Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/146

 114 ALA- AD -DIN KHALJI I cause to be killed. Rebels, good and bad, old hands or novices, I slay; their wives and children I reduce to beggary and ruin. Extortion I punish with the tor- ture of the pincers and the stick, and I keep the extor- tioner in prison, in chains and fetters, until every half- penny is restored. Political prisoners I confine and chastise. Wilt thou say all this is unlawful? ' Then the kadi rose and went to the entrance of the room, placed his forehead on the ground, and cried with a loud voice: " My liege, send your unworthy servant to prison, or order him to be cut in two, but all this is unlawful and finds no support in the sayings of the Prophet or in the expositions of the learned." The Sultan said nothing, but put on his slippers and went into his harem. The kadi went home, took a last fare- well of his family, and performed the ablutions required of one about to die. Then he bravely returned to court; when to his amazement the Sultan gave him his own robe and a thousand tankas, with these words, " Al- though I have not studied the Science or the Book (the Koran), I am a Moslem of a Moslem stock. To prevent rebellion, in which thousands perish, I issue such orders as I conceive to be for the good of the state and the benefit of the people. Men are heedless, con- tumacious, and disobedient to my commands. I am then compelled to be severe to bring them into obedience. I do not know whether this is lawful or unlawful: what- ever I think to be for the good of the state or oppor- tune for the emergency, that I decree." We have given most of Barani's account of this