180 TIMUR'S ACCOUNT OF HIS INVASION and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah," to exert their utmost endeavour for the suppression of the enemies of their faith, for the sake of preserving their religion and strengthening their law. They likewise said that it is the duty of every Moslem and true believer to use his utmost exertions in obedience to his ruler. When the edifying words of the wise men reached the ears of the nobles, all their hearts were set upon a holy war in Hindustan, and throwing themselves on their knees, they repeated the Chapter of Victory which opens the Koran. When I girded up my loins for the expedition, I wrote to Hazrat Shaikh Zain-ad-din to the effect that I had determined on a religious war in Hindustan. He wrote in the margin of my letter: " Be it known to Abu-1-Grhazi Timur that great prosperity in this world and the next will result to him from this under- taking, and that he will go and return in safety." He also sent me a large sword which I made my sceptre. In the meanwhile there came a petition from Prince Pir Mohammad Jahangir on the confines of Kabulistan, the government of which, from the boundaries of Kun- duz and Bakalan and Kabul and Ghazni and Kandahar, was vested in him. When I looked at this petition it read thus: " From the very moment that I arrived in this country, according to your order, I have acted toward all people conformably to the exalted mandates and wise counsels of the king. " When I had satisfied my mind with the conquest
