‘Abdu’l-lāh the mas̤nawī-writer was another.[1148] He was from Jām and was the Mullā’s sister’s son. Hātifī was his pen-name. He wrote poems (mas̤nawī) in emulation of the Two Quintets,[1149] and called them Haft-manẕar (Seven-faces) in imitation of the Haft-paikar (Seven-faces). In emulation of the Sikandar-nāma he composed the Tīmūr-nāma. His most renowned mas̤nawī is Laila and Majnūn, but its reputation is greater than its charm.
Mīr Ḥusain the Enigmatist[1150] was another. He seems to have had no equal in making riddles, to have given his whole time to it, and to have been a curiously humble, disconsolate (nā-murād) Fol. 181.and harmless (bī-bad) person.
Mīr Muḥammad Badakhshī of Ishkīmīsh was another. As Ishkīmīsh is not in Badakhshān, it is odd he should have made it his pen-name. His verse does not rank with that of the poets previously mentioned,[1151] and though he wrote a treatise on riddles, his riddles are not first-rate. He was a very pleasant companion; he waited on me in Samarkand (917 AH.).
Yūsuf the wonderful (badī)[1152] was another. He was from the Farghāna country; his odes are said not to be bad.
Āhī was another, a good ode-writer, latterly in Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā’s service, and ṣāḥib-i-dīwān.[1153]
Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ was another.[1154] His odes are tasty but better-flavoured than correct. There is Turkī verse of his also, not badly written. He went to Shaibāq Khān later on and found complete favour. He wrote a Turkī poem (mas̤nawī), named from Shaibāq Khān, in the raml masaddas majnūn measure, that is to say the metre of the Subḥat.[1155] It is feeble and flat; Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ’s reader soon ceases to believe in him.[1156] Here is one of his good couplets:—
A fat man (Taṃbal) has gained the land of Farghāna,
Making Farghāna the house of the fat-man (Taṃbal-khāna).
Farghāna is known also as Taṃbal-khāna.[1157] I do not know whether the above couplet is found in the mas̤nawī mentioned.