Prologue: In Praise of God, the Prophet and the King

In Praise of God

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

"Praise be to God, who created man from water and made for him kin by blood and kin by marriage; and your Lord is ever powerful." (Quran 25:54)

Worthy of praise and glory is the Creator of earth and sky, exalted and sublime, the Maker beyond how and why, who out of the colour of impermanence, in all this variety, made the flower-bed of the world's garden, part and whole, full of tulips and roses. And in spite of the gardener's fear and the hunter's threat, He gave the nightingale a passion for the face of the rose and caught it in the net of love. And He kneaded the faithful lover and the faithless beloved from one water and clay, and brought them out from behind the veil of the unseen into the field of the seen. From one creation He showed two kinds of splendour, and He called frail-built man the noblest of created things.

By God, the splendour of the idols' beauty is only a pretext for being smitten; the lament of the love-mad nightingale is a song for the ear of the graceful rose. The tales of His wonders are famous; we are mad for His perfect power. To describe Him is impossible; the tongue is struck dumb before such speech. When the Truthful Messenger said of Him, "We have not known You as You deserve to be known," how should another rise to the task?

In Praise of the Prophet

Turning the grey steed of the pen toward the valley of praise of the chosen Messenger,

Muhammad the Elect, who is worthy of thousands of salutations and praises.

After the praise of the Creator of jinn and men, the Ruler of fate and decree, the Origin of evening and the Rising of dawn, comes the praise of the Lord of creation, the essence of all that exists, the best of the world, the chosen one of the race of Adam; by the light of whose lamp of guidance the ill-starred who had lost their way in the lane of error came to the straight path, and with grace for their companion climbed to what high ranks on the steps of true knowledge; while the crooked judgement, false conceit and empty fancy of the blind-hearted who turned away showed them what black days. Of him came God's word, "Had it not been for you, I would not have created the heavens." Look with an attentive eye: has anyone else found so lofty a rank in this low-founded house of dust?

The head of the first circle, the seal of the messengers, the manifestation of the Generous One's art, Ahmad without the "m", the intercessor on the field of Judgement, Muhammad the Elect, God bless him and his pure family and his honoured Companions, and grant them peace. A poet, I do not know who, says in his praise: (Ahmad without the "m" is Ahad, "the One")

"Before all the jealous kings you came;

O Seal of the Prophets, I have understood your nearness:

though you came to be seen last of all,

you came late because you came from far away."

What understanding or grasp has this handful of dust, that it should bring to its tongue a jot of the attributes of that blessed being and not fall into helplessness? Palate and tongue would at once be burned by failure.

And for the praise of the Commander of the Faithful, the Imam of the God-fearing, the lone rider of the field of "There is no youth like him", the sum of the meaning of the chapter "Has there come", it is enough that the Prophet said of him: "Your flesh is my flesh and your blood is my blood. Ali is from me and I am from him." (Ali; "There is no youth but Ali" was cried at the battle of Uhud; Quran chapter 76 is held to praise his family)

And the praise of the family of the Prophet, love of whom is the proof of faith, and loving whom is a duty for every human being by this great saying, the hadith:

"The likeness of my family is the likeness of Noah's ark: whoever boards it is saved, and whoever stays behind is drowned and lost."

The Song of the Nightingale

The nightingale sings its song in the garden of the state of Sultan Abu'l-Muzaffar, King of the Age, of the glory of Qubad, heir of the house of good fortune.

After the praise of God and of the chief of the prophets, it is right and necessary to tell the praise of the ruler of the land; His word, exalted is He: "Obey God and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you." (Quran 4:59) Though if a beggar's tongue should set out to describe a king, the whole world would say, "a small mouth and a big word", yet knowing that his illustrious name and the description of his noble person are the means of honour for this writing and the key to the door of this scattered speech, I set down a whiff of his qualities, a mote of the sun of his virtues.

The king whose court is as high as Saturn, of lofty rank and high station, the head of the circle of noble-born kings, of the glory of Jamshed, the splendour of Faridun and the power of Solomon, conqueror of lands, taker of kingdoms, lord of the world, Abu'l-Muzaffar Mu'izz-ud-Din, King of the Age, Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Badshah, may God make his kingdom and rule eternal and aid him with help and victory, glorious is His glory. (Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar, King of Awadh at Lucknow, 1814–1827)

If I were to set out his battles or his feasts, I could not write them on the page of the world. At the moment of battle Rustam, Sam and Nariman tremble like old Zal; at the time of generosity and the giving of gold and goods, Hatim holds the beggar's bowl. In the feast of joy Venus and Jupiter are busy singing and carousing; in the hour of anger and wrath Mars stands ready to be executioner and tyrant. This is the least of his favours. A verse:

"In the winter season he gave away so many shawls

that all Bengal grew warm, and Kashmir grew cold."

So constantly does the cloud of bounty of this sea of generosity rain day and night on the fields of great and small that for years the ears of the city have longed for a beggar's cry and its eyes have never seen a beggar's face. The billowing sea of bounty flows day and night. His justice is such that the elephant fears the ant and the lion professes obedience to the goat. Thousands have seen with their own eyes in the time of his reign a goat give milk to a lion's cub and put it to sleep lovingly in her lap; the swift-flying hawk the companion and guardian of the sparrow's chick; the cat, by its very nature, afraid of the pigeon. The smoke of grieving hearts is shut out of every house's window; the police chief of justice is there to stop up every breach of mischief. May God Most High keep this hope of the world and its people safe in His protection and keeping. May the well-wishers of this high lord live ever in pleasure and joy, and his black-faced enemy stay caught in the grief of failure and in torments, by the right of the Lord of favours, for the sake of the Five Pure Ones.