He was a learned man, argumentative and disputatious, and in his knowledge of first principles and deductions therefrom he had no equal in his time. The power of his memory* was such that in the midst of an argument when there was any necessity for an appeal to any authority, he would seem to recite from memory whole pages and would say, “This is what is written in such and such a book, look it up and see,” and would thus confute his adversary, but afterwards, when the book was searched, no trace of the pretended quotation would be found. In this manner he one day confuted, in the imperial assembly, Maulānā Iliyās the astrologer, who had been the tutor of the Emperor Muḥammad Humāyūn, and had great skill and readiness in the preparation of astronomical tables, so that the Maulānā, disgusted with his opposition, set out from Court, and travelling through the par­gana of Mohān* in the Sarkār of Lakhnau, which was his jāgīr, he gave up his military appointment in the imperial service, and ¹³² proceeded in haste to Gujarāt, and thence to Makkah the glorious, and thence went to the land of 'Irāq and Āẕarbāījān, and Ardabīl, which was his well-loved native land, and there he died. The story of his dealings with Shāh Ismā‘īl II is well known, and is briefly as follows: When Maulānā Iliyās arrived at Ardabīl he wrote a letter to Shāh Ismā‘īl, who had been confined by Shāh ahmāsp in the fortress of Qahqaha, saying, “From the aspects of the planets I have ascertained that in such a month you will obtain your freedom, and from the dungeon will attain to the highest rank, and will sit on the throne of the kingdom. Just as he had prophesied something was put into Shāh ahmāsp's cup after a short space of time, and the affairs of Irāq fell into great confusion, and the amīrs and ministers of state summoned Shāh Ismā‘īl from his prison, by way of Ardabīl, with a view of setting him on the throne. Now the maulavī had said in his letter, “On your way from Qahqaha, when you reach Ardabīl it is necessary that you pay me a visit so that certain agreements and settle­ments may be made between us in your presence, and certain rites of exorcism may be performed while we are face to face.” It so happened that Shāh Ismā‘īl was in great haste and did not visit the maulavī's house, but after leaving Ardabīl he turned back and went to the maulavī's house with the object of waiting upon him. The maulavī shut the door of his mansion and refused to grant him an interview. After waiting a long time the king was com­pelled to break the door, and, entering the maulavī's room by force, waited upon him; but the maulavī covered his face, and, turning round, sat facing the wall, and said, “The appointed hour passed, and you did not come; why should I now see your face?” Shāh Ismā‘īl turned away disappointed, and although he became king, the nobles of the realm, a year after he had ascended the throne, conspired to prompt his sister, Parījān Khānum, to attempt his life. He became cognizant of the plot, but before he could do anything to baffle it Parījān Khānum suffocated him and left his ¹³³ room, closing the door behind her on his corpse.