تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.29.1

12.29.1

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