تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.30: ذكر طلب الغرماء مالهم قبلي ومدحي للسلطان وأمره بخلاص ديني وتوقف ذلك مدة.

13.30.1

وكنت حسبما ذكرته، قد استدنت من التجار مالا انفقته في طريقي وما صنعت به الهدية للسلطان، وما انفقته في إقامتي فلما أرادوا السفر إلى بلادهم ألحوا علي في طلب ديونهم فمدحت السلطان بقصيدة طويلة أولها:

As I have mentioned, I had borrowed money from the merchants, which I spent on my journey, on what I prepared as a gift for the Sultan, and on my stay. When they wished to travel back to their own countries, they pressed me hard for their debts, so I praised the Sultan in a long qaṣīda that begins:

When they prepared to return to their country, they importuned me to pay my debts, so I wrote a long poem in praise of the sultan and presented it to him. He received it with pleasure, and I was congratulated by everyone. After waiting for some time I wrote a petition and transmitted it to the sultan, who ordered the wazir to pay my debts. The wazir delayed for some days, and meanwhile received orders to proceed to Dawlat Abad. During this time the sultan had gone out hunting; the wazir set off, and I received nothing at all until some time later. When my creditors were ready to travel I said to them “ When I go to the palace, claim your debt from me according to the custom in this country,” for I knew that when the sultan learned of that he would pay them. Their custom is this; the creditor awaits the debtor at the door of the palace, and when the debtor is on the point of entering he says to him “ O enemy of the sultan, by the head of the sultan you shall not enter until you have paid me.” The debtor may not leave the place after that until he pays him or obtains a delay from him. They did this, and the sultan sent a chamberlain to ask the merchants the amount of the debt. They replied “ Fifty-five thousand dinars.” The sultan then sent the chamberlain to say to them “ The Master of the World says to you ‘ The money is in my possession, and I shall give you justice;

13.30.2

إليك أمير المؤمنين المبجلا ... أتينا نجد السير نحوك في الفلا

To you, revered Commander of the Faithful, / we have come, hastening our journey toward you across the desert.

13.30.3

فجئت محلا من علائك زائرا ... ومغناك كهف للزيارة أهلا

I have come as a visitor to a place of your exaltedness, / and your abode is a refuge worthy of visiting.

13.30.4

فلو ان فوق الشمس للمجد رتبة ... لكنت لأعلاها إماما مؤهلا

Were there a rank of glory above the sun, / you would be a leader fit for its highest point.

13.30.5

فانت الإمام الماجد الا وحد الذي ... سجاياه حتما أن يقول ويفعلا!

For you are the glorious, peerless imam / whose nature is bound to speak and to act!

13.30.6

ولي حاجة من فيض جودك أرتجي ... قضاها، وقصدي عند مجدك سهلا

I have a need that I hope your overflowing generosity / will fulfil, and my aim, before your glory, is easy.

13.30.7

أأذكرها أم قد كفاني حياؤكم ... فان حياكم ذكره كان أجملا!

Shall I mention it, or has your modesty spared me? / For to mention your modesty would be more fitting!

13.30.8

فعجل لمن وافى محلك زائرا ... قضا دينه، إن الغريم تعجلا!!

So hasten, for one who has come as a visitor to your abode, / the payment of his debt, for the creditor is in a hurry!!

13.30.9

فقدمتها بين يديه، وهو قاعد على كرسي، فجعلها على ركبته، وأمسك طرفها بيده وطرفها الثاني بيدي وكنت إذا أكملت بيتا منها أقول لقاضي القضاة كمال الدين الغزنوي:

I presented it before him while he was seated on a chair; he placed it on his knee and held one end of it in his hand and the other end in mine. Whenever I finished a verse of it I would say to the chief qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn al-Ghaznawī:

13.30.10

بين معناه لخوند عالم! فيبينه ويعجب السلطان، وهم يحبون الشعر العربي، فلما بلغت إلى قولي: فعجل لمن وافى، البيت قال: مرحمة، ومعناه ترحمت عليك، فأخذ الحجاب حينئذ بيدي ليذهبوا بي إلى موقفهم، وأخدم على العادة، فقال السلطان: اتركوه حتى يكملها، فاكملتها وخدمت وهنأني الناس بذلك واقمت مدة وكتبت رفعا، وهم يسمونه عرض داشت، فدفعته إلى قطب الملك صاحب السند، فدفعه للسلطان، فقال له: امض إلى خواجة جهان، فقل له يعطي دينه، فمضى إليه وأعلمه، فقال: نعم، وأبطأ ذلك أياما، وأمره السلطان في خلالها بالسفر إلى دولة آباد، وفي أثناء ذلك خرج السلطان إلى الصيد وسافر الوزير فلم آخذ شيئا منها الا بعد مدة، والسبب الذي توقف به عطاؤها أذكره مستوفى وهو انه لما عزم الذين كان لهم علي الدين على السفر، قلت لهم: إذا أنا أتيت دار السلطان فدرهوني على العادة في تلك البلاد، لعلمي أن السلطان متى يعلم بذلك خلصهم، وعادتهم أنه متى كان لأحد دين على رجل من ذوي العناية وأعوزه خلاصه وقف له بباب دار السلطان، فإذا أراد الدخول قال له:

"Explain its meaning to Khwand ʿĀlam!" He would explain it, and the Sultan would be pleased, for they love Arabic poetry. When I reached my words "So hasten, for one who has come," the verse, he said: "Marḥamat," meaning "I have taken pity on you." Then the chamberlains took me by the hand to lead me to their standing place, so that I might make obeisance according to custom, but the Sultan said: "Leave him until he finishes it." So I finished it and made obeisance, and people congratulated me on it. I waited some time and wrote a petition, which they call ʿarḍ dāsht, and handed it to Quṭb al-Mulk, the lord of Sind, who handed it to the Sultan. He said to him: "Go to Khwāja Jahān and tell him to pay his debt." He went to him and informed him, and he said: "Yes," but it was delayed for some days, during which the Sultan ordered him to travel to Dawlat Ābād. Meanwhile the Sultan went out hunting and the vizier departed, so I received nothing of it until after some time. The reason its payment was held up I shall relate in full. It was this: when those to whom I owed the debt resolved to travel, I said to them: "When I come to the Sultan's palace, make a claim of 'darōhī' against me, according to the custom of that country," since I knew that the Sultan, once he learned of it, would pay them. Their custom is that when someone has a debt owed him by a man enjoying favour and cannot obtain its payment, he stands in his way at the gate of the Sultan's palace, and when the man wishes to enter he says to him:

13.30.11

دروهي السلطان ، وحق رأس السلطان، ما تدخل حتى تخلصني، فلا يمكنه أن يبرح من مكانه حتى يخلصه أو يرغب إليه في تأخيره! فاتفق يوما أن خرج السلطان إلى زيارة قبر أبيه ونزل بقصر هنالك، فقلت لهم: هذا وقتكم، فلما اردت الدخول وقفوا لي بباب القصر، فقالوا لي: دروهي السلطان، ما تدخل حتى تخلصنا! وكتب كتاب الباب بذلك إلى السلطان فخرج حاجب قصة، شمس الدين وكان من كبار الفقهاء فسألهم: لأي شيء درهتموه؟ فقالوا: لنا عليه الدين، فرجع إلى السلطان فأعلمه بذلك، فقال له: اسألهم كم مبلغ الدين؟ فسألهم، فقالوا له خمسة وخمسون ألف

"Darōhī of the Sultan! By the head of the Sultan, you shall not enter until you pay me!" Then he cannot leave his place until he pays him or begs him for a delay! It happened one day that the Sultan went out to visit his father's tomb and stopped at a palace there. I said to them: "This is your moment." When I wanted to enter, they stood in my way at the palace gate and said to me: "Darōhī of the Sultan! You shall not enter until you pay us!" The gate clerks wrote about this to the Sultan, and the chamberlain of petitions, Shams al-Dīn, who was one of the leading jurists, came out and asked them: "For what reason have you made a claim of darōhī against him?" They said: "He owes us a debt." He went back to the Sultan and informed him, and he said to him: "Ask them how much the debt amounts to." He asked them and they told him: fifty-five thousand

13.30.12

دينار، فعاد إليه فأعلمه فامره أن يعود إليهم، ويقول لهم: إن خوند عالم يقول لكم: المال عندي وأنا أنصفكم منه فلا تطلبوه به! وأمر عماد الدين السمناني وخذاوند زادة غياث الدين أن يقعدوا بهزار أسطون، ويأتي أهل الدين بعقودهم وينظروا إليها ويتحققوها، ففعلا ذلك، وأتى الغرماء بعقودهم، فدخلا إلى السلطان وأعلماه بثبوت العقود فضحك، وقال ممازحا: أنا أعلم أنه قاض جهز شغله فيها! ثم أمر خذاوند زادة أن يعطيني ذلك من الخزانة فطمع في الرشوة على ذلك وامتنع أن يكتب خط خرد، فبعثت إليه مائتي تنكة، فردها ولم يأخذها، وقال لي عنه بعض خدامه: إنه طلب خمسمائة تنكة فامتنعت من ذلك، وأعلمت عميد الملك بن عماد الدين السمناني بذلك، فأعلم به أباه وعلمه الوزير وكانت بينه وبين خذاوند زادة عداوة، فأعلم السلطان بذلك وذكر له كثيرا من أفعال خذاوند زادة فغير خاطر السلطان عليه، فأمر بحبسه في المدينة وقال: لأي شيء أعطاه فلان ما أعطاه، ووقفوا ذلك حتى يعلم هل يعطي خذاوند زادة شيئا اذا منعته أو يمنعه إذا أعطيته؟! فبهذا السبب توقف عطاء ديني.

dinars. He returned to him and informed him, and he ordered him to go back to them and tell them: "Khwand ʿĀlam says to you: the money is with me and I will see you are paid in full from it, so do not press him for it!" He ordered ʿImād al-Dīn al-Simnānī and Khudhāwandzāda Ghiyāth al-Dīn to sit in the Hazār Usṭūn, and the creditors to bring their contracts so that they might examine and verify them. The two did so; the creditors brought their contracts, and the two went in to the Sultan and informed him that the contracts were established. He laughed and said jokingly: "I know he is a qāḍī; he has fixed his business in them!" Then he ordered Khudhāwandzāda to give me that sum from the treasury, but he coveted a bribe for it and refused to write the khaṭṭ-i khurd. I sent him two hundred tankas, but he returned them and would not take them, and one of his servants told me on his behalf that he wanted five hundred tankas. I refused this, and informed ʿAmīd al-Mulk, son of ʿImād al-Dīn al-Simnānī, of it; he informed his father, and the vizier learned of it. There was enmity between him and Khudhāwandzāda, so he informed the Sultan and told him of many of Khudhāwandzāda's doings, which turned the Sultan's mind against him. He ordered him confined in the city and said: "For what reason did so-and-so give him what he gave him?" and they suspended the matter until it should be known whether Khudhāwandzāda would give anything if I withheld it, or withhold it if I gave it?! For this reason the payment of my debt was held up.

do not demand it of him.’ ” He then commanded two officers to sit in the Hall of the Thousand Columns to examine and verify the creditors’ documents. They found them in order and informed the sultan, who laughed and said “ I know he is a qadi and has seen to his business with them.” He then commanded the treasurer to pay the sum, but the treasurer greedily demanded a bribe for doing so and would not write the order. I sent him two hundred tangahs, but he returned them. One of his servants told me from him that he wanted five hundred tangahs and I refused to pay it. The matter came to the ears of the sultan, who in great displeasure ordered payment to be suspended until the treasurer’s conduct was investigated. Later on, when the sultan went out to hunt, I went out along with him at once, as I had already prepared all that is required according to the habits of the Indians, and had hired bearers, grooms, valets, and runners. One day when the sultan was in his tent he enquired who were outside. Nasir ad-Din, one of his courtiers, said “ So-and-so, the Moroccan, who is very upset.” “ Why so ?” asked the sultan, and he replied “ Because of his debt, since his creditors are pressing for payment. The Master of the World had commanded the wazir to pay it, but he left before doing so.