حبیب السیر 2.2

2.2

Násiru-d din, with the wounded hand, struck Tughán with his sword, and was about to despatch him with another blow, when their servants getting mixed with one another, raised such clouds of dust, that Tughán, under cover of it, escaped to Kirmán; and Subuktigin made himself master of Bust. Of the many advantages which accrued to Násiru-d din from that country having fallen into his fortune, one was, that Abu-l Fath was an inhabitant of Bust, a man who had not an equal in different varieties of learning, but more especially in composition and writing. Abu-l Fath had been the secretary of Baituz, but after that individual had been expelled from Bust, he had lived in retirement. Subuktigin was informed about him, and issued a royal mandate that that learned man, who wore the garment of eloquence, should be brought before him. He adorned the stature of his fitness with robes of different sorts of kindness, and ordered that he should be appointed professor of the "belles lettres." For several days, Abu-l Fath, considering the exigency of the time, begged to be excused from undertaking this important task, but at last he became the munshi and writer of Amir Subuktigin, and continued to hold that post until the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznin. Having received some ill-treatment from Mahmud, he fled to Turkistan, and there died. When Amir Subuktigin had settled the affairs of Bust, he turned the reins of his desire towards Kusdar.