Page:Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.djvu/42

26 flows past Lahore, when Rustem-dil-khan appeared at court after having quitted his post without leave. He was consequently deprived of his commission and jaghir and confined in the citadel of Lahore, and Mahomed Amin-khan was sent in his stead to take command of the army in the hills. Some strange events happened during the emperor's residence in Lahore. Bahadur-shah was fond of the company of learned men, and passed for an acute proficient in the subtilties of law and divinity; qualities in which he surpassed by far all the princes of the house of Timur. In consequence he loved to be surrounded by people skilled in those sciences, and discoursed with pleasure on those topics wherein he had convinced himself by reflection he was right. Accordingly, on his arrival at Lahore, he assembled the learned men of that city, most of them staunch Sunnies, and argued with them on the justice of the claim of his holiness Ali, the son of Abu Taleb the Commander of the Faithful, on whom be peace. These men were all defeated in argument, and the confusion to which he reduced them made him entertain the design of adding to the usual profession of faith, as uttered in the public prayers and in the khutba, the words "and Ali is the saint of God, and the heir of the prophet of God."

An affair of so much importance required a