They relate an extraordinary story of one of the irregular acts of the Sulān which was that he kept such strict watch over all matters involving punishment, that he used to keep four Muftīs* to whom he allotted quarters in the precincts of his own palace, and used to see that they kept to their appointed places,* so that when any­one who was arrested upon any charge, he might in the first place argue with the Muftīs about his due punishment, so far as he was able,* and had said, Be very careful that you do not fail in the slightest degree by defect in speaking that which you consider right, because if any one should be put to death wrongfully and the oversight should have been on your side, the blood of that man will be upon your head. Then if after long discussion they convicted (the prisoner), even though it were midnight* he would pass orders for his execution,* and if he himself found for convic­tion * he would refer it to another meeting, and would endeavour to find a means of upsetting their arguments,* and would come and make a speech, and when the Muftīs were at a loss for a further argument, he would put (the prisoner) to death on the instant or else release him on the spot.

They say* that one day Sulān* Muḥammad wearing his shoes went on foot into the Court of Justice* of Qāẓī Kamālu-d-Dīn Ṣadr-i-Jahān and said, The Shaikhzāda-i-Jāmī has called me a tyrant, send for him that he may substantiate his charge of tyranny against me, or, if he fails, that you may pronounce* against him the sentence of such punishment according to law as the case may require. When the Shaikhzāda was summoned he confessed (to having said it) and the Sulān enquired (what his grounds were). He replied, every one whom you punish (with death) lawfully or unlawfully, that is your prerogative, but that you should hand over his wife ^240. and children to the executioners as you do, to do what they will with them, in what religion and under what sacred law do you find this? The Sulān was silent and rose up from the Court,* and ordered that the Shaikhzāda should be bound; this order was carried out and he was put into an iron cage; then he had him carried in that very way on the journey to Daulatābād on the back of an elephant. When he returned and arrived at Dihlī, he brought him before the same Court,* and bringing him out of the cage gave orders in obedience to which the poor wretch was cut in two in his presence. From this it is clear that the Sulān was a mixture of opposites, and* for this reason his name has been handed down in tradition, aye and even in some books also as “the Bloody” not as “the Just.” There are many stories bearing upon this which I have heard, but to write or speak of them would lead me too far afield. So “Take example from it ye that are endowed with sight.”* In short* after great havoc had been wrought in the affairs of the state by the excessive tyranny and oppression of the Sulān, which he however regarded as the essence of justice, and great breaches had been which the wise and learned were powerless to repair,* by reason of his various toils and his evil designs, the disease of Phthisis* found its way to his constitution; notwithstanding this he set himself to follow up Taghī, and in the hope of exterminating him set out for the kingdom of Thatha where* Taghī had fled for safety; and* in that expedition Qarghan Nāib of the king of Khurāsān sent Altūn Bahādur with five thousand cavalry to assist the Sulān. The Sulān's illness was at that time slightly less urgent* and when he arrived at Thatha he fasted on the day of the ‘Āshūra,* which was in the very middle of the hot season, and after breaking his fast he ate some fish, whereupon his illness returned, and on the twenty-first of Muḥarram in the year 752 H. (1351 A.D.) he took his way to the next world,* the duration of his reign having been twenty-seven years.

When the Empire of justice arose with ease, like the sun.
The land of Hindustān came under his sway like that of ^241.
Khurāsān;
A fortress like that of the Haft Khwān* he built of Haft
Jūsh* which in loftiness
Would need the Nasr-i-Ṭāir* to fly to its pinnacle inaccessible
as Harumān.*
So strong that it registered a vow to last till the Resurrection-
day, but by reason of the vicissitudes of time, it became
destroyed in many places like the web of a spider.
You will find nothing upon the top of its walls but the voice
of the owl.
In its topmost garden you will see nothing by the ill-omened
raven.
It befits the duration and pride of Empire that its condition
should become in accordance with the words “God most
High is far above all that the tyrants of men say of Him.”*

And among the celebrated poets of the time of Sulān Muḥam-mad is Badar Shāshī* who wrote a Shāhnāma in his honour, of some thousand verses* and for the very reason that it is a history in poetry it is a valuable acquisition.