Storia do Mogor 340.1
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 340.1
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340.1.1
The inquiring reader will have already seen in various parts of my work that I have spoken of the chief minister and chancellor called Cazimir (Qãzí Mir). He left Shãh 'Alam because that prince declined to listen to his good advice. He was the most learned man in the empire, always occupied in writings which were approved by the other learned men of that time. He composed a new work drawn from the Old Testament and the Evangelists. It was composed with his special acuteness of mind, forming a volume of considerable size. When it was finished, my friend Qãzí Mīr prayed for leave from Aurangzeb to travel to Mecca, since no one can be refused this, as it is a pilgrimage. On his arrival there he showed his book to the principal learned man of the Mahomedan faith, who is called the Xerif (Sharif). He collected all the most famous men of learning for the examination of Qãzí Mīr's opinions, and to decide whether it was right to lay them before the public. After some months spent in examination, all of them with one accord said openly that what Qãzí Mīr had written was correct. The verdict was attested by the principal men — the Sharif and the other learned men of Mecca — with their seals and signatures.
340.1.2
He set out on his return to India, and on arriving at court he laid his book before his majesty. The principal doctors of the law within the empire, four hundred of them, were summoned, and received orders to read and consider the book, examining it most minutely. After the lapse of some months they returned the book, saying that on the whole it set forth the true faith, and its precepts might rightly be followed. Aurangzeb, as a keen Mahomedan, was alarmed, and confiscated his (Qãzí Mīr's) property, and also caused the book to be burnt in his presence. He directed the chief qãzí to pronounce a sentence of beheadal on the author [239b], Qāzī Mīr. The chief qāzī replied that he found in him no fault requiring death, and if under royal compulsion he sent an order of execution, it would be a manifest injustice. After listening to these arguments, the king directed that Qāzī Mīr should be removed as a prisoner to the fortress of Aser (Asīr), of which I have already spoken in connection with the conquests of the great emperor Akbar, as you will have already seen in my First Part (I. 75).
340.1.3
When two years had elapsed Aurangzeb ordered Qāzī Mīr to be shut up in a palanquin and brought to court, and instructed the principal men at the court to use persuasion and induce him to disavow what he had written. But he was fixed and rooted in his opinions, and declined to vary them. Finding this the case, the king had recourse once more to the chief qāzī, and with wheedling words besought him to find some way of putting the man to death. The qāzī declined. Next the king had the prisoner brought into his presence, and said : 'If you will disavow and show penitence for what you have done, your offences will be pardoned.' Qāzī Mīr replied ardently that he meant to give the truth to the public, by whom it was ignored. 'Your majesty must repent and ask God's pardon for having given the true faith to the flames, and for not following its commands. Nay, for acting contrary to it, seizing your father, slaying your brothers, usurping the dominions of others, and unjustly ruining many princes and vassals.' At this point Aurangzeb interrupted by saying that in the Quran Muhammad enjoined the defeat and destruction of the infidel. Qāzī Mīr retorted: 'Muhammad acted as it pleased him; I follow what God ordains.' Upon hearing this, the king ordered him to be taken back to the same fortress, giving secret directions that as soon as he had arrived his life should be taken. This case happened in the year 1690.
340.1.4
Years ago I might have written what I have now said, but I did not; I waited until I had assured myself thoroughly in the [240a] matter, it being of some importance. Finally, I became assured that it was true, from its being known as such all over the court and throughout the empire. To this day I have no want of friends at the court and in various parts of the empire, who send me information of all that happens. In addition there are the news-letters received by the governors and principal officials at least once a month. By these men I obtain reports of all that takes place, keeping up friendship with them effectually, as it ought to be maintained. A similar case occurred in the city of Ahmadãbãd during the year 1699, when it was ruled over by Prince A'zam Tãrã. There was a youth, the son of a learned man who dwelt in the town of Xalcot (Shyãlkot), situated in the province of Lãhor. He forsook his father's house, and, abandoning his riches, took the garb of a poor ascetic; he wandered hither and thither, despising the great things of this world, and accepting nothing from anybody.
340.1.5
His business was to dispute with learned men and doctors of theology, and point out the road assigned to us by the Messiah. He made attacks on the Quran, as if already vexed with life and longing to sacrifice himself. He soon obtained his desires. He visited the principal qâzî when seated in public audience, and said: 'All men assert you to be the most learned man in this province; for this cause I have come to find if it is true.' Then began various disputations, the youth extolling the Gospel and decrying what Muhammad had enjoined. At this point the qãzi flew into a great passion, and along with all the other doctors present fell upon the young man, and endeavoured to force him into a disavowal. The beating they gave him produced no effect, so they dragged him away to prison. Every day he was sent for to be catechized; the questions were accompanied with many promises and honied words. Since there was no result, the beating was resumed. This martyrdom lasted for forty days. An appeal to A'zam Tãrã was equally ineffective, and finding all efforts fruitless, they cut off the young man's head, and threw his body on to a dung-heap outside the city, to be devoured by dogs and wolves. As it appears to me, this man must have been some disciple of Qāsim Mir.
340.1.6
[240b] A fine instance happened a few years ago in the city of Isfahan in connection with the great men of the Mahomedan religion. In that city there was a Capuchin Father, of whom I fancy I have already spoken; his name was Friar Raphael, a man much esteemed by the king and all the court, who delighted in his conversation, he being both learned and sensible. One day that he was in conversation with the greatest doctors of the court, they said to him, 'You are a sensible man; how can you say that the prophet Masih' (for so they style Him) 'is God?' The judicious Capuchin saw that an answer to this question required time if he were to deal with it satisfactorily, and expound the truth properly in a matter of such importance. Next day the friar presented himself, when there was a still greater crowd of learned men than before. He was received courteously, and all were anxious to hear the promised answer. They interrogated him upon the subject. His reply was that in due time he would state his opinion. Meanwhile, it was more urgent to consider a business of some importance to him, and that completed, he would talk of the other.
340.1.7
So saying, he produced a document which he handed to the leading man then present, making a claim for justice to be done. He demanded payment of a large sum of money, as detailed in that paper. As he spoke he indicated as the debtor one of the persons present. This man repudiated the debt by saying he had never had any dealings with him, and thus could owe nothing. Then all of the onlookers began to examine the acknowledgment, and saw that it was written by the self-same father, witnessed by him, and signed by him. Upon discovering these facts, they all said that in no court of justice [243a], and by no system of law, could such a document be valid.
340.1.8
The father replied : ' If this acknowledgment is held not to be valid, from being signed and witnessed in my handwriting, credit being refused to it in the absence of persons who certify the debt, how can faith be accorded to the Quran of Muhammad ? It was given to the world without any witnesses to certify that it was true and holy doctrine. In that case, why is not my document accepted ? Posing for solution the above question as to how the Messiah is the Son of God and the only true God, I reply that the answer is to be obtained from the whole of the Prophets and from different parts of the Sacred Writings, both of the Old Testament, where the promises can be seen, and of the New, where is found the fulfilment of those promises by the coming of that same Messiah, certified and testified to by the mouth of many apostles — men who were illuminated by the Divine Wisdom.'