THE ornament of the introduction to the chronicle containing the biographies of prophets of exalted station, and the decoration of the preface to the collection of the memorable deeds of powerful sovereigns, is gratitude to the Universal Benefactor, on the spread table of whose bounty the marvels of the visible creation are displayed; and the emanations of the Fountain of life are a rhetorical goblet* from the ocean of His favours, the eloquent utterances whereof cannot be adequately interpreted by the greatest sages of the world, the Eternal, without whose adoration and praise annals cannot be commenced, and without the mention of whose exalted attributes the chronicles of antiquity cannot be arranged.
The vicissitudes of royal dynasties are a convincing proof of the perpetuity of His sovereignty, and the changes of fortune to which kings are subject are evident signs of His omnipotence. He placed ‘one who will do evil therein’* by His abundant goodness and mercy on the seat of glory and throne of successorship [by creating man] according to the verse, ‘I am going to place a substitute on earth,’* and flung the seraph of the highest heavens to manifest His glory from the throne of honour down into the abyss of misery [saying]: ‘Get thee therefore hence: for thou shalt be driven away with stones.’*
The Bountiful who has ennobled men—‘Verily we have favoured the sons of Adam’* —has made them happy in the world—‘by possession, and by establishing you therein’* —who has exalted the victorious standards of kings to the highest pinnacles of dominion, and has made the blades of those who combat for religion the reflectors of victory. The Predestinator who stands in no need of instruments or aids in the creation and perfection of existing things. The Fashioner who has depicted the effects of His bounty on all forms [saying]: ‘Verily we have created man of a most excellent fabric’* —in perfect beauty as an evident miracle ‘he has formed you and made your forms beautiful.’*
The creator of men and genii:
All was, when He said: be.
His bounty and liberality ennobled man
With the nobility of intellect, virtue and existence.
Glory be to the Sage, who, when He had perfected His work by the creation of intelligent beings, adorned in His supreme wisdom the heavens with assemblies of saints and angels, and ornamented the centre of the circle of existence by calling into being human creatures, containing in themselves the germs of good and of evil. These were accounted to belong to the second class of rational beings, and were, according to the manifestations of their innate capacities and their original differences, divided into various races. But as not every member of the human species was, by his own efforts, able to fathom his exalted origin, to attain a knowledge of the Deity, to reach the object of his desires, and under the guidance of reason alone, which is beset with doubts, to walk in the paths of righteousness, and thus ultimately to participate in heavenly bliss, the Omnipotent Director—may His attributes be praised, and His gifts be appreciated—has raised up from their own kind exalted prophets and inspired messengers, endued with purity and wisdom, to guide those who have gone astray in the vale of aberration, and those who are thirsty into the paths of orthodoxy, and to the fountain of Divine grace.
Prophets succeeded each other during many ages until the sun of apostleship rose in Battha,* and the great prophetic light began powerfully to radiate from Mekkah; namely, until his lordship, the prince of saints, the support of the poor, the medium of the mysteries of the invisible world, the conveyer of the tidings of absolute certainty, the firstfruit of the garden of existences, the index and model of created beings, the sovereign utterer of the announcement, ‘I have with Allah’* appeared, who was honoured with the words, ‘May Allah forgive thee,’* He who is the altar of the lamp of prophecy and of Emamship, the confidant of the mansion of proximity, honour, and intimacy, the sun of the firmament (according to the saying), ‘I walked on earth, and beheld the east and the west thereof,’* the elected Mekkanican, the chosen Madinian, the Quraishian director, the Hashemite guide, the jewel of the family of Lowa, the son of Ghâleb, Muhammad the son of Abdullah, son of Abdulmutallab (may the blessing of Allah and peace be upon him and on his family), the herald who conveyed the words, ‘I was a prophet and a man between water and loam’* to the denizens of heaven and earth, and who promulgated the invitation, ‘I am sent to the black and to the red,’* to the terrestrial and to the celestial world; the chieftain, the light of whose august forehead was the origin of all creatures. ‘The first of what Allah created was light.’* He whose propitious advent entailed the promulgation of His sublime laws, ‘the apostle of Allah and the seal of the prophets;’* the prince whose sanguinary lance terrified the warriors of the [tribes] Rabi’h and Madhar, and the fear of the sharpness of whose fire-shedding scimitar conveyed the thirsty souls of the Beni Ghâleb to the fountain of certainty and to the mansion of the righteous; the prophet, the convincing miracles of whose power will for all time to come survive among the nations, and the evident signs of His acts will subsist for ever and ever. The exalted personage who rose during the night of the Ascension to the highest heavens, and overshadowed the denizens of the sacred regions with the wings of his kindness and favour; the royal cavalier who, when he departed from that locality, continued to instruct mankind. In the spaces he traversed, the dust of his Borâq’s* hoofs is esteemed of equal value with the diadems adorning the heads of the nobles of the upper world. He is the sovereign, the dust of whose blessed sandals is deservedly the collyrium of the eyes of mortal men:
Distich: When he was on earth he was the Qiblah of heavenly spirits,
In heaven he is the refuge of mankind.
O Allah! Bless Muhammad, his family, progeny, companions and people, with blessings that will not terminate for ever, and will endure as long as time lasts! Constant, blessed and abundant salutations to Him and to them!
But after [this preliminary, the following statement is made]: The author of these pages, the most despicable servant of God, Muhammad the son of Khâvand Shâh, son of Mahmûd—may the Most High pardon his transgressions —speaks as follows: In the midst of the vernal season of youth, which is the best and most pleasant epoch of life, his weak mind and imbecile talents were devoted to the study of historical works, comprising information about the affairs of the inhabitants of the world, and the fortunes of various nations, and whenever other avocations that engaged his attention admitted, he applied himself with the greatest eagerness to the study of ancient chronicles and traditions; he also occasionally delivered lectures to noble and learned personages, which were greatly applauded. Meanwhile a number of chosen spirits,* adorned with the decorations of virtue and sincerity, requested, and even enjoined, him from time to time to compose a work embracing the great achievements of the apostle [Muhammad], the prophets, kings, and khalifahs, for the perusal of sovereigns and the pastime of grandees. But despite of his readiness to comply with the wishes of his incomparable friends, he was hindered by his poverty, obscurity, the want of patrons, and by other obstacles, so that there was no possibility of beginning the work. Anyone engaged in literary occupations must enjoy tranquillity of body and mind, comfortable circumstances, and must not be troubled by any cares. Also, in ancient times authors carried on their labours by the support they received from high personages.
In short, whilst I was thus waiting for an opportunity to find a patron, my time was lost, and I was very unhappy, till at last the breeze of divine favour wafted me into happiness and prosperity, which happened as follows: When the throne of justice, the office of government, and the exalted dignity of the highest rank became adorned by the excellent qualities of—the upholder of the banners of righteousness, the abolisher of the signs of darkness and aberration,* the intimate of the Royal Majesty, the Councillor of State, the refuge of created beings, the experienced, the intelligent, the possessor of all theoretical and practical perfections, the recipient of eternal felicities, the discoverer of the mysteries of antiquity, the adept in all the enigmas of philosophy, the Sûfi-minded and sincere-hearted, the dignified, the prudent, the administrator of the monarchy— AMIR A’LI SHIR (may God vouchsafe to the Musulmâns the perpetuity of His prosperity, and may God bring all his aspirations and undertakings to a happy issue), the rose-garden of scholars was weeded of the thorns of despondency and began to flourish, the groves of the hopes of men of science were refreshed by abundant showers from the clouds of his favours, and the tree of the prosperity of learned men became fruit-bearing from the breeze of the gardens of his bounty.
I, the insignificant servant, was waiting for the radiation of the sun of the benefits of prosperity during many hopeless nights, and was counting the stars till the rise of dawn, but was, by my ill luck and by the machinations of enemies, deprived of the felicity of obtaining admission to the private society, and of gaining the ear of him who is the friend of scholars.* In my great uneasiness, I requested the morning and the evening breeze, which is the messenger of the poor and the unhappy, to convey the following lines to that ocean of beneficence and of liberality:
Verses: Thy largesses are more abundant
Than the waters of the ocean.
The waves of thy liberality so inundated the world
That only thy servant remains untouched by them.
I was moreover aware that the non-reception of favours was attributable rather to the receiver than to the granter, because the liberality of the latter is equally manifest to all.
At last, however, on a happy day, I was by favourable circumstances, I should say by a special interposition of Providence, ad??tted to the propitious threshold. When I was made happy by being allowed to kiss the carpet, I beheld, indeed, an exalted spirit, and an angel in the form of a man, distinguished by his noble attributes and accomplishments above the most learned persons of our times; whose exalted intellect penetrated the most abstruse matters, whose spotless bosom was the receptacle of the mysteries of the invisible world, whose pearl-shedding tongue was the interpreter of divine tidings, and whose poetical effusions delighted all intelligent readers!
Having explained my case, enjoyed the advantage of the interview, and obtained leave to depart, I returned to my humble abode, and considered in what manner I might become enrolled in the service of that exalted personage, and by what trifling oblation I could make myself worthy of participating in the liberality of that sovereign. As he is greatly interested in the affairs of illustrious and holy men, and has in his knowledge of history, of biography, and in his researches concerning ancient nations, surpassed all past and present chroniclers, I concluded that I ought to write a collection of the histories of Prophets, Inspired Messengers, Khalifahs, and Sultâns, comprising also the affairs of high and low personages of various countries, which could neither be superseded by the works of any other authors, nor fall into oblivion during the vicissitude of time:
Verses: Buildings may be seen,
Ruined by sun and rain.
Erect history’s strong foundation
To escape from wind, rain, and desolation.
My intention having been approved of, I was ordered to compose a history, free from metaphorical exaggerations, plagiarisms, prolixities and obscurities, divided into a preface, seven parts, and an appendix, in such a manner that each part may contain three books, and could be read separately. In compliance with the exalted command, I placed my finger of acquiescence on the vision of obedience, and girded my loins to begin the work, at the same time proferring my request to be provided with historical books, and with a lodging where I might comfortably pursue my labours, etc. All my wishes met with the approbation of him who is aided by divine favour, namely, of the confidant of the Royal Majesty, and I was installed in his private mansion on the banks of the river Jil, in the vicinity of the high school built by his own generosity, which, with all the edifices constructed by that exalted personage, will (if it pleaseth Allah the Most High) be described in the proper place.
Verses: No petitioner, either in anger or in play,
Perceived a negation in his kind eye.
Not to disappoint the modest asker,
He always was the cheerful granter.
Were it not for his strenuous efforts, and the protection he grants to scholars, the traces of theoretical and of narrative sciences would disappear from the minds of persons addicted either to researches or to traditional knowledge, nor would a single individual remain in the realm of Khorâsân who is able to discern a surface from a line, or what is licit from what is illicit; and were it not for the bountiful consideration bestowed by him on the poor and distressed, persons like myself might wait for a long time to receive from covetous and envious men even as inconsiderable an amount of aid as the quantity of the collyrium which people apply to their eyes. As, however, a separate volume would be required to enumerate all his kind acts and excellent qualities, I sincerely pray that the Most High (whose name be glorified) may grant him a long life, may prosper him in all his undertakings, and may guard him from all the calamities and vicissitudes of fortune for the sake of His prophet, the honour of the family and progeny.
I begin the preface and the work by invoking the grace of the Granter of every good thing and the Source of all liberality; and, in compliance with the sanction of the monarch of the realms of knowledge, who is a lamp illuminating the world He has created, I call this book ‘The Mausoleum of Illustrious Personages, containing the lives of Prophets, Kings, and Khalifahs,’ and divide it into a preface, seven parts and an appendix.