I WOULD lay before the wise and critical that I, the least of God's servants, Muhammad Haidar, known among my intimates as Mirzá Haidar, son of Muhammad Husain Kurkán, have been continually possessed of the thought that the rank and dignity which historians attain to, is not so high that one should have a craving for it. Still, there can be little doubt that this poor history (which has been driven by the whirlwind of pride and the waves of ignorance and intoxication, from the sea of incapacity upon the shores of small literary attainment) may be regarded as of some value by the divers in the ocean of excellence, who have concealed in the shells of perfection, the pearls of poetry and the precious stones of prose. According to the saying: “Necessity makes lawful that which is for­bidden,” and because certain important events in the annals of the Moghul Khákáns have been entirely forgotten, I was induced, as far as time should permit, to narrate some of the most trust­worthy facts in their history.

When the Moghul power was high, many eminent men flourished, and some wrote their people's history. Now, for more than a hundred years nothing of the sort has been done—no trace of these men remains, nor of their writings. Nor does any sign remain of their prosperity and civilisation, except here and there a ruined tower or fortification; and in some towns the relics of a monastery, a college, a mosque, a portico, or a minaret, still exist, because their foundations being of stone, or for some other reason, God willed that they should endure. No vestige of these men survives and no one knows anything concerning them. For during this long lapse of time, all have become strangers to the old customs and ways of learning. Since the conversion of the Moghuls to Islám, more especially, no history of them has been written. But the learned men of Mávará-un-Nahr and Khorásán and Irák, who have written the annals for their own kings, have made mention of the Moghuls, just where it has suited the context, while they have paid no attention to them when not connected with their own country. Among these histories may be mentioned the Mujma ut Tavárikh* of Khwája Rashid-ud-Din; the Tárikh-i-Guzida * of Khwája Hamid Ulláh Mustaufi; the Zafar-Náma* of Mauláná Sharaf-ud-Din Ali Yazdi; the Tárikh-i-Manzum* of Mauláná Abdur Razzák; and the Ulus Arbaa* of Mirzá Ulugh Beg. Among these I have sought carefully for any mention of the Moghul Khákáns, but have found nothing very connected [ba tartib]. In my early years, I was much drawn to the study of the history of my forefathers, and in those days there were still alive some of the Moghul Amirs and nobles (some over one hundred years of age, some under). But it never occurred to my father or my uncles to commit to writing what they had heard concerning the Khákáns, from their parents, and other trustworthy sources. And now they have all been dead for some time. [On this account] I intend, God willing, to write an account of the Moghuls after their conversion to Islám, basing my facts upon histories and reliable traditions, in addition to what I have myself witnessed in my own times. But not finding that I had capacity or talent sufficient to justify my setting out on this bold venture, I have resolved to begin by making a trial on those events of which I have been an eye-witness, and then, should I by the grace of God succeed, I will proceed with my original plan of writing the history of the Moghul Khákáns.