12.
The Sultan had a governor of his childhood still living, the Emīr Bedru-’d-Dīn Guhertāsh, commonly known as the Dizdār (Castellan), whom he held in great esteem. One day, as Bahā Veled was lecturing in the mosque, in presence of the Sultan and his court, he suddenly called upon the Dizdār to recite any ten verses of the Qur’ān, saying he would then expound them to the congregation. The Dizdār had been admiring the eloquence of the preacher’s expositions. Upon this sudden call, without the slightest hesitation and without ever having committed them to memory, he recited the first ten verses of chapter xxiii., “The believers have attained to prosperity,” &c., which Bahā forthwith explained in such a manner as to draw down the plaudits of the assembly. The Dizdār, with the Sultan’s permission, went to the foot of the pulpit and declared himself a disciple to Bahā. “Then,” said the preacher, “as a thank-offering for this happy event, do thou build and endow a college where my descendants shall teach their disciples after me.” The Dizdār did so, and richly endowed it. This is the college where Jelālu-’d-Dīn afterwards lived. When the Dizdār died he left all his possessions to enrich the foundation. (See chap. iii. No. 69.)
13.
The Sultan had a dream (something like one of Nebuchadnezzar’s). He saw himself with a head of gold, a breast of silver, a belly of brass, thighs of lead, and shanks of tin. Bahā Veled explained the dream as follows:—“All will go well in the kingdom during thy lifetime. It will be as silver in the days of thy son; as brass in the next generation, when the rabble will get the upper hand. Troubles will thicken during the next reign; and after that the kingdom of Rome will go to ruin, the house of Seljūq will come to an end, and unknown upstarts will seize the reins of government.”
CHAPTER II.
Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīn, Sirr-Dān, el Muhaqqiq, el Huseynī, of the posterity of Yā-Sīn (Muhammed).[9]
(He is called Seyyid, the “Syud” of our East India authorities, for the reason that he was a descendant of the prophet, of whom Yā-Sīn is one of the titles, as it is also the name of the thirty-sixth chapter of the Qur’ān, at the head of which the two letters stand which form the name. Burhānu-’d-Dīn means The Proof of the Religion; Sirr-Dān signifies The Confidant, one who possesses a knowledge of a secret or secrets, a mystery or mysteries. Muhaqqiq is one who verifies, who probes the truth; and Huseynī indicates that the Seyyid was of the branch of Huseyn, the younger of the two sons of Fātima, Muhammed’s only child that left posterity.)
1.
Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīn was popularly known by the name of Sirr-Dān at Balkh, Bukhārā (Alexandria Oxiana?), and Termīz. His discourse was continually running upon the subjects of spiritual and mental phenomena, of the mysteries of earth and of heaven.