تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.28.4

13.28.4

or teaching, or the office of shaykh, I shall give it to him!" Everyone was silent, because they wanted to acquire wealth and go back to their countries. Amīr Bakht son of al-Sayyid Tāj al-Dīn, mentioned above, spoke and said: "The vizierate is my inheritance and secretaryship is my occupation; anything else I do not know." Hibat Allāh b. al-Falakī spoke and said the same. Khudhāwandzāda said to me in Arabic: "What do you say, my lord (sayyidī)?" — the people of that country address an Arab only as "sayyid", and the Sultan addresses him so, out of respect for the Arabs. I said to him: "The vizierate and secretaryship are not my occupation; the judgeship and the office of shaykh are my occupation and that of my forefathers; and as for command, you know that the Persians embraced Islam only by the swords of the Arabs!" When this reached the Sultan, my words pleased him. The Sultan was in the Hazār Usṭūn eating a meal, and he sent for us, and we ate in his presence while he ate. Then we went out of the Hazār Usṭūn and my companions sat down, but I left because of a boil that prevented me from sitting. The Sultan summoned us a second time; my companions attended and made my excuses. I came after the afternoon prayer and prayed the sunset and night prayers in the council hall.