Appointment to the governor’s office in 
Gürgen and vicinities

Allah (Praise be to Him) granted us the Sultanate with all His All-encompassing Compassion and infinite Mercy. He gave us keys to conduct official responsibilities and the means to reinforce the basis of the living conditions of the citizens. We witnessed Holy Allah’s grants and gifts as soon as he provided us with additional powers. No praise would be enough to thank Him. In this transitory world happiness and sorrow, and brilliant and ordinary days come one after another. Sometimes some of the tasks we undertake may end in failure. Even if the people of ill-will have time to think that these failures will do harm to us or will put unexpected obstacles before our wishes and will, there are many unimaginable sacred grants under the celestial secrets. The residents of this world know that whenever such grants are bestowed, being on our side results in safety and comfort; and being suspicious of us, and engaging in conspiracies against us ends in discomfort and regret. We have come to fulfil our responsibilities before Allah for all that He gave us either secretly or openly. We have adopted the Qur’anic verse which runs, “Say, Allah is Compassionate and Merciful,” as our principle. We witnessed the results of the verse, “If you praise me, I shall increase that which I bestow upon you.” We always focused on the people’s problems that we were ordered by Allah to protect when we were fulfilling responsibilities. We did all that we could to disseminate justice. We appointed experienced and ethical representatives to every corner of the country. We ordered them to follow and organize the affairs of the Muslim community.

Whenever we witnessed someone engaging in a crime or in a deed not approved by us, we deemed it proper to change that which was being conducted; in this regard we caused no delays. With Allah’s help and grace, state affairs are improving in a way to satisfy us. The affairs being conducted under our Sultanate have been arranged properly. Those whom we trained range from Governors presiding over the farthest points of Türkistan to Indian princes and Soltans, and to other states’ Soltans and governors that rule in the terrain that stretches till the Greek and Western lands, and they are appointed by us and we impose taxes upon them. They are all subject to us.

The Emir Muhammed Yolabi was commissioned, trained and appointed by us. When we appointed him to the governor’s office in Gürgen, he showed that he was loyal to us and that he was after his subjects’ interests. He exhibited examples of wisdom, foresight, ethical standards, and discretion. He started with this office successfully and completed his duties in the same way. Our valuable traditions required us to do what the heritage of the dead instructed us to do and as such, and in consideration of his successful time in office, we commissioned his son to the same office. We thought he would follow the path led by his father in terms of loyalty, goodness and taking care of his subjects’ interests, and that he would imitate what he had heard and listened to from his father. Therefore we provided him with many privileges. For a while he acted in the way we expected. He displayed progress and established good relations. This continued until he saw himself as wealthier and more powerful than he actually was. He then started behaving arrogantly and enabled the Devil to create tensions, in the way decreed by the Qur’an: “No, the man became greedy for he saw his predictions came to be true.” If an administrator enables the Devil to create tensions and his affairs do not proceed well, then his subjects will have to lead a life under cruelty and in misfortune since he digressed from the true path and led an unfavourable life. In that case punishing that administrator, taking back from him the lands and subjects under his office, overcoming the public unrest, and getting him to taste the sorrowful pain of his unfavourable deeds, and relieving people of their misfortune and his cruelty became a responsibility that had to be fulfilled. When we hoisted our flag in that region everyone saw what he was worth for what he had done. His armies and warriors he had been breeding for long could not even resist a single fist of our soldiers. Those who were present there saw for sure that he made a grave mistake by trusting his army as ever and that type of mistake would even cause the Devil to find a place to flee to.

Now that we had confidence in Allah’s might and power, and in celestial patronage, this very numerous army of the traitor was ruined as decreed in the Holy Qur’an: “We made him like the reaped corn. It was as if he weren’t rich the day before.” When it was evident that the war followed a course to our benefit, those warriors who started fleeing and wandering to and fro, begged mercy everywhere and sought our commanders’ and soldiers’ compassion. After that, in line with the dignity granted to us by Allah and thanks to His Mercy (Highest of the Praises be to Him) we forgave them all in accordance with our virtues which tell us to assist those who yielded to mishaps and to forgive the criminals, and as per the decree which ran, “You won’t be condemned today.” We declared to the residents of Gürgen and its vicinities that we welcomed the peoples of Amul and Tabarystan, and those urban residents and others living near the sea. We told them we shared their feelings. Thus, we paid them special respect, gave them privileges over other people under different governors. And we provided them with the comfort, safety and justice for which they have been longing for years.

We expressed thanks to Allah (He is the Almighty and the Great Allah) and held discussions where different viewpoints were expressed. We made a decision to subject the residents of certain towns, soldiers and civilians, all regional residents, castles and residences in those districts, treasures, plains, mountains, sites on the ground and the sea to the patronage and order of the new governor. I appointed my son Mälik Gyýasetdin we’d-düýä Mälik’ü-l ‹slam Mesud (May he have a long life) as the new governor. He is of a pure Seljuk Türkmen generation. He agrees to be bound by our traditions and developed administrative skills; he intends to hoist the flag of the religion and establish the sacred law of Islam; he shows respect to Allah (May his name become famous); he is concerned over the elderly, and he is skilled at establishing proper relations with his subjects. So skilled is he that though he is young, even experienced old men who suffered from the pains of life have much to learn from him. We trained him (May Allah give him long life, peace and may He protect him) so that he could preside over the whole world. We declared publicly that he would be the Soltan. This declaration is still valid.

Without regard to this declaration, and now that he has become extremely interested in the affairs of that country, we ordered this decree. We confirm in practice that this decree and instruction will be valid in consideration of Allah’s words in the sacred Qur’an: “We will release another verse in place of any other one that we lifted or made you forget, it will be similar to or better than the former one.” This change in office has evidently nothing to do with former issues. When taken into careful consideration, this change gives us the opportunity to say, “We dethroned the giant and placed there Süle_man instead.” Those who have common sense know that this sets a wise example and it will not cause any repentance. Praise be to Allah for He rewards those who reject, confirm, prove, resolve and judge. We are always indebted to Him. From now on my dear son’s (may he always be glorious) orders and instructions will be valid whenever he wishes them to be valid. His decisions equal ours in that they will apply to detentions or releases, approvals and refusals, dismissal, forgiving or punishing criminals, sending or not sending to exile. We order that everyone should recognize this as such. We state that his orders and prohibitions will be deemed to be of ours in every respect and everywhere. We order him to obey Allah in all that he does either openly or secretly, and to follow the way of loyalty and fear toward Allah (He is High and Almighty) so that he may find peace in both worlds. For “He who fears from Allah will attain to superiority.” With respect to the establishment of the sacred law of Islam, May Allah make him very respectful to the judges, religious leaders and men of letters (Allah be pleased with them all) who are responsible for the protection of the Prophet’s heritage. He will help them in carrying out legal transactions and making decisions. He will display signs of persistence and faith to the infidel in battles against the infidel who live on the borders of Dehistan and Müýgyfllak.

 He will, when necessary, crush or destroy them as decreed by Allah: “Obey him in the way you are to, it is Allah that chose you.”

He will give utmost importance to the safety of travellers and passages on the ground and the sea. He will be sensitive toward farther regions that require awareness all the time. He will punish those engaged in improper deeds, infidelity and theft in line with what Allah (He is the High and the Almighty) says: “Those who act contrary to Allah and His representatives will be punished in the following way: they will either be killed or crucified, or their hand and legs are cut, or they are sent to exile.” He will appoint wise and experienced commanders who are loyal to castles and important locations. He will be sensitive on this issue and never forget that he should always keep it so. He will exhibit unlimited respect for administrators and men of reputation that live in Horasan, Iraq and Mesopotamia, according to the level of the posts they hold. He will listen to their advice. He will receive everybody’s opinion carefully, analyse different viewpoints and do whatever is most beneficial according to him. He will comply with justice in all that he does. He will do every job to the full, without its remaining arbitrary or incomplete. He will consult experienced older people who are loyal before he does anything. He will adopt it as his main goal to win peoples’ hearts in administrative affairs and provide them with comfort. By the same token, he will never let the servants, slaves or the freed individuals become open or secret enemies to one another. For wishes and disputes among the public might result in violations, fights and bloodshed. He will fix various types of gifts and grants according to the type of service rendered by everyone, and he will give these gifts.

He will not immediately punish those people under his patronage if they commit a crime. He will not act in haste and punish others. He will not punish soldiers and his officers in haste. Unless evident or proven, he will not decree a punishment for any crime. For sure, if he knows of the treachery and the evils of another person he will not forgive them since the greatness of a ruler depends on to what extent his orders are being confirmed and executed. He will tell his officers not to make citizens face unnecessary difficulties. He will order his officers to collect various types of taxes fixed by law (the Qur’an, 16: 92) in a polite manner, not to charge the public extra amounts, and to protect those who are subject to them under justice and law. “For sure, Allah orders that you be generous, just and lawful to those nearby. He prohibits badness, excessiveness and murders. He gives you the advice. He orders these so that maybe you could take examples from these.” When he listens to the cases brought before the head of the court of Mazali, he will order him to pay all due attention, to listen to all the parties’ statements carefully, to take back the right of the oppressed from the oppressor, and give the oppressed their rights. He will warn him often so that he will not divert from truth, will avoid intolerance, hypocrisy, bigotry, and fraud.

Dear son, the greatest ruler is the one who will believe that our words in this instruction are compliant with Allah’s order: “O David, Verily We rendered you our representative on earth. Judge then between people in justice.” (The Qur’an, 38:25)

The decree follows: Gürgen, Tabarystan, Dehistan, Bistam and Damgan’s officers, tradesmen and residents, either slave or free, (May Allah grant them prosperity!) should recognize the great ruler as their Soltan and ruler. They should be honest when they submit to him. They should submit to whatever is ruled by him, and serve him frankly. They should try to fulfil his orders as soon as possible. They should not avoid the instructions of their officers and find excuses. They should know that his decrees are the same as ours, and his approval of or anger toward a particular issue is the same as our approval of or anger toward that particular issue. They should consult his representatives for their wages and means of subsistence. All wealthy people, citizens and military leaders should consult the supreme court composed of trustworthy members. Taxes fixed upon his orders and decrees should be paid. We hope they will remember our administration as one that gave benefits to them.

(386-392.)