HE commences with the usual form of praise of God, and blessings on Muhammed, on the four Khalifs, Abū Beker, Omer, Osman and Aly; he then repeats the account given by Abū Talib Hussyny of discovering the book in the library of Jāfer Pashā, and of its contents.
He then states that the Emperor Shāh Jehān of Hindūstān, having perused the book was not satisfied with it, and ordered him, Muhammed Afzel Bukhāry, to revise it.
“In the year 1047 of the Hejira, and tenth of his Majesty Shāh Jehān’s reign, (A. D. 1637) the royal orders were issued to me, the meanest of the servants of the Imperial Court, (Muhammed Afzel Bukhāry) to read and revise this book from beginning to end, and to assimilate it with the Zuffer Nameh,* of the correctness of which no intelligent person can have a doubt, and compare it with some other trust-worthy histories, to omit some things which the translator had inserted, and to insert some occurrences which he had omitted; also to translate the Tūrky and Arabic sentences into Persian, and to correct several of the dates, which do not agree with the Zuffer Nameh.”
“In submission to the royal order, the least of the servants of his Majesty, having bound round him the girdle of obedience, has exerted himself as much as possible in revising and correcting the said translation, and has thrown out all the unauthenticated passages which Abū Talib had inserted. He has inserted several passages that have been omitted by that translator, and he has thereby made the book conform with the Zuffer Nameh. Thus under the happy auspices of his Imperial Majesty, equal in dignity to Solomon, the Defender of the Faith, and the Protector of Princes, this work has been brought to a conclusion, and now only waits the stamp of approval of his Majesty (the King of the world).”
It appears in Dow’s History of Hindostan, that Muhammed Afzel was the name of the Emperor, Shāh Jehān’s preceptor; he was probably the person employed to revise this work, but he has not complied with his promise of translating all the Tūrky passages, although a native of Bokhārā, where that language was well understood.
The conclusion of the work states the arrival of the Emperor Timūr at Atrar,* on his route to China; of his last illness; of his having assembled all his family, his ministers, and other principal personages, and of his having in their presence made his will, consisting of four clauses.
The two first clauses are to recommend union among his descendants, and loyalty to his nobles; the third clause appoints his grandson Pyr Muhammed Jehāngyr to be his successor and possessor of the kingdom of Samerkund, and that all his descendants should consider Jehāngyr as their superior.* The fourth clause entreats his posterity to observe the rules and regulations that he had written during his reign, and to insert them as an Appendix to his Memoirs; he further desires that they will continue his Memoirs to the last moment of his existence as if written or spoken by himself;
“I desire that this my Testament, and whatever I shall say to the last moment of my existence, shall be written in my Memoirs as if proceeding from my own mouth.” (Appendix 11.)
He repeats his exhortation to his descendants to observe union, “to support the religion of Muhammed, to give currency to the tenets of the Sūnies, and to exert themselves in eradicating every false religion.” (Appendix 12.) He then forbids any one to speak to, or again disturb, him, but leave him to the mercy of God.
Shortly after this exhortation he resigned his soul to his Creator, on Tuesday the 17th of Shabān, A. H. 807, March 19th, A. D. 1405.