It was mentioned above (p. 177) that Mír Sharíf spread in India doctrines which resembled those of Mahmúd of Basakhwán.* The curious sect which Mahmúd founded, goes by the name of Mahmúdiyah, or Wáhidiyah, or Nuqṭawiyah, or Umaná.* Mahmúd called himself Shakhç i Wáhid, or ‘the individual,’ and professed to be the Imám Mahdí, whose appearance on earth ushers in the end of the world. According to the Calcutta edition of the Dabistán and Shea's Translation, he lived about 600 A. H.; but the MSS. of the Maásir have A. H. 800, which also agrees with Badáoní's statement that Mahmúd lived at the time of Timur. The sect found numerous adherents in I´rán, but was extinguished by Sháh 'Abbás i Mází,* who killed them or drove them into exile.
Mahmúd had forced into his service a passage from the Qorán (Sur. XVII., 81), 'asá an yab'asaka rabbuka maqáman mahmúdan, ‘Peradventure thy Lord will raise thee to an honorable (mahmúd) station.’ He maintained that the human body (jasad) had since its creation been advancing in purity, and that on its reaching a higher degree of perfection, ‘Mahmúd’ would arise, as indicated in the passage from the Qorán, and with his appearance the dispensation of Muhammad would come to an end. He taught the transmigration of souls, and said that the beginning of every thing was the nuqṭah i khák, or earth-atom, from which the vegetables, and from these the animals, arose. The term nuqṭah i khák has given rise to their name Nuqṭawís. For other of Mahmúd's tenets, vide Shea's translation of the Dabistán, vol. III., pp. 12 to 26.
Some of Mahmúd's doctrines must have been of interest to Akbar, whose leanings towards the ‘man of the millennium,’ transmigration of souls, &c., have been mentioned above, and Mír Sharíf i A´mulí could not have done better than propounding the same doctrine at Court, and pointing to Akbar as the restorer of the millennium.
The author of the 'A´lam A´rái Sikandarí, as the Maásir says, mentions Mír Sharíf i A´mulí under the following circumstances. In 1002, the 7th year of Sháh 'Abbás i Mází's reign, the astrologers of the age predicted, in consequence of certain very inauspicious conjunctions, the death of a great king, and as this prediction was universally referred to Sháh 'Abbás, Jaláluddín Muhammad of Tabríz, who was looked upon as the greatest astronomer of the period, proposed that Sháh 'Abbás should lay aside royalty for the two or three days the dreaded conjunction was expected to last, and that a criminal who had been sentenced to death, should sit on the throne. This extraordinary expedient was everywhere approved of; the criminals threw lots, and Yúsuf the quiver-maker, who belonged to the heretical followers of Darwísh Khusrau of Qazwín, was raised to the throne. He reigned for three days, and was then killed. Soon after, Darwísh Khusrau was hanged. His ancestors had been well-diggers, but he was a dervish, and though he had been wise enough never to speak of his Nuqṭawiyah belief, he was known as one of the sect, and was accordingly killed. So also Mír Sayyid Ahmad of Káshán, whom 'Abbás killed with his own sword. Among his papers treatises were found on the Nuqṭah doctrine, and also a letter addressed to him by Abulfazl in Akbar's name. Mír Sharíf i A´mulí, a good poet and the head of the sect, heard of these persecutions, and fled from Astrábád to Hindústán.
Regarding the last sentence, the author of the Maásir remarks that it involves an anachronism, for Mír Sharíf was in India in 984, when Akbar was at Dípálpúr in Málwah; and besides, Sharíf i A´mulí was mentioned in no Tazkirah as a poet.
167. Hasan Beg [Kha´n i Badakhshi´] Shaikh 'Umari´.*
Hasan Beg was a good soldier. In the 34th year, Akbar, after his stay in Kashmír, marched to Zábulistán, and passed through the district of Pak'halí, ‘which is 35 kos long and 25 broad, and lies west of Kashmír. In Pak'halí, Sulṭán Husain Khán i Pak'halíwál (No. 301) paid his respects. This Zamíndár belonged to the descendants of the Qárlyghs (<Arabic>), whom Timur on his return from India to Túrán had left in Pak'halí as garrison. After following Akbar's Court for a few days, Sulṭán Husain Khán withdrew without leave, and the emperor ordered Hasan Beg to occupy Pak'halí (Akbarnámah III, 591, 598). He speedily subdued the district. In the 35th year, during Hasan Beg's temporary absence at Court, Sulṭán Husain Khán again rebelled, assumed the title of Sulṭán Naçíruddín, and drove away Hasan Beg's men. But soon after, he had again to submit to Hasan Beg. In the 46th year, Hasan was made a Commander of Two Thousand and Five Hundred for his services in Bangash, and was put, towards the end of Akbar's reign, in charge of Kábul, receiving Fort Rohtás* (in the Panjab) as jágír.
In the beginning of Jahángír's reign, he was called from Kábul to Court. On his way, at Mat'hurá (Muttra), Hasan Beg met Prince Khusrau, who had fled from A´grah on Sunday, the 8th Zí Hajjah, 1014.* From distrust as to the motives of the emperor which led to his recall from Kábul, or “from the innate wickedness of Badakhshís,” he joined the Prince with his three hundred Badakhshí troopers, received the title of Khán Bábá, and got the management of all affairs. Another officer who attached himself to Khusrau, was 'Abdurrahím, Díwán of Láhor. After the defeat near Bhairoṉwál on the Biáh,* the Afgháns who were with the Prince, advised him to retreat to the Eastern provinces of the empire; but Hasan Beg proposed to march to Kábul, which, he said, had always been the starting-place of the conquerors of India; he had, moreover, four lacs of rupees in Rohtás, which were at the Prince's service. Hasan Beg's counsel was ultimately adopted. But before he could reach Rohtás, Khusrau was captured on the Chanáb. On the 3rd Çafar 1015, the Prince, Hasan Beg, and 'Abdurrahím, were taken before Jahángír in the Bágh i Mírzá Kámrán, a villa near Láhor, Khusrau himself, according to Chingiz's law (batorah i Chingízí), with his hands tied and fetters on his feet. Hasan Beg after making a useless attempt to incriminate others (p. 451), was put into a cow-hide, and 'Abdurrahím into a donkey's skin, and in this state they were tied to donkeys, and carried through the bazars. ‘As cow-hides get sooner dry than donkey-skins,’ Hasan died after a few hours from suffocation; but 'Abdurrahím was after 24 hours still alive, and received, at the request of several courtiers, free pardon.* The other accomplices and the troopers of Khusrau were impaled; their corpses were arranged in a double row along the road which leads from the Bágh i Mírzá Kámrán to the Fort of Láhor, and Khusrau, seated on a sorry elephant, was led along that way. People had been posted at short intervals, and pointing to the corpses, kept calling out to Khusrau, “Behold, your friends, your servants, do you homage.”
Hasan Beg was mentioned above on p. 346. His son Isfandiyár Khán, was under Sháhjahán, a commander of 1500. He served in Bengal, and died in the 16th year of Sháhjahán's reign (Pádisháhn. I., 476; I., b., 304) The 'A´rif Beg i Shaikh 'Umarí mentioned in the Pádisháhn. (I., b., 319) appears to be a relation of his.
168. Sheroyah Kha´n, son of Sher Afkan Khán.
Sher Afkan Khán was the son of Qúch Beg. Qúch Beg served under Humáyún, and was killed in the successful attempt made by several grandees to save Maryam Makání, Akbar's mother, after the fatal battle of Chausá (vide No. 96, p. 410). When Humáyún fled to Persia, Sher Afkan remained with Mírzá Kámrán in Kábul; but he joined the emperor on his return from I´rán, and was made governor of Qalát. Later he received Zahák-Bámiyán as jágír, but went again over to Kámrán. Humáyún, soon after, captured and killed him.