تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.29: ذكر سجن الأمير غدا

Twenty days after his wedding it happened that he came to the sultan's palace and wanted to enter, but the amīr of the bardadāriyya, who are the special doorkeepers, prevented him. He would not listen to him and tried to force his way in, so the doorkeeper seized him by his dabbūqa, that is, his braid, and pushed him back. The amīr then struck him with a stick that was lying there until he drew blood! The man who was struck was one of the great amīrs; his father was known as the Qāḍī of Ghazna, and he was a descendant of Sultan Maḥmūd b. Sabuktakīn. The sultan addressed the father as 'father' and this son of his as 'brother'. He went in to the sultan with the blood on his clothes and told him what Amīr Ghadhā had done. The sultan reflected for a moment and then said to him: 'The qāḍī will judge between you.' That is a crime the sultan pardons in none of his own people, and death is inevitable for it; he bore with him only because he was a foreigner! The qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn was in the council hall, and the sultan ordered Malik Tatar to stand with the two of them before the qāḍī. Tatar was a pilgrim who had resided [in Mecca] and knew Arabic well. He attended with them and said to the amīr: 'Did you strike him? Or say no!' — meaning to teach him the plea. But Sayf al-Dīn was ignorant and foolhardy, and said: 'Yes, I struck him.' The father of the man who had been struck came and sought to make peace between them, but Sayf al-Dīn would not accept, so the qāḍī ordered

that he be imprisoned that night. By God, his wife did not send him a mattress to sleep on, nor did she ask after him, out of fear of the sultan, and his companions were afraid and deposited their property [with others]! I wanted to visit him in prison, but one of the amīrs met me, understood that I meant to visit him, and said to me:

'Or have you forgotten?' He reminded me of an incident that befell me on visiting Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn, son of the Shaykh of Jām, and how the sultan had wanted to kill me for it, as will be related; so I turned back and did not visit him! Amīr Ghadhā was released from his prison at noon. The sultan showed him neglect, abandoned the governorship he had ordered for him, and wanted to banish him! The sultan had a brother-in-law called Mughīth son of Malik al-Mulūk, and the sultan's sister used to complain of him to her brother until she died; her slave-girls stated that she had died because of his ill-treatment of her. There was a blemish in his lineage, so the sultan wrote in his own hand: 'Let the foundling be expelled,' meaning him, and then wrote: 'And let the mūsh-khwār be expelled,' meaning 'eater of mice'! By this he meant Amīr Ghadhā, because the desert Arabs eat the jerboa, which resembles a mouse! He ordered the two of them to be sent out. The officers came to him to take him out; he wanted to go into his house and bid farewell to his family, but the officers came one after another demanding him, so he went out weeping! At that time I went to the sultan's palace and spent the night there. One of the amīrs asked me why I was staying the night, and I told him: 'I have come to speak on behalf of Amīr Sayf al-Dīn so that he may be brought back and not banished.' He said: 'That will not happen.' I said to him: 'By God, I will spend the nights in the sultan's palace, even if it comes to a hundred nights, until he is brought back.' This reached the sultan, who ordered him to be brought back and ordered him to serve Amīr Malik Qabūla al-Lāhūrī. He remained four years in his service, riding when he rode and travelling when he travelled, until he was disciplined and refined! Then the sultan restored him to his former position, granted him lands as a fief, put him in command of troops and raised his rank.