Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz ( via collecting indian ness, queercult & the dog days are over)
Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz. via COLLECTING INDIAN NESS
Mahmud of Ghazni founded the Ghaznavid Empire and ruled as a sultan. He fell in love with Malik Ayaz, a Turkish slave, and their relationship became the epitome of idealized love in Islamic legend and Sufi literature. As the story goes, Ayaz asked Mahmud who the most powerful man in the kingdom was. When the sultan replied that it was himself, Ayaz corrected him, claiming that in fact Ayaz was the most powerful, since Mahmud was his slave. The “slave to a slave” became a favorite trope in Persian literature. R.G.L.
and this from Queercult:
Ruler of the Ghazavid empire from 997 to 1030 A.D., Mahmud turned the city of Ghazni, on the road between Kabul and Kandahar, into an empire that encompasses today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and parts of India.
Mahmud of Ghazni is known for his brutal destruction of Hindu temples and for bringing Islam to the Indian subcontinent – a hero to millions, a villain to millions. He was also known for his love for a slave, Malik Ayaz, a relationship which became a model for ideal love in Persian literature and Ayaz himself a model for purity in Sufism. In 1021 he made Ayaz the King of Lahore.
Mahmud of Ghazni has a page at Wikipedia, here, and at the New World Encyclopedia, here. A paraphrase by Edwin Arnold of a poem by Sa’adi about the love between Mahmud and Malik Ayaz can be read below:
From “With Sa’di in the Garden.” I. Mahmud and Ayaz: A Paraphrase on Sa’Di
Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904)
THEY mock’d the Sovereign of Ghaznin: one saith,
“Ayaz hath no great beauty, by my faith!
A Rose that ’s neither rosy-red nor fragrant,
The Bulbul’s love for such astonisheth!”
This went to Mahmud’s ears; ill-pleas’d he sate,
Bow’d on himself, reflecting; then to that
Replied: “My love is for his kindly nature,
Not for his stature, nor his face, nor state!”
And I did hear how, in a rocky dell,
Bursting a chest of gems a camel fell;
King Mahmud wav’d his sleeve, permitting plunder,
But spurr’d his own steed onward, as they tell.
His horsemen parted from their Lord amain,
Eager for pearls, and corals, and such gain:
Of all those neck-exalting courtiers
None except Ayaz near him did remain.
The King look’d back—“How many hast thou won,
Curl’d comfort of my heart?” He answer’d “None!
I gallop’d up the pass in rear of thee;
I quit thee for no pearls beneath the sun!”
Oh, if to God thou hast propinquity,
For no wealth heedless of His service be!
If Lovers true of God shall ask from God
Aught except God, that ’s infidelity.
If thine eyes fix on any gift of Friend,
Thy gain, not his, is thy desire’s end:
If thy mouth gape in avarice, Heaven’s message
Unto Heart’s ear by that road shall not wend.
