CHAPTER VII.

Idhaj—El hur — Ushturlcan — Fairuzan — Tashnia Flruz — Shiraz — Katil — Yezd Khas — Majd
Oddin, founder of the College El Mnjdia — Mohammed Khuda Banda becomes a Sunni — Abu
Is-hak —His liberality — Abu Ahd Allah Khafif the first Mohammedan iioho went from India
to Ceylon — Kazerun—El Zaidain—El Hawaiza — Kufa.

I THEN travelled for three days over high mountains, and found in every
stage, in these countries, a cell with food for the accommodation of travellers.
I then came to the city of "Idhaj,J which belongs to the '’Sultan Atabek
Afrasiab.§ With these people the word Atabek means any one governing a
district. The country is called ’El Lur.|l It abounds with high mountains
and ha^ roads cut in the rocks. The extent in length is seventeen days
journey ; in breadth ten. Its king sends presents to the king of Irak, and
sometimes comes to see him. In every one of the stations in this country,
there are cells provided for the religious, enquirers, and travellers : and,

.jjjir

* This is perhaps the Roman or Beth Raman, of Asseraan. See Biblioth.

Orient, tom. iii., P. 2, p. dcclxxii, which he writes in Arabic : — or perhaps the ^ d\j

or of Mr. Ulenbroek, see p. 65, Arab, text.

f See Asseman’s Biblioth. Orient., tom. iii. P. 2., p. dcclxxxi.

X See Ulenbroek Iracae Pers. descriptio, p. 25, Arab. text.

§ This is probably the “ Mudaffereddin Afrasiab, fils de Rokneddin,” of De Guignes, who
was the last of the d}masty of the Atabeks ofLaristan; according to him he died A. H. 740,
A.D. 1339, a little after the time our traveller must have visited these parts.

|] See Mr. Ulenbroek’s “ Iracas descriptio,” pp. 4 and 5, and Arab. text.

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for every one who arrives, there are bread, flesh, and sweetmeats : I
travelled for ten days in this country over high mountains, with ten other
religious, one of whom was a priest, another a moazin (a person who calls
the people to prayers), and two professed readers of the koran. The Sultan
sent me a present, containing money for travelling expences, both for
myself and my companions. Having finished the districts belonging to this
king on the tenth day, we entered those of Isphahan, and arrived at the city
of ’ Ushtorkan : after this at ^Fairuzan, *' the name of which had been
‘TashniaFiruz : and then at Isphahan, one of the cities of Irak El Ajam.
This is a large and handsome city : I remained in it some days. I then set
out for “Shiraz, between which and Isphahan there are twenty stations,
with the intention of visiting the Sheikh Majd Oddin, at that place. In my
journey, I passed by the towns oPKalil and ^ Yezd Khas, the latter of which
is small, and arrived at Shiraz. It is an extensive, and well built city, though
inferior to Damascus, in the beauty of its streets, gardens, and waters. The
inhabitants are people of integrity, religion, and virtue, particularly the
women. For my own part, I had no other object than that of visiting the
Sheikh Majd Oddin the paragon of saints and worker of miracles. I came
accordingly to the college called ^E1 Majdia, which had been founded by
him. He was then judge of the city ; but, on account of his age, the
duties of the office were discharged by his brother’s sons-t I waited on
him. When he came out, he shewed me great kindness, and, embracing

• ^ > JIt?" • j J * ul) 3j^ •

* According to the this is a village of Isphahan, and is a most beautiful and

healthy place : the words are Alys ^

f This man is mentioned in the Khulasut El Akhbar, by Khondemir, as having great influence
at this time at Shiraz, so much so, that he succeeded in bringing about an accommodation
between the Emir JubanI, and the partizans of the Emir Mohammed Mozaffer. His words are

these (Lii) CjLiij ijlisj j\ ^ y k-yxj

&c.

At length, by the mediation of the Kazi Majd Oddin Ismail Ibn Yahya, who was one of the
great saints and men of eminence, an agreement took place ; and the Emir Pir Hosain Jubani
entered the city in the greatest splendour and delight. This is related as taking place in the
year of the Hejira 740.

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39

me, asked me about different places : to which I gave suitable answers.
I was then taken into his college. The Sheikh is much honoured by the
Emirs of these parts, insomuch, that when they enter his company, they
take hold of both their ears, a ceremony of respect paid only to the king.
They, therefore, pay him the respect due to their king. The reason of this is,
that when the king of Irak, “Mohammed Khuda Banda, received Islamism,
he had a favourite of the Rafiza (followers of Ali), named "Jamal Ibn
Mutahhar, who induced him to join the Shiah sect, which he willingly
did. The king then wrote to Bagdad, Shiraz,'^ and other places, inviting
them to be of this sect. The people of Bagdad and Shiraz, however,
refused to do so, and continued to be of the sect of the Sonnee. He
then commanded the judges of these districts to be brought to him :
and the first who arrived was this of Shiraz. The king ordered him
to be thrown to some great dogs which he had, and which were
kept with chains about their necks, for the purpose of tearing to
pieces any one, with whom the Sultan should happen to be
angry. When, therefore, the Kazi Majd Oddin was thrown
to the dogs, they came, and looking upon him, began to wag their
tails, making no onset upon him, nor, in any way molesting him.
This was told to the Sultan ‘'Khuda Banda, who came running to him in a
great fright. He then kissed his hands, and stripping off all his own
robes put them upon the Sheikh. He then took him by the hand, and
led him to his mansion. This, therefore, became the source of great dig-
nity to the Sheikh, his children, and to all belonging to him : which is the
case with every one, upon whom the Sultan puts all his robes. The king
then gave up the Shiah sect, and became a Sonnee, and to the Sheikh he
gave a hundred villages in the district of Shiraz. Thus both the king and
his courtiers bestowed the greatest honours upon the Sheikh and upon his
successors. I also visited this Sheikh after my return from India, in the
year 748 of the Hejira (A.D. 1347) ; and, for this purpose, I travelled a
distance of five and thirty days. I once saw the Sultan of Shiraz Abu
•'Is-hak holding his ears before him, by way of respect. The Sultan of

* See on this place Asseman’s Biblioth. Orient, tom. iii. P. ii, p. dcclxxv— vi.

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Shiraz, on my first arrival at that place, was Mohammed Abu Is-hak Ibn
Shah Yanju. He was one of the best of princes. His father Shah Yanju
was governor of Shiraz, under the King of Irak:* but when he died, the
government was put into the hands of another. When, however, the King
of Irak died, and left no issue, each of the governors assumed the govern-
ment of the district over which he had been placed : and, in this way, the
government of Shiraz, &c. came under the control of Abu Is-hak. He
was a man much beloved on account of his courage and good conduct ;
and possessed a territory of a month and a half’s journey, with an army of
fifty thousand men.f

In liberality Abu Is-hak imitated the king of India : for, on one occasion,
he gave to a person, who had come before him, the sum of seventy thousand
dinars. No one, however, can be compared to the king of India :* for he

* According to Mirkhond, the province of Ears was committed to the care of the Emir
Mosafar Inak, A. H. 734, and the Emir Mahmud Shah Anju was, for years, the protector
and assistant of the Emir Juban, who was magistrate of those parts. His words are:

And, that in the districts of Shiraz and Shabankara, he had possessions to such an extent as to
bring him in annually 100 tumans; which, he goes on to say, was the cause of his being
brought i nto disgrace at the court of Abusald. A little lower down we are told that Abu
Is-hak was one of the sons of Mahmud Shah Anju. ^ iti j^\

The sons of Emir Mahmud Shah fled from Tebriz, the Emir Mahmud Shah went to Room,
and the Emirs Mahmud and Sheikh Abu Is-hak betook themselves to the service of the Emir All,
the king. What power Abu Is-hak exercised in Shiraz is not mentioned in the historians ; but
that he had great power there can be no doubt. In 742 he succeeded to the government of
Isphahan, and in 743 he vigorously opposed the descent of Malik Ashraf upon Shiraz, and by
the help of the citizens forced him to retire. Khondemir, under this date. This author’s
account of Abu Is-hak agrees exactly with that given by our traveller. His words are ;

jUl 1*1^ jl jLi-l (^ICe The Emir Abu Is-hak

was distinguished among the rulers of the world, by his extreme liberality, and the politeness o>f
his address.

t The accounts given of the liberality of Mohammed Slndi, who was the reigning emperor
when Ibn Batuta entered India exceed all description. Dow (Hindustan, vol. i. pp. 313, &c.)
has noticed some instances, and Ferishta many more. He also says, that nobles, learned men, and
persons who had suffered shipwreck, came with the hope of relief from Khorasan, Irak, Mawara,

PERSIA.

41

will give sums equal to this many times in the same day, particularly to
those who come from the parts of Khorasan. He once said to one of his
courtiers, Go into the treasury and bring as much gold as you can carry at
once. The courtier filled thirteen purses with gold ; and, tying them on
his shoulders, attempted to go out, but fell through the weight of the
purses. The king then commanded him to take and weigh it, which he
did, and found it to be thirteen ®maunds of Dehli, the maund of Dehli
being equal to five and twenty -Gratis of Egypt. On another occasion, he
placed one of his Emirs, namely, ^ Sharf U1 Mulk Emir Bakht of Khorasan,
in a pair of scales, putting gold in the opposite part, till the gold prepon-
derated. He then gave him the gold and said, give alms out of this for
your own salvation. He also appointed to the theologian and collector of
traditions, ^Abd El Aziz El Ardablll, for his daily expenses, the sum of
one hundred dinars of silver : five and twenty of which are equal to the
golden dinar. Upon one occasion the above mentioned Sheikh entered into
the presence of the king, who rose ; and, having kissed his feet, poured
upon his head with his own hand a vessel full of gold, and said, both the
gold and the vessel, which is gold, are thine.

The most famous meshhed of Shiraz is that of Ahmed Ibn Musa, the
brother of * *E1 Riza, which is indeed held in the highest estimation. In
this is the tomb of the Imam ^ El Kotb El Wall Abu Abd Allah Ibn Khaflf,*

and ^ *

. ‘All 1^1 ^ *

El Nahr, Arabia, and Turkey, to Hindustan.

XS'c] ijAjlyA-jl j\ L-

Av.;l..v' &c. and received more than they had ima-

gined they should. I cite this merely to show the minute accuracy of our traveller.

* This saint is frequently mentioned in the c-jIsA' by Jam! as one of the first authorities

in judging of matters peculiar to the Sufis ; and is occasionally styled both Wall and Kotb, as
here by Ibn Batuta.

In vol. i. p. 546, of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, I have made some allu-
sion to this Sheikh, supposing it probable that his grave may be that of the person mentioned in
an inscription there translated. The traveller, however, here says that his tomb is in Shiraz :
and, if that be the fact, there is an end to the probability ; but we shall find, when we get to
Ceylon, that there is a belief of his grave being in that country. We have no account, however,

G

42

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who is the great exemplar of all the region of Fars. This Abu Abd Allah is
the person, who made known the way from India to the mountain of Seren-
dib, and who wandered about the mountains in the island of 'Ceylon. Of
his miracles, his entering Ceylon, and wandering over its mountains in
company with about thirty fakeers is one : for when these persons were all
sutfering from extreme hunger, and had consulted the Sheikh on the neces-
sity of slaughtering and eating an elephant,^ he positively refused and
forbade the act. They, nevertheless, impelled as they were by hunger,
transgressed his commands, and killed a small elephant, which they ate.
The Sheikh, however, refused to partake. When they had all gone to
sleep, the elephants came in a body, and smelling one of them, put him to
death. They then came to the Sheikh, and smelled him, but did him no
injury. One of them, however, wrapt his trunk about him, and lifting
him on his back, carried him off to some houses. When the people saw
him, they were much astonished. The elephant then put him down and
walked off. The infidels were much delighted with the Sheikh, treated
him very kindly, and took him to their king. The king gave credit to his
story, and treated him with the greatest kindness and respect. When I

of his having founded a college or any thing of the sort ; although, from the estimation in which
he appears to have been held at court, he might have had it in his power to do so. Upon turning
over the lives of the saints by JamI C-'Ls--") I find that this Sheikh died A.H. 331 ; and

according to the inscription, this endowment was made in the year 317 ; and the: inscription
itself written in 337. So that he might have been in Ceylon in 317, and obtained the privileges
here adverted to, from the king : and if he died in 331, the inscription might have been written
in 337. JamI, however, gives no such name as Khalid Ibn Abu Bakaya, &c. ; he only tells us
that his name was Mohammed Ibn Khaflf Ibn Isfikshar El ZabI (under l ajfi Xyr

Abu Abd Allah Ibn Khaflf of Shiraz), where he says ^

}\ The date of his death is given in these words, jJ*

iJ J jl dcjjj ibUiby in the j^ear 331 he left the world. “ A certain former king,” says Knox, in
his Ceylon, “ gave this temple (i. e. a mosque in Candy) this privilege, that every freeholder
should contribute a ponnam to it,” p. 171. I am disposed to believe, therefore, that my con-
jecture respecting this Sheikh is just ; and that he was the first who obtained securit}' for the pro-
perty of the Mohammedans in this island.

* The elephant is unclean with the Mohammedans, so Saadi “ The

sheep is clean, but the elephant is carrion.” — Gulistan, chap. i. tale iii.

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*

43

entered Ceylon I found them still infidels, although they had given great
credit to the Sheikh. They also very much honour the Mohammedan
Fakeers, taking them to their houses and feeding them, contrary to the
practice of the infidels of India ; for they neither eat w^ith a Mohammedan,
nor suffer him to come near them.

I then left Shiraz intending to make “ Kazerun, situated at the distance
of two days’ journey, in order to visit the tomb of the Sheikh ” Abu Is-hak
El Kazeruni."* This Sheikh is held high in esteem both in India and
China : and even the sailors, when labouring under adverse winds, make
great vows to him, which they pay to the servants of his cell, as soon as
they get safely to shore. I accordingly visited the tomb of the Sheikh.

I then left Kazerun and went to the city "El Zaidain (the city of the
two Zaids). It was so called, because ^Zaid Ibn Thabet and ? Zaid Ibn
Arkam,t two of the companions of the prophet, were buried there. I then
went to ’’El Huwaiza,j: a small town inhabited by Persians, between
which and Basra is the distance of four days: but from Kufa, that of
five. From this place I went to Kufa through a desert, in which water was
only to be found at one of its stages. This is one of the mother cities of
Irak : but, it is now very much in ruins. In the mosque is the oratory,

. al

* This is, no doubt, the Abou-Ishak Alkarzouni of D’Herbelot ; vide sub voce ; and if he be
right, this word ought to be written tijiJjLOl- under Carzuni, however, he writes Cazruni and
Cazeruni. It is said in the that Kazerun is a city in Ears, situated between the

sea and Shiraz, and is said to be the Damietta of the Persians. Something not unlike kasab (or
fine Egyptian cloth), is made there from cotton. It abounds with palaces, gardens, and palms,
extending its palaces far to the right hand and the left (north and south), and is at the dis-
tance of three days from Shiraz. The words are : JUu j ysrtl) ^

j\j^ •

i Annales Muslemici, tom. i. p. 1 19.

:|: This name is given in the . El Huwaiza thus : t

la-y ^1? ijy • It is a place situated between Wasit, Basra, and

Khuzistan, in the marshes.

G 2

44

PERSIA.

in which Ali was killed by the vile *Ibn Moljim. In the back part of the
mosque, is the place in which Noah is said to have grown warm from the
oven in the time of the 'deluge.*

. ^ ti ^ j'j ^ *

* This is one of the absurd and silly legends, of which the Orientals are so fond :
but, as a knowledge of mankind consists in knowing the follies, as well as the wisdom,
practised in the world, I may be excused, perhaps, if I give Mirkhond’s edition of it.

j ^ ^ jl jj\ y

j♦Li jJ ib" SJjf Jj'lJto — Li j'3 b=“ ij;' j jl Jy nxSl\ t_jb

.X) 1 Aii.fi iX.J& ^ j I s^**^*^

~~j yj ^ jj j y^ ^ z^ xblyci' IsF ^~~

A ^ ^.v -:':'^-w . They have related from Ali, the commander of the faithful, that the meaning
of the oven’s heat is, the appearance of the dawn of the morning. Some have said that the
meaning of “ and the oven became hot,” is the boiling up of the water from the surface of the
earth. Kotada says, that it was a high place of the earth, from which the water boiled up.
But generally it is held, that by “ the oven” is meant the oven of a baker, in which the wife
and daughter of Noah baked their bread, and which came to him by hereditary right. This
oven was situated near the gate El Kenda of the mosque at Kufa, and from this place Noah
took his seat in the ark. Mokatel says that it was in Syria, in a place which they call “ the
Fountain of the Rose ” near Baalbec ; some say that it is in India ; others, that Noah was
standing at the door of a baker’s shop, when the baker said by way of jest, where is the
water you have been frightening us about, and from what place is it to come ? Noah replied,
from your own oven : and, at the same moment, water began to boil out of his oven. El
Harawi gives a similar account under his mention of Kufa, but it is not worth copying.

PERSIA.

45