The Nāṣirī Generations 295: ANOTHER MIRACLE [WROUGHT IN BEHALF] OF THE MUSALMANS.
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 295
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ANOTHER MIRACLE [WROUGHT IN BEHALF] OF THE MUSALMANS.
295.1
Trustworthy persons related in this manner, that the son of Malik Badr-ud-Din-i-Lu-lu, the Mauṣilī, was along with the son of Hūlāū, and used to witness those conflicts, the overthrow of the Mughals, and the triumph of the holy warriors of Mayyā-fāriḳīn [as already recorded]. He used to be filled with wonder at the circumstance, and was wont to extol the Divine assistance, until, one night he saw in a dream the sacred beauty of the sun of the universe, Muḥammad, the Apostle of God—the blessing of the Almighty be upon him and guard him!—who standing on the summit of the ramparts of the fortress of Mayyafāriḳīn, and having drawn the hem of his blessed garment around that fortress, was saying: “This fortress is under the protection of Almighty God, and under the apostolic guardianship of me who am Muḥammad.” The son of Malik Badr-ud-Dīn-i-Lū-lū, through the fear inspired by this dream, awoke; and was all the [next] day in this reflection: “This is an astonishing dream: what may be the manner of its interpretation?” The second night, and the third night, he saw the same vision; and the awe and terror in consequence of this overcame him both internally and externally. On the third day, accompanied by his own personal attendants, he mounted, under the plea of going to the chase, and separated from the camp of the infidels, and proceeded towards his own country.
295.2
When his father [Badr-ud-Dīn-i-Lū-lū] became aware of this, he sent him his commands, saying: “Me and my territory thou hast plunged into death and ruin! Why didst thou commit suchlike conduct and opposition? I will not, in any manner, allow thee to come before me.” The son of Badr-ud-Dīn-i-Lū-lū penned a message to his father, saying: “I cannot war with Muḥammad, the Apostle of God—The Almighty bless him and guard him!—and such was my condition;” and he wrote out a statement of the matter, and related all the vision; and he departed into some other part; and, up to this date, the condition of him and of his father is not known. God knows the truth. [Here our author brings in a kasidah, several pages in length, composed in ’Arabic, by Yahya, the son of A'kab, ud-Din, the Tabrizi, with a toman of Tajzik levies, was also sent for the same purpose.
295.3
Malik Salih, who had come down to Joghak — a suburb probably — and given himself up to pleasure, was speedily brought to his senses by the danger; and the people of Mausil also became terrified. Malik Salih now shut himself up within the walls, and enlisted all the fighting men he could collect — Kurds, Turk-mans, and Shuls. The Mughals soon after completely invested Mausil, but were opposed with valour and obstinacy by the Kurds and Turk-mans, who made frequent sallies. Fighting went on in this manner for about a month, when eighty Mughal champions made an attempt to surprise the citadel, but they were killed to a man, and their heads falling into the camp of the Mughals announced their fate. Sadr-ud-Din, Tabrizi, commander of the Tajzik toman, was badly wounded during the investment, and was allowed to return home invalided. At Ala Tagh, on his way to Tabriz, he reached the presence of Hulaku, and acquainted him with the state of affairs at Mausil, and he, without farther delay, despatched a considerable force to the assistance of the Nu-yin Shidaghu. When Bundukdar became acquainted with Malik Salih's danger, he detached a force from Misr to his aid, under Aghush, the Arpalu, who, on reaching Sanjar, wrote a despatch to Malik Salih, announcing his arrival there, and, fastening it to the wing of a carrier pigeon, despatched the bird to Mausil. It so happened that the tired pigeon came and perched on a catapult belonging to the Mughals;
295.4
and the catapult workers caught it, and brought it, with the despatch, to the Nu-yin, Shidaghu. He had the letter read; and, considering this incident a sure prognostic of success for the Mughals, set the pigeon free to continue its journey. He then, without delay, despatched a force of 10,000 men to fall unawares upon the troops of Misr under Aghush, which they did, slaughtering the greater number of them. Then, donning the clothes of the slain Shamis, and endeavouring to make themselves look like Kurds, they moved back towards Mausil, and gave intimation to their leader, Shidaghu, saying that they had gained a complete victory, and the following morning, laden with plunder, in the disguise of Shamis, they would arrive as though proceeding to Mausil. Next day, when they approached, a number of the people of Mausil, under the supposition that they were the Shamis from the ruler of Misr, coming to their deliverance, issued forth to receive them, with great glee, for, to facilitate matters, Shidaghu had withdrawn his other forces to the opposite direction. The people of Mausil fell into the trap, and were surrounded, and massacred to a man, but Malik Salih succeeded in entering the city again. After resisting for a space of six months longer, in Ramazan, 660 H. — Fasih-i says, in 661 H. — the city was taken, and the remainder of the inhabitants were put to the sword, not a soul being left alive who fell into their hands.
295.5
After some time, about 1000 persons crept out of holes and corners and assembled there, and for some time were the only inhabitants of Mausil. Malik Salih fell into the hands of the Mughals, and was conducted to the presence of Hulaku [in Azarbaijan]. The ferocious barbarian, exasperated at the defeats the Mughals had sustained, directed the Nu-yin, Ilka, to have him enveloped — not simply besmeared with fat — in fat tails of the dumbah, or fat-tailed sheep, sewn up in felt, and then exposed to the who was the disciple of the Khalifah, ’Ali, and, subsequently, the tutor of Hasan and Husain, his sons. This kasidah prophecies the irruption of the Turks, the sedition of the Chingiz Khan in Chin and Tamghaj, and the fall of the Muhammadan empires; and also the total annihilation of the Turks. Our author gives a Persian translation of the poem, and argues, and draws his own conclusions from what has happened, up to his own time, that the period of their total and complete annihilation was close at hand — it was to happen in 659 H. or in 661 H. — since he left Hulaku and his Mughals in Sham, a few pages back, where their destruction was to take place. There he relates that it had even then been reported to have happened, but "the wish is parent to the thought," and, like other prophecies, this one has never come about.
295.6
As the kasidah itself, and our author’s commentary thereon, which is very diffuse, are of no historical value whatever, and as the former is very similar to others omitted at the beginning of this Section, I see no occasion for burdening the translation with it.] Having recorded the prediction respecting the extinction of the power of the infidel Mughals, I desired that this Tabakat-i-Nasiri should not conclude with the sedition and calamity of the infidels; and, since one person of that race, and a Khan among them, has attained unto the felicity of conversion to the true faith and bliss of Islam, an account of his conversion shall be committed to writing, and, with it, this book shall, please God, conclude.