History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37.s10.t2.8

v3.c37.s10.t2.8

His eldest son and successor, Shaikh-ul-Islam, on the other hand, was one of the noblest of characters. No such honest Qazi was ever again seen in India. On his father's death he did not touch a penny of his ill-gotten riches, but gave away his own share of his patrimony to learned men, beggars and his kinsmen. Not only did he decide all cases without the faintest suspicion of corrupt influence or bribery, but he even declined the customary presents and gifts from his nearest friends and kinsmen. He was so impressed by the lying of the witnesses who were usually produced in courts, that after hearing the two sides he seldom gave any decision of his own, on the ground that "in this age of lying witnesses, God alone knows the truth!" This over-scrupulous judge avoided as long as he could the disagreeable necessity of making up his mind on the facts of a case and tried his utmost to induce the two parties to compound their dispute privately!