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26 CHAtfAR MAQA.LA. END OF FIRST DISCOURSE
riddles, 'and enigmatical questions. So the king, under these
circumstances, stood in 'need of persons of intelligence and discrimination,
and men of judgement and statesmanship and ; '
several councils would DQ held and adjourned, until they were
unanimous as to their answers, and these problems and enigmas
1
"were plain ang
apparent, when they would despatch the am-
bassador, e
This practice was maintained until the time of that just king
Mahmud ibn Subuktigin Yaminu'd-Dawla (may God have mercy
upon him!). But when (vt) the Saljuqs succeeded him, they being
nomads, ignorant of the conduct of affairs and the high achievements
of kings, most of these royal customs became obsolete'-m
their time, and many essentials of dominion felt into disuse. One of
these was the Ministry of Posts, from which one can judge of the
remainder. It i,s related that one day Sultan Mahmud Yammu'd-
Dawla despatched ap ambassador to Bughra Khan in Transoxiana,
and in the letter which had been drafted occurred this passage:
" '
God A Imighty saith, Verily the most honourable ofyou in God's <
sight is he w/io is most pious of you 1 .' Investigators and critics
are agreed that here he [i.e. the Prophet] guards himself from
ignorance ; for the souls of men are subject to no more grievous
defect than this of ignorance, nor is there aught lower than the
blemish of folly. To the truth of this proposition and the soundness
of this assertion [God's] uncreated word also bears witness:
'
[God ivill raise tip those ofyou who believe} and those to whom
hath been given knowledge to [superior] degrees*' Therefor we
desire that the Imams of the land of Transoxiana arfd the
doctors of the East asd scholars of the Khaqan's Court should
impart [to us] this much information as to matters essential [to
Salvation]. What is the Prophetic Office, what Saintship, what
Religion, what Islam, what Faith, what Well-doing, what Godliness,
what the Approbation of Right, what the Prohibition of
Wrong, what the Path, what the Balance, what Mercy, what Pity,
what Justice, and what Excellence?"
When this letter reached the Court of Bughra Khan, and
he had acquainted himself with its purport and contents, he
summoned the Imams of Transpxiana from the different towns
and districts, and took counsel with them on this matter. Several
of the greatest and most eminent of these Imams agreed that
they should severally compose a treatise on this subject, and
in the course of their dissertation introduce^ into the text a reply
to these interrogations. They craved a delay of four months for
this purpose ; which respite was fraught with all sbi;ts of detri-
ments, theworst of which were the disbursements from the treasury
for the expenses of the ambassadors and king's messengers, and
1
Qur'dti, xlix, 13.
2
Qur'dn, Iviii, 12.
c