The History of Fīrūz Shāh (ʿAfīf) 5: Fifth Mukaddama. — On the mistake made by Khwaja-i Jahan Ahmad Ayyaz in setting up the son of the late Sultan Muhammad Shah.

5

When Sultan Muhammad Shah, in the latter days of his reign, proceeded to Daulatabad (Deogir), he left three persons in (charge of) Dehli; — Malik Kabir, Katlagh Khan, and Firoz Shah, who was then Naib-i amir hajib (deputy of the lord chamberlain). The two former died before their master, and the latter was summoned to attend his person in Thatta. Dehli being thus left vacant, Khwaja-i Jahan was sent thither from Thatta as representative of the absent sovereign. With him were several other nobles, Malik Kiwámu-l Mulk the Khán-i Jahán, Malik Hasan, Malik Hisámu-d dín Uzbek, and others. It is commonly reported that when the Khwája-i Jahán heard that Sultán Muhammad Sháh was dead, and that Sultán Fíroz Sháh had been chosen by the nobles and chief men to succeed him, he set up the son of Muhammad Sháh in opposition at Dehlí, and gained the people over to his side. But this commonly received story is not true. The author here gives the true account of this transaction just as he heard it from Kishwar Khán, son of Kishlú Khán Bahrám, one of the servants of the Court.
When Sultán Muhammad Sháh died at Thatta, the chiefs of the Hazára of Khurásán, who had come to assist him, as soon as they heard of his death, plundered the chief bázár, as the author has related in his Manákib-i Sultán Muhammad Sháh. In those days the baggage belonging to the forces, which were at detached stations, was plundered, and the men of these detachments all fled to the city. Fíroz Sháh had not yet been placed on the throne. A slave named Malih Tuntún had been sent from Dehlí by Khwája-i Jahán to Sultán Muhammad, and just at this juncture, when the alarming news was coming in from the army, he started on his return to Dehlí. On his arrival he unfolded to Khwája-i Jahán the intelligence of the death of the Sultán, the attacks of the Mughals upon the army, the plundering of the bázár, and the disaffection and bloodshed among the royal forces. He then proceeded to add that Tátár Khán and the Amír-hájib Fíroz Sháh were missing, and it was not known whether they had been taken prisoners or killed by the Mughals; that many other nobles had been slain; and that such untoward events had happened in the royal army.
When the Khwája-i Jahán heard this news, he mourned for the death of Sultán Muhammad, and also for Fíroz Sháh. There was great affection between the Khwája and Fíroz Sháh, so that they had no reserve with each other, and it reached to such an extent that the Khwája called Fíroz his son. After the duties of mourning were completed, the Khwája, believing the report brought by Malíh to be correct, placed a son of Sultán Muhammad Sháh upon the throne, and thus, through adverse fate, committed a blunder. When he heard that the Lord Chamberlain was alive and well, he perceived his error. But he proceeded to collect an army, and thought his best policy was to be prepared, because in affairs of State no one believes acts like his to be mistakes and errors; and until peace is made between the two parties, neither ought to be free from apprehension of grievous consequences. So the Khwája assembled a strong force in Dehlí, and took men into his service, until his army amounted to about 20,000 horse. He distributed large sums among the people, although the treasury was then at a very low ebb, in consequence of the lavish liberality of Sultán Muhammad Sháh during his reign of twenty-seven years. When the money was exhausted, he gave away the gold and silver utensils, and when these had come to an end, the jewels. This profusion attracted crowds from all directions, but it was a curious fact that while they accepted the Khwája's bounty, their hopes and prayers were in favour of Fíroz Sháh.