The story of the robbers of Kuch Baluch by Nizam al-Mulk
I posted this in the Symposium but people are stupid there and won't read it, hopefully some here of you find this as interesting as I do. This is a little exerpt we read in my Islamic Middle East course during the past semester. I always wanted to post it here so.. here it is. Sorry for any typos, the copy-paste feature of .pdfs is iffy but I got most of them. Hope someone actually reads it and that someone that actually reads it enjoys it.
For those of you that play BC, sometimes when I play as the Seljuks I try to act as righteous as I can, never attacking unless I have an honest claim, always being just and blah blah.. good roleplaying.Anyway, enjoy.
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Concerning intelligence agents and [their importance in] administering the affairs of the country, from the Book of Government (Siyasatnama) by Nizam al-Mulk.
The story of the robbers of Kuch Baluch
At the time of Suhan Mahmud's conquest of 'Iraq it happened that at Dair Gachinl robbers stole the chattels of a woman who was travelling by caravan. These robbers came from Kuch Baluch, a district which joins the province of Kirman. The woman went before Sultan Mahmud to complain, saying, 'Robben stole my chattels at Dair Gachin. Get back my things from them, or else give me compensation for them. Mahmud said, 'And where might Dair Gachin be? The woman said, 'Take no more territory than what you can know the extent of, and be responsible for, and look after properly. He said, 'You are right; but do you know of what tribe these robbers were and whence they came?" She said, 'They were of the Kuch Baluch and had come from the neighbourhood of Kirman.' He said, 'That place is far distant and outside my territory; I cannot do anything to them.' The woman said, 'What sort of administrator ofthe world aec you who cannot administer your own possessions? And what kind of a shepherd are you if you cannot prolect Ihe sheep from the wolves? Look at me in my weakness and loneliness and you with all your army and power.' Tears came into Mahmud's eyes and he said, 'You are right; I will give you compensation for your chattels and deal with this matter as best I can.'
Then he had some money given to the woman oUt of the treasury, and he wrote a letter to Abu 'Ali llyas' who was the amir of Kirman, saying, 'The purpose of my coming to 'Iraq was not conquest, for I was at that time fully engaged in war in Hindustan; but I came because of frequent letters which I received from the Muslims complaining that the Dailamites had spread corruption, oppression and heresy in 'Iraq; that they had set up ambushes on the highways and were seizing every beautiful woman or boy that came along and taking them to their houses where they committed immoral acts, keeping them as long as they liked, and releasing them at their pleasure; they were openly cursing The Companions of The Prophet (upon him be peace) and were calling 'Ayisha The Honest (may Allah be pleased with her) an adulteress; Ihe assignees were doing whatever they wished and were taking tribute from the peasants two or three times a year. It was said that a king called Majd ad Daula' had nine wives, all in wedlock, and was pleased to be slyled King of Kings; moreover the peasants were spreading atheistic and Batini doctrines; they were abusing God (to Him be power and glory) and The Prophet (upon him be peace); they were denying The Creator in public, and repudiating prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and alms; the assignees were unable to restrain them, nor could they say anything abour the impiety, tyranny and wickedness of the assignees; both parties were equally steeped in inequity.
'When I came to know about this state of affairs in 'Iraq, I decided to attend to the matter and give it priority over the war in Hindustan. I detailed Turkish forces, who were all pure Muslims of the Hanafi sect, to oppose the Dailamites and the atheists and the Batinis, and they were all exterminated; some fell by the sword, some were taken into bondage, and others were driven into exile. I dismissed all the officials in 'Iraq and gave their posts to civil servants and administrators from Khurasan, who were of the Hanafi or Shafi'i sects; both these sects are orthodox like the Turks, and hostile to the Rafidis, Batinis and other rebels. I did not permit a single 'Iraqi secretary to put pen to paper, because I knew that most of the scribes of 'Iraq belonged to heretical sects and would wreck Turkish intetests. Thus in a short time by this process I cleared the country of heretics by the grace of Allah (to Him be power and glory); for God (be He exalted) created me and appointed me over the heads of His creatures for this purpose, that I should remove unbelievers from the face of the earth, protect the people of righteousness, and bring prosperity to the world through generosity and liberality'.
'Meanwhile I have been informed that a party of unbelievers from Kuch Baluch have committed highway robbery at Dair Gachin, and carried off some property. I wish you to apprehend them immediately and recover the property; then you may hang them all or send them manacled to the city of Rayy along with the stolen goods; that will teach them not to have the audacity to come from Kirman into my province for highway robbery. Failing this, Kirman is not far from Somnat; I will send my armies and wreak vengeance upon Kirman.'
When the messenger delivered this letter to Abu 'Ali lIyas, he was very much afraid; he entertained the messenger well and sent back some gifts in deference to Mahmud--consisting of jewels of various kinds, choice objects out of the sea and a purse of gold and silver-saying, 'I am your obedient servant, but perhaps the king is not acquainted with the affairs of his servant and yjr province of Kirman; otherwise [he would know that] his servant has never acquiesced in any disorder, and that the men of Kirman are all Sunnis and righteous men who mind their own business; the mountains of Kuch Baluch are cut offfrom Kirman by narrow passes and difficult roads; I am driven to exasperation by these people as most of them are robbers and criminals, and they render two hundred farsangs of road unsafe by their activities; moreover they are very numerous and I cannot cope with them. The Sutlan of the World is more powerful; in all the world no one but he can deal with them; my loins are gifts for any service he may require of me.'
When Mahmud received this reply from Abu 'Ali, he knew that what he said was true. He sent the messenger back again, with a robe of honour and bid him to say to Abu 'Ali, 'Concentrate the rroops of Kirman and make a circuit of the province; at the beginning of such-and-such month come to rhe frontier which faces towards Kuch Baluch and wait there. When a messenger comes from me with a certain sign, you should march immediately and attack rhe province of Kuch Baluch; kill every young man of them that you can find and give no quarter; seize the possessions of their women and old men and send them here so that I may distribule them among those who claim to have lost their property; make a firm agreement and settlement with them and then come back.'
Having sent the messenger to Abu 'Ali he made a proclamation that all merchants bound for Yazd and the Kirman road should settle their affairs and pack their loads; he would provide them with an escort and guarantee that if the robbers of Kuch Baluch carried off anyone's goods he would give compensation from the treasury.
When this news spread abroad an enormous number of merchants from surrounding parts gathered in the city of Rayy. Then at a definite time Mahmud despatched rhem with an amir and a hundred and fifty horsemen as escort, and reassured rhem by saying, 'Do not be anxious, for I am sending a large army in your tracks.' As he dismissed the escort, he summoned the amir in charge by himself and gave him a phial of deadly poison saying, 'When you reach Isfahan stay there for ten days, so that the merchants of that place may settle their affairs and travel in your company; during this rime you should buy ten ass-loads of Isfahan apples of the best quality and load them upon ten camels; when you depart you should disperse these among the merchants' camels and keep going until you arrive at the stage after which, on the following day, you will reach the robbers; that night bring the loads of apples into your tent and strew them on the ground; plunge a packing-needle into each apple, sharpen a stick like a needle, dip it into rhe poison and put it into the hole in the apple; carry on until all the apples are poisoned; then arrange rhem back in the baskets with their cotton packing; next day disperse these camels among the others and set out. When the robbers come out and attack the caravan, do not attempt to fight with them as they will be many and you few; retreat immediately taking with you any men that have arms, both mounted and on foot; go abour half a farsang away and wair for a good hour; then set upon the robbers and I doubt not but the most of them will have perished from earing the apples; draw your swords and kill them all [on the spot] or pursue them and kill as many as you can. Having finished with them, send ten good riders with one horse apiece to Abu 'Ali Hyas, taking my ring; inform him what you have done to the robbers of Kuch Baluch and instruct him to attack the province with his own troops in accordance wirh orders which he has already received, for by then it will be empry of brigands and trouble makers; then bring the caravan in safety to the frontier of Kirman, and join up with Abu 'Ali if you can.'
The amir said, 'I will do that, and my heart testifies that by Your Majesty's help the action will be successful, and that the road will remain open to Muslim travellers until the resurrection'; and he left Mahmud's presence. He moved off with the caravan and broughr it to Isfahan; there he loaded ten camels with apples and set out for Kirman. The robbers had sent out spies to Isfahan and found out that the caravan was coming with so many thousand animals, bearing such a quantity of luxuries and valuables that God alone knew how much there was; such a caravan had not been seen before in a thousand years and they had an escort of a hundred and fifty Turkish horsemen. The robbers were delighted; the informed and summoned all the youths and brigands from every place in the whole of Kuch Baluch; four thousand fully armed men gathered on the roadside and remained in wait for the caravan.
When the amir arrived with the caravan at a certain stage, the residents of the place said, 'So many thousand robbers have blocked your road and have been waiting for you for a number of days: The amir asked how many farsangs it was from there to the place where they were. They said it was five farsangs. When the people in the caravan heard this, they were very anxious. They dismounted here. In the afternoon the amir called all the caravan leaders and men in charge of the freight and reassured them, saying, 'tell,me, which is better, life or wealth?' They all said, 'Life.' He said, You are nch rich; we are ready to risk our lives for your sakes but we are not worried; so why do you worry about riches which can be replaced? After all, Mahmud has sent us here for a purpose; he is not angry with any of us that he should deliver us to destruction.' His plan is to gel back from these robbers some property which they stole at Dair Gachin belonging to an old woman; do you think then that he would let them have yours? Be of good cheer! Mahmud is not neglecting you; in fact he told me what he is doing; tomorrow when the sun comes up, help will reach us from him and all will be well, if Allah wills; however you must do everything that I tell you for your welfare lies in that.'
When the people heard these words they were pleased and encouraged. They said, 'We will do whatever you tell us.' He said, 'All those of you who have weapons and can fight, let them come to me. They came and he counted them; with his own troops they came to three hundred and seventy men, both mounted and on foot. He addressed them, 'Tonight we march; those of you who are mounted will be with me at the front of the caravan, and those on foot will be at the rear, for it is the custom of these robbers only to take goods and not to kill anyone excetl a man who resists them and is killed fighting. Tomorrow by the time the sun reaches the height of two spears, we shall reach them; when they attack the caravan, I shall take to my heels in flight; when you see me turn my back, you all do the same, and I will make some show of fighting until you gain a distance of half a farsang; then I will gallop away and join you; after waiting for an hour we will relurn all together and fall upon the robbers, whereupon you will behold marvellous things; for thus I have been instructed and furthermore I know something about this which you do not; tomorrow you will see for yourselves; you will come to realize the greatness of Mahmud and understand that what I say is true.' They all undertook to obey and departed.
When night came on, the amir undid the loads of apples, poisoned them all and put them back in their baskets; he appointed five of his own men to look after these ten camel-loads of apples and said, 'When we run away and the robbers fall upon the caravan and begin to break open the merchandise, cut the fastenings of the loads of apples, tear off the tops of the baskets and tum them upside down; then get yourselves gone.'
At midnight he ordered them to move off and they travelled in the same formation until it was day and the sun was up. The robbers rose up on three sides and ran towards the caravan with drawn swords. The amir made two or three counter-attacks and shot a few arrows; then he turned to flight. When the men on foot saw the robbers they fled; the amir picked them up about half a farsang away and kept them there. When the robbers saw that the escort were few and that they and the travellers in they caravan had fled, they were delighted and began breaking open these loads with ease and getting busy with the merchandise. When they came to the apples they fell to and plundered them all, eating them with relish; those who failed to get any were given some by the olhers and there were hardly any who ate no apples at all. After an hour they fell down one by one and died.
Two hours after daybreak the amir went alone to the top of a hill and looked down upon the caravan and the robbers; he saw men lying all over the plain as if they were asleep; he ran down the hill in joy and said, 'Congratulations to you all! Help has come from Sultan Mahmud, the robbers have been killed and scarcely one is left alive. Come on, my hearties, make haste; let us destroy the remnants!' He rode with his men lowards the caravan and those on foot ran behind him. When they reached the caravan they saw the whole plain shrewn wilh corpses, shields, swords, bows and arrows; a few of the who were still alive fled when they saw the soldiers. The amir rode after them and the men on foot also joined in the chase; they pursued them for two farsangs and did not turn back until they had killed them all; not a soul remained alive to carry the news of the event back to their own coulllry. The amir ordered all their weapons to be collected and they amounted to several ass-loads. Then he took the caravan on to [the next] stopping place; nobody lost as much as a piece of thread and they could not contain themselves for joy. It was twelve farsangs from there to the place where Abu 'Ali nyas was. The amir sent ten pages to him post-haste with Mahmud's ring and informed him what had happened.
When Abu 'Ali received the ring he immediately set out for the province of Kuch Baluch with troops who were ready and rested. The amir joined forces with him and together they killed when they more than ten thousand of the inhabitants, seized several thousand dinars and collected a vast amount of goods, luxuries, arms and animals. Abu 'Ali sent all this booty with the amir to Mahmud. Mahmud issued a proclamation saying, 'Since I came to 'Iraq whoever has had anything stolen by the robbers of Kuch Baluch, let them come and take compensation from me.' Those who had claims came forward and went back satisfied. And for fifty years after that there was no report of any mischief from the Kuchis.
Thereafter Mahmud appointed reporters and intelligence agents in every place, so that if anyone in Ghaznain wrongfully took a chicken from another or struck another man with his fist Mahmud knew aboul it at Rayy and ordered amends to be made. From ancient times onwards kings have preserved this system, except for the house of Saljuq' who have shown no interest in the matter.
Abu 'l Fadl Sigzi once asked The Martyr Sultan Alp Arslan (Allah have mercy upon him) why he had no intelligece agents in every place. He answered, 'Do you want me to cast my kingdom to the winds and alienate all my supporters?' He said, 'Why so?' The Sultan said, if I institute intelligence agents, my especial favourites, trusting in their special position as favourites, will pay no attention to them nor offer them bribes; while my opponents and enemies will curry favour with them and give them money. Thus obviously the intelligence agents woll always bring to our ears bad reports about our favourites and good reports about our enemies. Now, reports good and bad are like arrows: if you shoot enough of them, at last one will hit the target. In this way we shall become more displeased with, our favourites every day and eventually banish them, while admitting our enemies further into our intimacy. In a short time, when we look [we shall find that] all our favourites are estranged and their places taken by our enemies. By that time irreparable harm will have been done.'
All the same it is better that there should be intelligencers, having intelligencers is one of the rules of state-craft; and when they can be relied upon sufficiently to perform the function described, there is no anxiety.
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Originally Posted by Nizam al-Mulk
