Maulānā Shaikh Ḥusain was another; he is mentioned here, although his first appearance and his promotion were under Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā, because he was living still under Sl. ḤusainFol. 178. Mīrzā. Being well-versed in the sciences of philosophy, logic and rhetoric, he was able to find much meaning in a few words and to bring it out opportunely in conversation. Being very intimate and influential with Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā, he took part in all momentous affairs of the Mīrzā’s dominions; there was no better muḥtasib[1126]; this will have been why he was so much trusted. Because he had been an intimate of that Mīrzā, the incomparable man was treated with insult in Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā’s time.

Mullā-zāda Mullā ‘Us̤mān was another. He was a native of Chīrkh, in the Luhūgur tūmān of the tūmān of Kābul[1127] and was called the Born Mullā (Mullā-zāda) because in Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā’s time he used to give lessons when 14 years old. He went to Herī on his way from Samarkand to make the circuit of the ka‘ba, was there stopped, and made to remain by Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā. He was very learned, the most so of his time. People say he was nearing the rank of Ijtihād[1128] but he did not reach it. It is said of him that he once asked, “How should a person forget a thing heard?” A strong memory he must have had!

Mīr Jamālu’d-dīn the Traditionalist[1129] was another. He had no equal in Khurāsān for knowledge of the Muḥammadan Traditions. He was advanced in years and is still alive (934 to 937 AH.).

Mīr Murtāẓ was another. He was well-versed in the sciences Fol. 178b.of philosophy and metaphysics; he was called murtāẓ (ascetic) because he fasted a great deal. He was madly fond of chess, so much so that if he had met two players, he would hold one by the skirt while he played his game out with the other, as much as to say, “Don’t go!”

Mīr Mas‘ūd of Sherwān was another.[1130]

Mīr ‘Abdu’l-ghafūr of Lār was another. Disciple and pupil both of Maulānā ‘Abdu’r-raḥmān Jāmī, he had read aloud most of the Mullā’s poems (mas̤nawī) in his presence, and wrote a plain exposition of the Nafaḥāt.[1131] He had good acquaintance with the exoteric sciences, and in the esoteric ones also was very successful. He was a curiously casual and unceremonious person; no person styled Mullā by any-one soever was debarred from submitting a (Qorān) chapter to him for exposition; moreover whatever the place in which he heard there was a darwīsh, he had no rest till he had reached that darwīsh’s presence. He was ill when I was in Khurāsān (912 AH.); I went to enquire for him where he lay in the Mullā’s College,[1132] after I had made the circuit of the Mullā’s tomb. He died a few days later, of that same illness.

Mīr ‘Atā’u’l-lāh of Mashhad was another.[1133] He knew the Arabian sciences well and also wrote a Persian treatise on rhyme. That treatise is well-done but it has the defect that he brings into it, as his examples, couplets of his own and, assuming themFol. 179. to be correct, prefixes to each, “As must be observed in the following couplet by your slave” (banda). Several rivals of his find deserved comment in this treatise. He wrote another on the curiosities of verse, entitled Badāi‘u’s-sanāi; a very well-written treatise. He may have swerved from the Faith.

Qāẓī Ikhtiyār was another. He was an excellent Qāẓī and wrote a treatise in Persian on Jurisprudence, an admirable treatise; he also, in order to give elucidation (iqtibās), made a collection of homonymous verses from the Qorān. He came with Muḥammad-i-yūsuf to see me at the time I met the Mīrzās on the Murgh-āb (912 AH.). Talk turning on the Bāburī script,[1134] he asked me about it, letter by letter; I wrote it out, letter by letter; he went through it, letter by letter, and having learned its plan, wrote something in it there and then.

Mīr Muḥammad-i-yūsuf was another; he was a pupil of the Shaikhu’l-islām[1135] and afterwards was advanced to his place. In some assemblies he, in others, Qāẓī Ikhtiyār took the higher place. Towards the end of his life he was so infatuated with soldiering and military command, that except of those two tasks, what could be learned from his conversation? what known from his pen? Though he failed in both, those two ambitions ended by giving to the winds his goods and his life, his house and his home. He may have been a Shī‘a.

(k. The Poets.)