down even to their Arabic points.[1147] He is said to have been a great drinker, a bad drinker, and a mightily strong-fisted man. `Abdu'l-lāh the _mas̤nawī_-writer was another.[1148] He was from Jām and was the Mullā's sister's son. Hātifī was his pen-name. He wrote poems (_mas̤nawī_) in emulation of the Two Quintets,[1149] and called them _Haft-manẕar_ (Seven-faces) in imitation of the _Haft-paikar_ (Seven-faces). In emulation of the _Sikandar-nāma_ he composed the _Tīmūr-nāma_. His most renowned _mas̤nawī_ is _Laila and Majnūn_, but its reputation is greater than its charm.