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تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.94

English (machine translation) 13.94

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English

13.94.1

It happened one day that a slave of Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn was denounced by his wife to the vizier, who was informed that he was committing adultery with one of the Sultan's concubines. The vizier sent witnesses, who entered the concubine's house and found the slave asleep with her in one bed, and they imprisoned the two of them. When morning came and I learned the news, I went to the council hall and sat in my usual place, saying nothing about the matter. One of the vizier's intimates came out to me and said, "The vizier says to you: do you have any business?" I said, "No!" His intention was that I should raise the matter of the concubine and the slave, since it was my custom that no case arose without my giving judgment on it; but once the change [of feeling] and the estrangement had occurred, I held back from that. After that I went home and sat in the place where I gave judgments, and there came one of the viziers, who said to me, "The vizier says to you: last night such-and-such happened in the case of the concubine and the slave, so judge them according to the sacred law." I said to him, "This is a case in which judgment should be given only in the Sultan's palace." So I went back there, the people assembled, and the concubine and the slave were brought. I ordered them both to be beaten for being alone together, released the woman, imprisoned the slave, and went home. The vizier then sent a group of his leading men to me about releasing the slave. I said to them, "Do you intercede for a Zanj slave who violates the honour of his master, when only yesterday you deposed Sultan Shihāb al-Dīn and killed him because he entered the house of one of his slaves?" At that I ordered the slave to be beaten with bamboo canes, which strike harder than whips, and had him paraded around the island with a rope around his neck.

13.94.2

They went to the vizier and told him. He was beside himself and flew into a rage; he gathered the viziers and the chief men of the army and sent for me. I came to him; it had been my custom to make obeisance to him, but I did not. I said, "Peace be upon you," and then said to those present, "Bear witness that I have removed myself from the office of qāḍī because I am unable to carry it out!" The vizier spoke to me; I went up and sat in a place facing him and answered him most harshly. The muezzin called the sunset prayer, and he went into his house saying, "And they say that I am sultan! Here I summoned him to vent my anger on him, and he vented his anger on me!" My standing over them was only on account of the Sultan of Hind, for they knew for certain of my position with him, and although they were far from him, fear of him was firmly fixed in their hearts. When he had gone into his house he sent me the deposed qāḍī, who was bold of tongue. He said to me, "Our master says to you: how could you violate his dignity before witnesses and not make obeisance to him?" I said to him, "I used to make obeisance to him when my heart was well disposed towards him; when the change occurred I gave it up. The greeting of Muslims is only the salutation of peace, and I gave it!" He sent him to me a second time, and he said, "Your aim is only to leave us; so pay your wives' dowries and the people's debts and go when you wish." At these

13.94.3

words I made obeisance to him and went home and settled the debts I owed. In those days he had given me the furnishings of a house and its equipment of copper vessels and other things; he used to give me whatever I asked, and he loved and honoured me, but his mind was changed and he was made to fear me! When he learned that I had paid off the debt and resolved to travel, he regretted what he had said and delayed giving me leave to travel. I swore the most solemn oaths that I must travel, moved my belongings to a mosque by the sea, and divorced one of my wives. One of them was pregnant, so I set her a term of nine months: if I returned within it [she would remain my wife], otherwise her affairs were in her own hands. I took with me my wife who had been the wife of Sultan Shihāb al-Dīn, to deliver her to her father on the island of Mulūk, and my first wife, whose daughter was the sister of the Sultana. I came to an agreement with the vizier ʿUmar Dahrad and the vizier Ḥasan, commander of the sea, that I would go to the land of Maʿbar, whose king was my brother-in-law, and bring troops from there so that the islands would return to his rule, and I would govern them as his deputy. I arranged a signal between us, the raising of white flags on the ships: when they saw them, they would rise up on land!! I had never entertained such a thought until the change [of feeling] occurred. The vizier was afraid of me and would say to people, "This man is bound to take the vizierate, either in my lifetime or after my death." He kept asking about my doings and would say, "I have heard that the King of Hind has sent him money with which to rise against me." He feared my departure lest I bring armies from the land of Maʿbar, so he sent to me to stay until he fitted out a ship for me, but I refused. The Sultana's sister complained to her about her mother travelling with me; she wished to prevent her but could not! When she saw her determined to travel, she said to her, "All the jewellery you have is from the funds of the port treasury; if you have witnesses that Jalāl al-Dīn gave it to you [keep it], otherwise return it!" It was jewellery of great value, and she returned it to them. The viziers and chief men came to me while I was at the mosque and asked me to return. I said to them, "Had I not sworn, I would return." They said, "Go to one of the islands so that your oath is fulfilled, and come back." I said to them, "Yes," to satisfy them.

13.94.4

On the night I set out, I went to take leave of the vizier. He embraced me and wept until his tears dropped on my feet, and he spent that night guarding the island himself, for fear that my in-laws and companions would rise against him! Then I set out and reached the island of the vizier ʿAlī. My wife was struck by severe pains and wished to go back, so I divorced her and left her there, and wrote to the vizier about it, since she was the mother of his son's wife. I divorced the one for whom I had set the term, and sent for a slave girl whom I loved. We travelled through those islands from one district to another!!

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