This Book is the composition of Abú ’Sharaf Mauláná Násih ’bn Zafar ’bn Saád Almunshí al-Jarbadkáni.

The most fitting thing which the speaking tongue should love, and towards which the reins of the will should be turned, is the praise and celebration of the Creator. May His might be glorified and His word be exalted! It was He who distin­guished man by the garment of intellect and superiority, who adorned his exterior with splendid form, and perfect figure, and who distinguished and illuminated his interior with the light of knowledge. Man hath thus received the happy gift of being enabled, with clear view and pene­trating reflection, to contemplate the wonders of Omnipotence and the mysteries of creation, and to know that this brocaded surface, coloured with brilliant groupings, and this variegated curtain decorated with the lights of the stars, received not visible form without a wise Ordainer and a preventing Framer; that this green expanse, set with jewels of flowers, and this carpet of dust, streaked with flowing streams, became possible only through an Omniscient Creator and a power­ful Disposer: and with respect to man’s being, which is a little world, the Creator carefully pro­vided that this stamp of nature which He delineated and brought from nothing unto the basis of being, should, in the darkness of the womb be ordered and arranged into different members and parts, and He enlightened this his darkened form with the flame of life, and sent forth a glance from His useful light to guard the basis of his existence, and to protect the line of his being.

And when the leavening of his clay, and the arrangement of his beauty was completed, and the time for marching forth and the period for advancing unto the plain and field of battle drew near, He sent many divine endowments attached to his being, and many delights corresponding with his construction, into the conduit of the garden of his special (frame), and bound by a strong link every one of the comforts and grati­fications of the world to his several members, and framed his various limbs into causes of utility and profit, so that by the force of sight he receives enjoyment from colour and from pleasing and charming objects, and by the sense of hearing might derive intelligence from the voices and cries of animals, and by the intensity of taste might relish different kinds of meats and drinks, and by the strength of articulate speech, his secrets and his will might be declared, so that his Vizir, the Sight, and his General, Apprehension, received all that was sufficient in the world of intelligence for his consideration and for the regulation of his comforts and conduct, in order that the highway of profit or of harm might be enlightened before his eyes, and that he might write the lesson of good or evil upon the tablet of his thought (Kurán, xxxi. 10), “This is the creation of God, show me what they have created, who are wor­shipped besides him.”

Next, salutation to the Sacred Spirit, to the flowery garden, to the pure earth of Muhammad Mustafá, the Elect, the Seal of Prophets, and Chief of the Mighty Saints, the blessing and peace of God be upon him, the dawn of whose apostleship purified the court of the world from the darkness of error, and by the polish of his guidance gave brilliancy to the sullied mirror of hearts, and freed mankind from the participa­tion of idolatry. A hundred thousand invocations of mercy, and rest, and salutation and peace be upon his glorious caste, and pure progeny and family, the source of the morning light, and the keys of mysteries. Unto his companions and followers, and comrades and associates, be respect, may their stock be perfumed with the gale of the breeze of eternity, and their stability affixed by the nails of everlasting joists, for with God is protection and grace.

Thus saith the servant of the preserver, and orator of the everlasting, Abú Ashsharaf Nasih ’bn Zafar ’bn Saad Almunshi Aljarbádakání. When the Almighty adorned with the region of Irák, or indeed with the whole extent of the horizon, him the fortunate in counsel and in judgment, the splendour of the zenith of empire, and gave lofty rank, heavenly expansion, and penetration for his commands and prohibitions (to distant regions), and all that pertains to perfect empire, unto the Just Sovereign, the Wise, the Maintainer, the Successful, the Victorious, the Warrior for Reli­gion, the Consolidator of the Glory of the State and Religion, he who gave victory to Islám and to Muslims, Supreme Prince over both Worlds, Pacificator of the Earth, Ulúgh Barík Ulláh, (God exalt his power, and raise his might and magnify his victories), and when God distinguished him with special qualities — with justice, with expansion of the wings of liberality and mercy, with bounteous benefits and advantages unto high and low, with overflowing generous kindnesses and volumes of good actions, in a glorious station, then his happy days became a pledge for the firm establishment of good things, and for strengthen­ing the bonds of neighbourhood, and caused the eager and generous expenditure of wealth and jewels upon objects of piety and charity, and upon the construction of foundations and bridges, and mosques and minarets, and in an age which was a season of violence and a time of tyranny; the plain of his guardianship and the veil of his government and aid became the asylum of the weak, the resource of the poor, the refuge of the injured, and the retreat of the oppressed; so that when any where the foot of any one failed through the slippery vibration of affairs, he laid his hand upon the handle of the solid judgment of his majestic court, and sought to hold firmly by his assuring neighbourhood and his protecting patron­age, and whenever any one was wounded by the arrow of adversity from the bow of the times, he sought to heal the scar of his wound with the plaister of his liberal and compassionate govern­ment; and whosoever, through the vicissitudes of change became ailing from the poison of care, obtained a remedy from the antidote of his pity.

Now in the second month of the year 582, when the Nabob-Sultanat of the family of Seljúk came to an end, and the great Atábeg Azim Muhammad, son of the Atabeg Assaíd Shams Addoula wa Addín Ildegiz (Allah sanctify his mighty spirit), who was the pillar of that king­dom, and the regulator of that empire, and the shepherd of that flock and the protector of all, had been caught in the snare of fate, and the govern­ment had thus passed away from his decorated mind and experience, and strength and power, and dread mastership, and the affairs of Irák were all in disturbance and confusion, and the devils of Turks came forth from the bottle of coercion, and nearly one hundred chiefs of his principal subjects, every one of whom was a demon of demon race, and a Pharaoh of rebels in the flesh, quitted the high road of right, and every one fixed his craving upon the kingdom of Irák, and fortified themselves in every side in castles, and left the road free for criminals and corrupted men, so that the impress of the force of these verses were written upon the page of its condition (Verses)

And several of the household of the Prince went forth and sought refuge with the disobedient ones of the State, and used words of tumult, and confu­sion, and division, and for nearly twenty years the extension of this strife and the source of this wretchedness increased, so that ancient houses departed and nothing remained on the right or left, and people of substance became distressed with poverty and want, the poor were in straits, and the slaves perished, so that labourers came to destruction, and cultivators and sowers were dis­persed, and their dwellings and abodes became the dens of wild beasts and tigers. But this king (long may he live!) in these days of their butting violence, drew his foot into the skirt of honour and remained dwelling quietly in the protected city of Kaswín, which is the splendour of the world, and, with firm foot and unshaken greatness, exhibited his inclination to be well affected towards and to preserve the sovereign Atabegs (Heaven support them!) and paid his due tribute, and attempted to be master in nothing, and was content with certain duties assigned by the díván, and knew that they would all be bound by their errors and wounded by punishment. Until the time approached that the State became freed from their injuries, and some, caught in the snare of their covetousness, were ruined and destroyed; many became a mark for the arrow of the plaint of the oppressed, and a portion remained humiliated and lost captives in the desert of infidels, and the hell of those who are disobedient to the Lord of Favours, until the very great Prince, the magnified King, Shums-addoulah waaddín, Victory of Islám and of Muslims, King of kings, Chief of the East and West, Itagmash (may God guard his splendour and double his prosperity!) who was the very unsurpassed strength and mighty column of the state, and pillar and prop of the kingdom, by alliance with the noble ones of that king who was the cream of Turks and flower of dominion, happily gave help, and by his support the joining of the ropes of his fortune and empire proceeded, and by the right hand of affinity and alliance, and by the support of his advice and judgment, an answer was given to all those who wounded and disputed in the kingdom, and by their associating and interweaving with one another the house of the master-son, the Lord Alim, Sultan Azim, Victory both in worldly and religious matters, refuge of Islam and of Muslims, the Sultan of Sultans, AbnBakr, son of Alátábeg Alazim, son of Abn Iaafar Muhammad, son of the Atábeg Abu Sair Ildagiz (Heaven eternize his rule!) became settled by them, and they drove back the covetous necks and gaping beaks of the armies of Syria, and Armenia, and Diarbeker, and Khurásán, and Khawarizm, and other places, who had placed their hosts in the cities and provinces of Irák, and cleansed the laws of the kingdom from the intermixture of malice by the dread of the swords of these two eminent kings, from the utmost to the nearest parts of the world. The wolf was prevented from attacking the deer, and the partridge sought aid in the patronage of the falcon, the eyes of confusion were in sweet sleep, and justice was awake, and the carpet of confidence and trust was spread (Verse)

And at this day, praise be to God, from the fortune of these two will-effecting princes and these two command-issuing kings the foundation of justice and equity hath been laid, and the rule of innovation, and oppression and violence, rejected and put away. May the Almighty establish for unnumbered years, through their empire and royalty this common gain, this shade of their justice and compassion over weak subjects. “God hath mercy on the servant who saith Amen.”