تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 6.6.1

6.6.1

Afterwards the sultan used to summon us to eat in his presence and would enquire how we fared and address us most affably. He assigned us pensions, giving me twelve thousand dinars a year, and added two villages to the three he had already commanded for me. One day he sent the wazir and the governor of Sind to us to say, “The Master of the World says ‘Whoever amongst you is capable of undertaking the function of wazir or secretary or commander or judge or professor or shaykh, I shall appoint to that office.’” Everyone was silent at first, for what they were wanting was to gain riches and return to their countries. After some of the others had spoken the wazir said to me in Arabic “What do you say?” I replied “Wazirships and secretaryships are not my business, but as to qadis and shaykhs, that is my occupation, and the occupation of my fathers before me.” The sultan was pleased with what I had said, and I was summoned to the palace to do homage on appointment as qadi of the Malikite rite at Delhi. It happens often that there is a long delay in the payment of the money gifts of the sultan (though they are always paid in the end) and I waited six months before receiving the twelve thousand dinars promised to me. They have a custom also of deducing a tenth from all sums given by the sultan. Now, as I have related, I had borrowed from the merchants for the expenses of my journey and my present to the sultan, as well as for my residence at Delhi.