The Nāṣirī Generations 123.3

123.3

Hostilities arose between him and the Court of the Khalifah on account of some of the territories of ’Irak, and Ibn-ul-Kassab, who was the Wazir of the Dar-ul-Khilafat, entered 'Irak [with an army] to repel Sultan Takish; but he was defeated, and retired to Baghdad again. This disloyalty towards the Khalifah was a disaster to the empire of Takish, as Maulana Zahir-ud-Din, Faryabi, says in the following strophe:— Oh, Shah! since ’Ajam, by the sword, to thee has been consign’d, Towards Mustafa’s place of repose, an army send. Then lay the Ka’bah desolate, and a fan bring, And like unto useless atoms, to the winds the dust of the Haram send. Within the Ka’bah the drapery crumbleth away: place it in thy treasury. And, for the Prophet’s tomb, two or three ells of matting send. When thou shalt have a perfect infidel become, rush on Yasrib, And, then, the Khalifah’s head to Khita send.” Although Sultan Takish had entered into a treaty with the Sultans of Ghur, nevertheless, through the hostility of [the Court of] Baghdad, Ibn-ur-Rabbi’ came from Baghdad into the territories of Ghur and Ghaznin; and, on another occasion, Ibn-ul-Khatib came to the Court of Firuzkoh, and one Friday read the Khutbah, and, whilst reading it, he made use of these words in the presence of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam:—“Ayyahu-l-Ghiyas al-Mustaghas min ul Takish ut-taghi ul-baghi.” “Hail! prop of defence against Takish the traitor and the rebel!”