In the meantime...

In the meantime, the monarch delegated a special envoy to summon al-Shahid, who got to be aware of the inevitable danger, secretly departing the country with the pilgrims caravan. Then the special envoy arrived in the country for meeting al-Shahid and notifying him the monarch’s decision. Being aware of his departure, he followed up al-Shahid’s trace, till catching him while being on his way toward the holy Makkah.

Thereat, al-Shahid came to know that no choice was left before him but to go back to the capital, after having knowledge of the wish of al-Sultan Sulayman al-Qanuni, in arranging a thought meeting with Qastantine ‘ulama’ and fuqaha .[^6] Meanwhile, al-Shahid suggested to the envoy to perform the rites of Hajj before going to the capital, the fact upon which both agreed. Then the two men took the direction of the caliphate capital, with al-Shahid’s full surrender to Allah’s will.

On his way, he might have remembered that vision he dreamt of in the past, and the time he was sitting beside al-Shahid al-’Awwal Muhammad ibn Makki, who was murdered in almost similar circumstances. En route to the capital, al-Shahid went along the same road he followed previously, with the same unusual feeling, that filled him with doubt when approaching the Mediterranean shores, starting to recur to his mind.

Herein a meeting was held that raised a big question mark, when they were encountered with some man asking them to stop, whereat a conversation was held between him and the Sultan’s envoy about al-Shahid’s character.

After that, the man embarked on urging the envoy to slay al-Shahid on the spot, and get rid of him.[^7] This episode cannot be accepted as it is, as the event implies that there was verily an engineered plot, hatched in darkness, particularly that the facts would convict the second strong man in power, being the Prime Minister (Rustam Pasha), who received secret reports indicating that al-Shaykh Zayn al-Din was actively striving to propagating Shi`ism ( tashayyu` ).

So he gave his orders to arrest al-Shahid, and take him guarded to Istanbul.