تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.28.8

13.28.8

twenty-four thousand in cash, a fully equipped horse and a robe of honour, and his title was made Bahāʾ al-Mulk. Then I went in and found the sultan on the roof of the palace, leaning against the throne, with the vizier Khwāja Jahān before him and the great malik Qabūla standing before him. When I greeted him, the great malik said to me: 'Make obeisance, for Khwand ʿĀlam has made you qāḍī of the royal seat, Dihlī, has fixed your salary at twelve thousand dinars a year, has assigned you villages to that amount, has ordered you twelve thousand in cash, which you will take from the treasury tomorrow, God willing, has given you a horse with its saddle and bridle, and has ordered you a miḥrābī robe' — that is one on whose front and back there is the shape of a miḥrāb. So I made obeisance, and he took my hand and led me forward to the sultan, and the sultan said to me: 'Do not think the qāḍī-ship of Dihlī one of the least of offices; it is the greatest of offices with us.' I understood what he said but could not answer it well, and the sultan understood Arabic but could not answer well in it. So I said to him: 'O Mawlānā, I follow the school of Mālik, and these people are Ḥanafīs, and I do not know the language.' He said to me: 'I have appointed Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-Multānī and Kamāl al-Dīn al-Bijnawrī to act as your deputies and consult you, and you will sign the contracts; and you are with us in the place of a son.' I said to him: 'Rather, your slave and your servant.' He said to me in the Arabic tongue: 'Rather, you are our master and the one we serve,' out of humility, graciousness and kindness on his part. Then he said to Sharaf al-Mulk Amīr Bakht: 'If what I have assigned him is not enough for him, since he spends a great deal, I will give him a hospice, if he is able to keep up the state of the poor.' And he said: 'Tell him this in Arabic.' He supposed that he knew Arabic well, but it was not so, and the sultan realised it and said to him: 'Barawīd yakjā bakhuspī wa ān ḥikāya bar ū bigūy wa tafhīm kunī tā fardā in shāʾ Allāh pīsh-i man biyāyī jawāb-i ū bigūy,' meaning: 'Go tonight and sleep in one place, and make him understand this matter; then tomorrow, God willing, come to me and inform me of what he says.'