Muntakhab al-lubab 144: Fourth Year of the Reign, 1121 A.H. (1709-10 A.D.).

144

[vol. ii. p. 663.] An order was given (near the end of the previous year of the reign) that the word wasi (heir) should be inserted among the attributes of the Khalif 'Ali in the khutba.
When this order reached Lahore, Jan Muhammad and Haji Yar Muhammad, the most eminent learned men in that city, in accord with many other good and learned men, went in a crowd to the houses of the Kazi and the Sadr, to forbid the reading of the word wasi in the khutba. In the same way the learned men and elders of Agra, supported by a large number of Musulmans, raised a disturbance and forbade the reading of the khutba in the form directed. Similar reports were sent by the news-writers of other cities. From Ahmadabad it was reported that a party of Sunnis with a crowd killed the khatib of the chief mosque, who had read the word wasi in the khutba.
After the order for the insertion of the word wasi in the khutba reached Ahmadabad, the Sadr wrote to Firoz Jang, the Subadar, for official directions as to the course he was to pursue, and in reply received an autograph letter, directing him to act in obedience to the orders of the Khalifa (the Emperor). On the following Friday the khatib used the word wasi in the khutba. Some men of the Panjab and some notables of Turan came noisily forward, and harshly addressing the khatib, said, "We excuse you this Friday for using the word, but next Friday you must not pronounce it." He replied that he would act in obedience to the orders of the Emperor, the Nazim (viceroy), and the Sadr. On the following Friday, when the khatib ascended the pulpit, one of the Mughals said to him, "You must not use the word wasi." The doomed khatib would not be restrained; but the moment the word wasi fell from his tongue, a Panjabi rose, seized him by his skirt, dragged him from the top of the pulpit, and treated him with harsh scorn. A Turani Mughal jumped up, drew his knife, stuck it into the stomach of the khatib, and threw him down under the pulpit. A general disturbance followed, and all the people started up. The khatib, half dead, was dragged out into the forecourt of the mosque, and there he received so many stabs from daggers and blows from slippers that he died ignominiously. For a night and a day his heirs had not the courage to remove his corpse and bury it. On the second day the parents of the deceased petitioned Firoz Jang for permission to inter him. He gave them some rupees of Government money and his authority for the burial.