Better than a dog? A khan's conversion to Islam
Editorial contextThe young Moghul khan, feeding his dogs pork during a hunt, asks a captured Persian-speaking holy man whether he is better than the dog. The shaikh answers that with faith he is better, without it the dog is. Moved, the khan promises to become a Muslim when he rules, and years later the shaikh's son holds him to it. Mirza Haidar heard it from the holy man's descendants.
He was, at that time, feeding some dogs with swine's flesh, and he asked the Shaikh angrily : "Are you better than this dog, or is the dog better than you ?" The Shaikh replied : "If I have faith I am better than this dog ; but if I have no faith, this dog is better than I am."
About Tughluk Timur Khan of the Moghuls
Keep in mind
Family and religious tradition, told about two centuries after the event.
A khan who loved towns, and chiefs who would not stay
Editorial contextMirza Haidar explains why his grandfather Yunus Khan kept leaving Kashgar and Aksu: the Khan liked cities and houses, but his amirs and soldiers refused to live in towns, so he had to follow them back to the steppe. It is a clear statement from inside a Mongol dynasty of the nomads' dislike of town life.
The substance of the whole matter is that the Khan was very fond of cities and houses, but the Amirs and soldiers of Moghulistan always avoided the towns, and for this reason the Khan spent most of his time in Moghulistan.
About Moghuls (Muslim Mongols of Moghulistan) under Yunus Khan
Keep in mind
Mirza Haidar says the accounts he heard of these events differed.