forbidden, and the Yarghū and the institutes of Chingīz Khān have been abolished. Since, then, it is sure and certain that salvation and deliverance in the day of judgment, and sovereignty and felicity in the present world, depend upon true faith and Islam, and the favour of the Most High God, it is incumbent upon us to treat our subjects with justice and equity. I hope that by the bounty and benevolence of God you too will observe the law of Muḥammad, the Apostle of God (peace be upon him!) and strengthen the religion of Islam, so that you may exchange the transitory sovereignty of this world for the sovereignty of the world to come.” [982] It is not improbable that these letters gave rise to the later legend of one of the Chinese emperors having become a convert to Islam. [983] This legend is referred to, among others, by a Muhammadan merchant, Sayyid ʻAlī Akbar, who spent some years in Peking at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century; he speaks of the large number of Musalmans who had settled in China; in the city of Kenjanfu there were as many as 30,000 Muslim families; they paid no taxes and enjoyed the favour of the emperor, who gave them grants of land; they enjoyed complete toleration for the exercise of their religion, which was favourably viewed by the Chinese, and conversions were freely permitted; in the capital itself there were four great mosques and about ninety more in other provinces of the empire,—all erected at the cost of the emperor. [984]