Matin 174 Mazdak followers soon amounted to more than thirty thousand. The orthodox priests took alarm, and prevailed on the mild Karim Khan to banish the saint from his capital, but his reputation was increased by the act of power which proclaimed him dangerous. After Karim Khan's death, Mi'r Ma'sum, who resided in a small village near Isfahan, deputed his first disciple, Fayaz 'AH, to teach in that city. That holy person soon died, and was succeeded in his office by his son Niir 'AH Shah : who, though young in years, was, (to use the phrase of his historian), "old in piety." The number and rank of Mir Ma'sum's followers excited alarm in the priests of Isfahan, who transmitted so exaggerated an account of the vile here- sies of the Sufi's to 'AH Murad Khan, the king, and re- commended him so strongly to support the faith, by punishing those whose opinions were alike hostile to true religion and good government, that the monarch, the moment he received their representation, sent orders to cut off the noses and ears of some among the most zeal- ous of the obnoxious sect ; and as a further disgrace, to shave the beards of all who had adopted their opinions. The ignorant soldiers intrusted with the execution of this mandate, were not very capable of discriminating be- tween true believers and infidels : and we are assured by a contemporary writer, that many orthodox Muhamma- dans had their noses and ears cut off, and their beards shaved on this memorable occasion. Mir Ma'sum 'AH and Nur 'AH Shah, after wandering from one place to another, re-visited Kirman, where Mushtak 'AH, the most pious of his disciples, was put to death. At Kirmanshah Niir 'AH Shah was placed in confinement : and Mir Ma'sum was murdered when at prayers in the midst of his followers. This sect, how- ever, notwithstanding the efforts of their enemies, con- tinued to increase in numbers ; and Nur 'AH Shah, with all who adhered to him, were banished the kingdom. His avowed disciples were at this period about sixty thousand ; but many more were supposed to be secretly devoted to him. He is said to have been poisoned at Mausal. It is related that two inhabitants of Kirman- shah, who were distinguished by an extraordinary ap- pearance of zeal, dressed his dinner on the day that he was suddenly attacked by violent spasms, which in a few hours terminated his existence. Their flight led all to suspect them of having poisoned him. Nur 'AH died at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 3rd June, 1800 A. D., 10th Mu-harram, 1215 A. H. He expired close to the grave of the prophet Jonas, within a league of Mausal. Matin, the poetical name of Shaikh 'Abdul Eaza bin-' Abdullah Matin. He was a native of Isfahan, but of Arabic origin. He came to India in the reign of the emperor Muhammad Shah, and subsequently went to Lakhnau, where he assumed the garb of a dervish and received a pension from Burhan ul-Mulk Sa'adat Khan. Having lost his pension owing to the change of rulers, he proceeded to Bengal where he died in 1761 A. D., 1175 A. H., and left a Diwan of 5000 verses. Ma'tmid Khan, <>.*i«A3j ^i^le Ma'tmid Khan. Matrazi, isjj^'^, surname of Muwayyad, the grandfather of Shaikh Nizami of Gauja. He was a poet and an author. Maudud Chishti, Khwaja, ls^^ ■^J^j-^ son of Khwaja Yusaf the son of Sama'an. His father who died in 1067 A. D., aged 84 lunar years, lies buried at Chisht. Khwaja Maudud is the founder of a religious sect called Chishti, of which Khwaja Mo'fn-uddfn Chishti, whose tomb is at Ajmir, was a follower. Maudud died on the 8th May, 1163 A. D., 1st Kajab, 527 A. H. Maudud, Sultan, i>j^^^ m^i'*, the son of Sultan Masa'ud I of Ghazni. He was at Balkh when his father was murdered by Ahmad the son of the reigning Sultan, Muhammad Makahul ; he immediately proclaimed him- self king and marched to revenge his father, and having defeated the Sultan's army on the banks of the Indus, made Muhammad and his sons prisoners, and put them all to death 1041 A. D., 433 A. H. The dynasty of Ghazni lost, during the reign of Maudud, all their posses- sions in Persia. Maudud died at Labor on the 23rd of December, 1049 A. D., 24th Eajab, 441 A. H., having reigned upwards of nine years. Mauji, (^^^i^i^J LS^*j of Badakhshan, whose proper name was Muhammad Kasim Khan, is the author of a " Yusaf Zalekha," containing 6000 verses. He died at Agrah in 1571 A. D., 979 A. H. Maulana 'Ali, cs-^-^ tii/y/o^ the son of Mahmud Kir- mani, commonly called Shahab. He is the author of a History entitled " Maasir Mahmudi" which he dedicated to Sultan Mahmud Shah I, Khilji', king of Malwa, who reigned from 1436 to 1469 A. D. Maulana Hasan, U)**^ '■^X?'*, a learned Musalman who died in the time of Sultan Salim Shah of DehH in the year 1549 A. D. His tomb, which has a Persian inscrip- tion in verse, is still to be seen in the Eoman Catholic Burial-ground at Agrah. Maulana Husain, H^i'"^ Ijil^-*^ was a disciple of Khwaja Abu'l Wafa who died in 1432 A. D., 836 A. H. Maulana Husain is the author of the work called Maksad Aksa," and of the " Sharah Kasida Burda." Maulana Maghrabi, <^ir*'° ^-'^'O, vide Maghrabf. Maulana Majd, "^^^ vide Majd (Maulana). Maulana Nasir,^^ '■'^'*> vide NasirBukhari (Maulana). Maulanae Rum, {*?; vide Jalal-uddm Kumi. Maulud Muhammad, <>^*^ ^J^J'^, author of a Persian work on Physic, called " Bahr ul-Munafa," the Sea of Profit, dedicated to Tipu Sultan. Maulwi Rumi, is'°JJ iSJ^y, vide Jalal-uddm Eumi. Mauzun, poetical appellation of Eaja Earn Narain of Patna, which see. Mawasi, cs"*!^"*? a celebrated poet of Persia, who flourish- ed at the court of Malik Shah Saljuki about the end of the eleventh century of the Christian era, and received the designation of Malik ush-Shu'ara, king of poets, and the dignity of an Ami'r. The poet Khakani made him his model in versification ; and so renowned were his odes, that more than a hundred poets endeavoured to imitate his style. Mazani, tj'j^} whose proper name is Abu 'Usman, was an excellent Arabic Grammarian. He died in 863 A. D., 249 A. H. Mazani, (^^^ or Al-Mazam', vide Abu Ibrahim Isma'fl. Mazdak, name of a famous impostor, a native of Persia, surnamed Zandi'k, that is to say, the impious. He Hved in the reign of Kubad the father of Nausherwan the Just. He was imprisoned and afterwards put to death by order of the latter.
