then to continue his devotions. "And what if I will not?" asked the man in a disdainful tone. "Thy deadlike soul will obey my command, quit thy body, and thou wilt die!" answered Baha. Instantly the man fell dead; and crowds flocked to become disciples to the saint who spoke with such power and authority.

9

When Sultan 'Ala'u-'d-Din had fortified Qonya, he invited Baha Veled to mount to the terraced roof of the palace, thence to survey the walls and towers. After his inspection, Baha remarked to the Sultan, "Against torrents, and against the horsemen of the enemy, thou hast raised a goodly defence. But what protection hast thou built against those unseen arrows, the sighs and moans of the oppressed, which overleap a thousand walls and sweep whole worlds to destruction? Go to, now! strive to acquire the blessings of thy subjects. These are a stronghold, compared to which the walls and turrets of the strongest castles are as nothing."

IO.

On one occasion Sultan 'Ala'u-'d-Din paid a visit to Bahā Veled. In lieu of his hand the latter offered the tip of his staff to be kissed by the Sultan, who thought within himself: "The proud scholar!" Baha read the Sultan's thoughts as a seer, and remarked in reply thereto: "Mendicant students are bound to be humble and lowly. Not so a Sultan of the Faith who has attained to the utmost circumference of the orbit thereof, and revolves therein."

II.

A certain Sheykh Hajjāj, a disciple of Baha Veled and one of God's elect not known to the herd of mankind, quitted the college after the decease of his teacher, and betook himself to his former trade of a weaver, there with

to gain an honest livelihood. He used to buy the coarsest brown bread of unsifted flour, mash this up with water, and break his fast with this sop alone. All the rest of his earnings he saved up until they would reach to two or three hundred piastres. This sum he would then carry to the college, and place it in the shoes of his teacher's son, Jelalu-'d-Din, the new rector. This practice he continued so long as he lived.

At his death a professional washer was appointed to perform the last ablution for Sheykh Hajjāj. In the execution of his office the washer was about to touch the privities of the deceased, when the defunct seized his hand with so strong a grip as to make him scream with pain and fright. The friends came to rescue him, but they were unable to release the imprisoned hand. They therefore sent word to Jelalu-'d-Din of what had occurred. He came and saw, knew the reason, and whispered into the ear of the deceased man: "The poor simpleton has been unaware of the high station of thy sanctity. Pardon his unintentional transgression for my sake." Immediately the poor washer's hand was released; but three days afterwards he was himself washed and borne lifeless to his grave.

12.

The Sultan had a governor of his childhood still living, the Emir Bedru-'d-Din Guhertash, commonly known as the Dizdar (Castellan), whom he held in great esteem. One day, as Bahā Veled was lecturing in the mosque, in presence of the Sultan and his court, he suddenly called upon the Dizdar to recite any ten verses of the Qur'ān, saying he would then expound them to the congregation. The Dizdar had been admiring the eloquence of the preacher's expositions. Upon this sudden call, without the slightest hesitation and without ever having committed them to memory, he recited the first ten verses of chapter xxiii., "The believers have attained to prosperity," &c., which

Baha forthwith explained in such a manner as to draw down the plaudits of the assembly. The Dizdar, with the Sultan's permission, went to the foot of the pulpit and declared himself a disciple to Baha. "Then," said the preacher, "as a thank-offering for this happy event, do thou build and endow a college where my descendants shall teach their disciples after me." The Dizdar did so, and richly endowed it. This is the college where Jelalu'd-Dīn afterwards lived. When the Dizdār died he lef all his possessions to enrich the foundation. (See chap. iii. No. 69.)

13.

The Sultan had a dream (something like one of Nebuchadnezzar's). He saw himself with a head of gold, a breast of silver, a belly of brass, thighs of lead, and shanks of tin. Baha Veled explained the dream as follows:-" All will go well in the kingdom during thy lifetime. It will be as silver in the days of thy son; as brass in the next generation, when the rabble will get the upper hand. Troubles will thicken during the next reign; and after that the kingdom of Rome will go to ruin, the house of Seljuq will come to an end, and unknown upstarts will seize the reins of government."

CHAPTER II.

Seyyid Burhanu-'d-Din, Sirr-Dan, el Muhaqqiq, el Huseyni, of the posterity of Yā-Sīn (Muhammed).1

(HE is called Seyyid, the "Syud" of our East India authorities, for the reason that he was a descendant of the prophet, of whom Ya-Sin is one of the titles, as it is also the name of the thirty-sixth chapter of the Qur'ān, at the head of which the two letters stand which form the name. Burhānu-'d-Dīn means The Proof of the Religion; SirrDan signifies The Confidant, one who possesses a knowledge of a secret or secrets, a mystery or mysteries. Muhaqqiq is one who verifies, who probes the truth; and Huseyni indicates that the Seyyid was of the branch of Huseyn, the younger of the two sons of Fatima, Muhammed's only child that left posterity.)

I.

Seyyid Burhanu-'d-Dīn was popularly known by the name of Sirr-Dan at Balkh, Bukhārā (Alexandria Oxiana ?), and Termiz. His discourse was continually running upon the subjects of spiritual and mental phenomena, of the mysteries of earth and of heaven.

When Baha Veled quitted Balkh, the Seyyid went to Termiz, and there secluded himself as a hermit. After a while again he began to lecture in public on the significations of knowledge. Suddenly, one morning, that of Friday the 18th of Rebi'u-'l-akhir, A.H. 628 (February,

1 The two letters Ya and Sin heading the thirty-sixth chapter of the Qur'an are said to stand for the words, Ya insān, O man ! as Muhammed is there addressed.

1231 A.D.), he cried out most bitterly, in a flood of tears, "Alas! my master has passed away from this tabernacle of dust to the abode of sincerity!" His words and the date were noted down, and, on inquiry, after his arrival in Qonya, were found to correspond exactly with the moment of Baha Veled's decease.

2.

For forty days the disciples at Termiz mourned for the death of the great teacher. At the end of that period the Seyyid said: "The son of my master, his successor, Jelalu-'d-Din Muhammed, is left alone and is wishing to see me. I must go to the land of Rome and place myself at his service, delivering over to him the trust which my teacher confided to my safe-keeping."

3.

When the Seyyid reached Qonya, Baha Veled had been dead about a year, and Jelal had gone to Larenda. The Seyyid applied himself for several months to devotional seclusion in one of the mosques of Qonya; after which he sent off a letter to Jelal by the hands of two mendicants, saying: "Come and meet this stranger to thee at the resting-place of thy father, for Larenda is not a place of permanency for thee. From that hill (on which Baha's mausoleum was built) a fire will shower down on the city of Qonya."

After reading this epistle Jelal returned to Qonya with all possible despatch. There he went at once to visit the Seyyid, who came forth from the mosque to receive him. They embraced. They now entered into conversation on various subjects. So delighted was the Seyyid with the expositions set forth by Jelal that he kissed the soles of his feet, and exclaimed: "A hundredfold hast thou surpassed thy father in all knowledge of the humanities; but thy father was versed also in the mysteries of mute reality and ecstasy. From this day forward my desire is that