The Nāṣirī Generations 47.1

47.1

Sultan Mas’ud, the Martyr, bore the title of Nasir-ud-Din U’llah, and his surname was Abu Mas’ud. His birth, and that of his brother, Sultan Muhammad, took place on the same day. Sultan Mas’ud assumed the sovereignty in the year 432 H. He was generous and munificent to so great a degree that they called him a second Khalifah ’Ali — may God reward him ! — and in valour and prowess he was a second Rustam. No man could lift his mace with one hand from the ground; and no iron target used to stay his arrow. His father, the Sultan, used to be envious of him, and constantly treated him with harshness and severity, to such degree that he preferred a request to the court of Baghdad, that the name and title of Muhammad should have precedence in the Khutbah over those of his brother Mas’ud.