ONE day when Tughluk Timur Khán was feeding his dogs with swine's flesh, Shaikh Jamál-ud-Din was brought into his presence. The Khán said to the Shaikh: “Are you better than this dog or is the dog better than you?” The Shaikh replied: “If I have faith I am the better of the two, but if I have no faith this dog is better than I am.” The Khán was much impressed by these words, and a great love for Islám took possession of his heart.

Tughluk Timur Khán was the son of Isán Bughá Khán, son of Davá, son of Barák Khán, son of Kará Isun, son of Mutukan, son of Chaghatái Khán, son of Chingiz Khán, son of Yusukái, son of Birtán, son of Kabal, son of Tumana, son of Báisanghar, son of Kaidu, son of Dutumanin, son of Buká, son of Burunjar Khán, son of Alánkuá Kurkluk (which means an immaculate woman). Of her the Prolegomena of the Zafar-Náma tells the following story: One day a brilliant light shone into her mouth, and thereupon she felt within her a kind of pregnancy—just in the way that Miriam, the daughter of Omrán, became pregnant by means of the breath of Gabriel. And neither of these things is beyond the power of God. [Verses.] …

The object of this book is not to tell such tales as these, but simply to point out that Burunjar Khán was born of his mother, without a father. All histories trace the genealogy of his mother, Alánkuá Kurkluk, back to Japhet son of Noah (upon them be peace), and detailed accounts of all her ancestors are given in these histories. But I have not accorded them a place in this one, for it would take too long; moreover, I have, in this work, limited my subject to events that took place after the conversion to Islám of the Moghuls, and have said nothing of their history previous to that time.