History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c2.s1.38

c2.s1.38

As time passed people were not slow to understand that the nocturnal meetings of Qāzī Jalāl Qāshānī, Qāzī Urdu,³⁹ and many others at Sīdī Maulā's mansion one day would surely bring about some trouble. Kotvāl Biranjtan and Hathiya Pāik even planned an open revolt and decided to assault sultān Jalāluddīn on a Friday when he went to Jāmaʻ Masjid for prayers. After finishing Jalāluddīn their plan was to declare Sīdī as Khalīfa and marry him to a daughter of sultān Nāsiruddīn. Qāzī Jalāl Qāshānī was to receive the title of Qāzī Khān and the jāgīr of Multan. Jāgīrs and offices were to be distributed among the sons of the nobility of Balban. As generally happens one of the persons present there turned approver and plainly told the sultān of all that had transpired at Sīdī's place.⁴⁰ All the conspirators were instantly arrested, beaten and fettered, and then dragged to the presence of the king.⁴¹ The more Jalāluddīn asked them to make confessions the more they professed their innocence. It was not the custom in those days to extort confession by torture,⁴² and therefore, it was decided to test their veracity by ordeal of fire. A fierce fire was lighted at Bahārpur and the king proceeded there accompanied by his nobles and the accused. All the learned and important men of the city assembled there, and the people of Bahārpur only added to the crowd. The sultan ordered that the accused should be made to sit in the fire and if they were truthful they would escape unscathed. But the 'Ulamā dissented. Ordeal by fire, argued the jurists, was contrary to reason and forbidden by law. The quality of fire was to burn, and it made no distinction between the guilty and not-guilty. Moreover Sidi and his henchmen could not be declared guilty since the accusation levelled against them by only one man had not been confirmed by witnesses.⁴⁵