The Nāṣirī Generations 151: XVI. SULTAN SAIF-UD-DIN, MUHAMMAD, SON OF SULTAN ’ALA-UD-DIN, AL-HUSAIN.
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 151
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XVI. SULTAN SAIF-UD-DIN, MUHAMMAD, SON OF SULTAN ’ALA-UD-DIN, AL-HUSAIN.
151.1
When Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din departed from this world, his son, Sultan Saif-ud-Din, Muhammad, with the concurrence of the whole of the Maliks, Amirs, and chief men of Ghur, ascended the throne of Firuz-koh. He was a youthful and good-looking sovereign, and was beneficent in disposition, just, the cherisher of his subjects, and patronizer of his servants, bountiful, munificent, open-hearted, and liberal, humble, conciliating, pious, orthodox, and steadfast in the faith of Islam. When he ascended the throne, he, at the outset, repudiated acts of tyranny and injustice; and for all the injustice, oppression, and violence which his father had committed, he commanded that restitution should be made; and he carried out his purpose according to the institutes of justice, and the ways of rectitude.
151.2
Those emissaries who had come from the Mulahidah [heretic] of Alamut [towards the close of his father's reign], and who, secretly, had exhorted every person to the vanities of heresy and schism, he directed should be brought to task, and the whole of them, by his orders, were put to the sword. In every place wherein the odour of their impure usages was perceived, throughout the territory of Ghur, slaughter of all heretics was commanded. The whole of them were sent to Hell, and the area of the country of Ghur, which was a mine of religion and orthodoxy, was purified from the infernal impurity of Karamitah depravity by the sword. By this orthodox war upon infidels, love for him became rooted in the hearts of the people of Ghur and of the territory of the Jibal; and the whole of them bound the girdle of his service round their loins, and placed the collar of obedience to him about the neck of sincerity. One of the proofs of his equity, and of the goodness of his rule, was this, that he gave orders for the release from the fortress of Wajiristan of both his uncle’s sons, Ghiyas-ud-Din, Muhammad, and Mu’izz-ud-Din, Muhammad, the sons of Sam, and he cherished and caressed them, and allowed them perfect liberty of action.
151.3
During his reign people, both comers and goers, enjoyed plenty, repose, and security beyond compute; but that youthful monarch of excellent disposition had but a short life, and his reign only extended to the space of one year and little more. The mercy of God be upon him! The cause of his loss of life was this:—One day, seated in his pavilion, he was discharging arrows at a butt; and the Amirs of Ghur had been directed to be present, and were in attendance. The Sipah-salar [commander of the troops], War-mesh, son of Shis, who was the brother of Abu-l-’Abbas, son of Shis, and the brother of Suliman, son of Shis, was also in attendance on him. It was the custom with the Amirs of Ghur, and the Maliks of the Jibal, at that period, that upon whomsoever they would confer honour, him they should present with a golden gauntlet studded with jewels, after the same manner as, in these days, they bestow a girdle; and on the hand[s] of this commander, War-mesh, son of Shis, were two gem-studded gauntlets, which Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Husain, Madini, had honoured him with; and both those gauntlets were from the treasury of Sultan Saif-ud-Din’s own haram.
151.4
When he perceived those two gauntlets belonging to his own haram upon the hand of War-mesh, the honour of manhood, and the dignity of sovereignty, began to flame up within his heart, and the fire of wrath burst forth, and he said:—“Run, War-mesh, and bring back my arrow from the butt.” When War-mesh turned his face towards the butt, in order to carry out this command, and his back was turned towards the Sultan, he, Sultan Saif-ud-Din, fitted a broad steel-headed arrow to his bow, and drew the bow-string to his ear, and discharged the arrow with such force into the back of War-mesh, that the feathers of the arrow passed out through his breast, and he fell down dead on the spot. As the empire of the Sanjari dynasty had come to an end, the Amirs of the tribe of Ghuzz had acquired power, and had taken possession of the different parts of the territory of Khurasan, and their violence and depredations had extended in all directions ; and the disquietude and affliction consequent upon these depredations used to reach the frontier districts of the kingdom of Ghur, and the borders of the hill tracts of Gharjistan.
151.5
When Sultan Saif-ud-Din brought the dominions of his father under his jurisdiction, he assembled his forces, and set out for the purpose of restraining the aggressions of the Ghuzz, and reached the confines of Gharjistan, and the district of Madin. From thence he advanced to Rudbar of Marw, and passed beyond Dajzak, which is a large city [town ?], and came to a battle with the Ghuzz. The Sipah-salar, Abu-l-Abbas, son of Shis, who was the champion of Ghur, of the family of the Shisanis, and who nourished revenge in his heart on account of War-mesh, son of Shis [his own brother], and waited his opportunity, on the day of the encounter with the Ghuzz, came behind the back of the Sultan, Saif-ud-Din, and thrust his spear into his side, and hurled him from his horse, and exclaimed [at the same time], “Men are not killed with their faces to the butt, as thou didst kill my brother, otherwise they [themselves] get killed at such a place as this.”
151.6
When the Sultan fell, the troops of Ghur were defeated and routed, and they likewise left the [wounded] Sultan on the field. A Ghuzz [soldier] came upon him, and, as yet, the Sultan was still alive. The Ghuzz, when he noticed the princely vest and girdle, was desirous of despoiling him of them. The fastening of the Sultan’s girdle would not come open quickly, on which the Ghuzz applied his knife to the fastening, and divided it. The point of the knife entered the stomach of Sultan Saif-ud-Din with force, and from that wound he obtained martyrdom.