And the Resurrection, and Judgment, and other details and tradi­tions, of which the Prophet was the repository, he laid all aside. And he made his courtiers continually listen to those revilings and attacks against our pure and easy, bright and holy faith, some of which are written in the book called “The Inspiration of Holy Scripture”: and urged and excited them to his own path by speech both set and extempore:—

“The guardian gave advice to that fair one:
Do not smile on every face, as the rose through the wind.
When the advice became past endurance, that coquette
Knit her brow, and hung down her head.”

Some time before this a Brahman, named Puruk'hotam, who had written a commentary on the book Khirad-afzá, had had private interviews with him, and he had asked him to invent particular Sanskrit names for all things in existence. And at one time a Brahman, named Debí, who was one of the interpreters of the Mahá-bhárata , was pulled up the wall of the castle sitting on a chárpáí till he arrived near a balcony, which the Emperor had made his bed-chamber. Whilst thus suspended he instructed his Majesty in the secrets and legends of Hinduism, in the manner of worshipping idols, the fire, the sun and stars, and of revering the chief gods of these unbelievers, such as Brahma, Mahádev, Bishn, Kishn, Rám and Mahámá (whose existence as sons of the human race (P. 258) is a supposition, but whose non-existence is a certainty, though some in their idle belief look on them as gods, and some as angels). His Majesty, on hearing further how much the people of the country prized their institutions, began to look upon them with affection. He became especially firmly convinced of the doctrine of the trans­migration of souls, and he much approved of the saying:—“There is no religion in which the doctrine of Transmigration has not a firm hold.” And insincere flatterers composed treatises in order to establish indisputable arguments in favour of this thesis. And having in­stituted research into doctrines of the sects of the Hindú unbelievers, of whom there are an endless and innumerable host, and who possess numbers of sacred books, and yet do not belong to the Ahl-i-Kitáb,* he took so much pleasure in such discussions, that not a day passed but a new fruit of this loathsome tree ripened into existence. Some­times again it was Shaikh Táj-ud-dín whom he sent for. This Shaikh was son of Shaikh Zakariyá of Ajodhan. The principle 'Ulamá of the age call him Táj-ul-'árifín.* He had been a pupil of Rashíd Shaikh Zamán of Pánípat, author of a commentary on the Lawáiḥ, and of other excellent works, was most excellent in Çúfíism, and in the knowledge of Theology second only to Shaikh Ibn 'Arabí, and had written a comprehensive commentary on the Muzhat ul-arwáḥ. Like the preceding he was drawn up the wall of the castle in a blanket, and his Majesty listened the whole night to his Çúfic obscenities and follies. The Shaikh, since he did not in any great degree feel himself bound by the injunctions of the Law, introduced arguments concerning the Unity of Existence, such as idle Çúfís discuss, and which eventually lead to license and open heresy. He also interested the Emperor in the question as to the faith of Pharaoh (the curse of God be on him!), which is mentioned in the book Fuçúç ul-ḥikam, and as to the excellence of hope over fear, and such like questions, to which people, who naturally turn themselves from the warnings of Reason and the prohibitions of the Law, instinctively incline. Thus he became a chief cause of the weakening of the Emperor's faith in the commands of Islám. He allowed that infidels would be kept for ever in fire, but the eternity of the punishment he thought doubtful, and not actually established he also introduced many changes into the texts of the Qur'án, and (P. 259) the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him!). And the expression Insán i kámil he said referred to the Khalif of the age, explaining it in the sense of ‘holiest,’ and in­terpreting most things in a manner not wholly correct, and not a few of them quite wrong he uttered much such like nonsense. And he invented a sijdah [prostration] for him, and called it zamín-bos [kissing the ground], and looking on the reverence due to a king as an absolute religious command he called the face of the king Ka'bah i Murádát [sanctum of desires], and Qiblah i Ḥáját [goal of necessities]. And in support of these matters he brought forward some apocryphal traditions, and the practice of the disciples of some of the Shaikhs of India. And thus after a time the titles The Only One, The Absolute, The Perfect Man became commonly applied to the just, majestic, and magnanimous Emperor. Similarly other of the great Shaikhs, such as Shaikh Ya'qúb of Kashmír, who is a well-known writer, and at present the greatest authority in religious matters, mentioned some of the opinions expressed by that chief of the Qázís, Hamadání,* such as the following: that Muḥammad the Prophet of God (may God bless him and his race and grant him peace!) was a personification of the title Alhádí [the guide], and that Iblís [the devil] is a personification of the title Almuzill* [the tempter], and that both names, thus personified, have appeared in the world, and that both personifications therefore are necessary.

Mullá Muḥammad of Yazd, too, was drawn up the castle wall in the same way, and uttered unworthy, loathsome abuse against the three Khalifs, and called all the companions of the Prophet, their followers and next followers, and the saints of past ages, (may God show favour to them!), infidels and adulterers, and represented the Sunnís and the Ahl i Jamá'at* as despicable and contemptable, and pronounced every sect except the Shí'ah as erring and leading into error.

The differences among the 'Ulamá, of whom one would pronounce a thing as unlawful, and another by some process of argument would pronounce the very same thing lawful, became to his Majesty a cause of unbelief. And since he looked on each of the 'Ulamá of his own age as superior in dignity and worth to Imám i Ghazzálí and Imám i Rází, and since he knew the worthlessness of those of his own time, he inferred the unknown (P. 260) from the known and rejected also their predecessors.

Learned monks also from Europe, who are called Pádre, and have an infallible head, called Pápá, who is able to change religious ordi­nances as he may deem advisable for the moment, and to whose authority kings must submit, brought the Gospel, and advanced proofs for the Trinity. His Majesty firmly believed in the truth of the Christian religion, and wishing to spread the doctrines of Jesus, ordered Prince Murád to take a few lessons in Christianity under good auspices, and charged Abul-fazl to translate the Gospel. Instead of the usual Bismilláh-irraḥmán-irraḥín* the following line was used:—

Ai námí vey Gesu Christu,*

that is “O thou, whose name is merciful and very bountiful.” Shaikh Faizí added to this the hemistich:—

Subhánaka lá siwáka yá hú.*

And the attributes of the accursed Antichrist and his qualities were ascribed by those accursed men to his lordship The Best of the Prophets (God bless him and his family and preserve him from all Imposters!)

The accursed Bírbar tried to persuade the Emperor, that since the sun gives light to all, and ripens all grain, fruits and products of the earth, and supports the life of mankind, therefore that luminary should be the object of worship and veneration; that the face should be turned towards the rising and not towards the setting* sun, which is the west; that man should venerate fire, water, stones, and trees, and all natural objects, even down to cows and their dung; that he should adopt the sectarial mark, and Brahmanical thread. Several wisemen at Court confirmed what he said, by representing that the sun was “the greater light” of the world, and the bene­factor of its inhabitants, the patron of kings, and that kings are but his vicegerents. This was the cause of the worship paid to the sun on the Nou-róz-i-Jalálí, and of his being induced to adopt that festival for the celebration of his accession to the throne. (P. 261) Every day he used to put on clothes of that particular colour which accords with that of the regent-planet of the day. He began also, at midnight and early dawn, to mutter the spells, which Hindús taught him, for the purpose of subduing the sun to his wishes. He prohibited the slaughter of cows, and the eating of their flesh, because the Hindús devoutly worship them, and esteem their dung as pure. Instead of cows they sacrifice fine men. This reason was also assigned, that physicians have represented the flesh of cows to be productive of sundry kinds of sickness, and to be difficult of digestion.