Tamerlane: The Life of the Great Amir 9781350988385, 9781838609221

Table of contents :
Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Introduction
Introduction to the first edition
Sketch map
Volume I
I. Of his origin and the way in which he gradually subdued kingdoms to himself
II. Of his tumultuous and marvellous crossing of the Oxus
III. Of the danger which he confronted in the attack on the city of Qarshi and his escape from that difficulty
IV. Relates who were held bound by the attack of that despot and what noble princes he wished to be enslaved to him
V. How when the Moguls rose against the sultan his power was broken
VI. Timur’s crafty designing and the device which he planned
VII. Timur proceeds to Balkhshan, receiving aid against the sultan from those who were holding that city
VIII. Describes the expedition of Toqtamish Khan, sultan of Dasht and Turkistan
IX. Concerning the quarrel and evil things which arose between Ali Shir and Timur
X. What Timur did with the rogues and villains of Samarkand and how he sent them to hell
XI. The territories of Samarkand are described and also those which lie between the rivers of Balkhshan and Khajend
XII. Of the beginning of his tyranny after he had subdued the provinces of Transoxiana
XIII. Timur plans to invade countries and first the territories of Khwarizm
XIV. The second invasion of Khwarizm
XV. Timur sends a letter to Malik Ghayatuddin, sultan of Herat, who snatched him from the cross, and on his account opposed his own father
XVI. How that tyrant visited the venerable Zainuddin Abu Bakr of Khawaf
XVII. Timur returns to Khorasan and lays waste the provinces of Seistan
XVIII. That deceitful one advances to the territories of Sabzuar, which submit to him and whose prince comes to meet him
XIX. The acts of that villain in the city of Sabzuar with Sharif Mahomed, the head of a band of villains
XX. A letter of that intrepid one to the sultan of Persian Irak, Abul Fuaris Shah Shujah
XXI. The third expedition of Timur into Khwarizm with armies ravaging and destroying
XXII. The fourth expedition of this wanderer into Khwarizm
XXIII. The threats uttered by that demon against Shah Wali, the amir of Mazanderan
XXIV. Of the letter of Shah Wali to the sultans of Irak and the dissensions and discord which then arose
XXV. The conflict of Abu Bakr of Shasban with this despot
XXVI. How Timur invaded Persian Irak and Shah Mansur went under the floods of that sea which devoured with open mouth
XXVII. Of the subtle plan which was uncovered and how that which Shah Mansur wove was unravelled
XXVIII. Of the battle and destruction which Shah Mansur inflicted on the army of Timur under the wing of night
XXIX. Of the events and disasters which befell after the overthrow of Shah Mansur
XXX. Of the efficacy of the time of his entry into Ispahan
XXXI. Of the military stations which he imposed on the Moguls and Jatas and his exploits in those parts
XXXII. This viper returns to the kingdoms of Fars and Khorasan and crushes the kings of Persian Irak and drains these provinces and peoples of all goods
XXXIII. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
XXXIV. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
XXXV. The cause of his invading Arabian Irak, though his tyranny needed no reason or cause
XXXVI. The rest after that fierce storm and the calming of that troubled sea, that it might break at will the surrounding coasts, freed from fear of it, and make untoward happenings befall there
XXXVII. An example of the way in which that faithless despot plunged into the seas of his army, and dived into affairs, then advanced with the surge of calamities; and particularly his plunges into Transoxiana and his coming forth from the country of Lur
XXXVIII. This bastard begins to lay waste Azerbaijan and the kingdoms of Arabian Irak
XXXIX. The fort of Al Naja is described
XL. The story of the lord of Bagdad, the names of his fathers and ancestors and how he came to this country
XLI. Of the trickery and fraud which he committed in the country of Erzinjan and Diar-Bakr
XLII. Concerning the calamity and hardship which that treacherous impostor brought upon the sultan of Mardin, Isa Malik Azzahir
XLIII. His hidden designs become clear and those evil plans are in vain
XLIV. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
XLV. Timur returns from Diar-Bakr and Irak, and turns towards the deserts of Kipchak, whose kings and kingdoms are described, with an account of its plains and ways
XLVI. That flood comes and sweeps over the peoples of Dasht after breaking Toqtamish
XLVII. Concerning the contention that arose in the army of Toqtamish at the time of battle
XLVIII. Of the cunning of Idaku and how he deceived Timur and cajoled him
XLIX. Of the fights and battles between Toqtamish and Idaku fought in northern parts, until the condition of those parts was utterly changed
L. Returning to the story of the deeds of Timur and his oppressions
LI. He begins to invade the territories of Syria
LII. Of the reply which Sultan Aba Yazid gave to Qazi Burhanuddin Abul Abbas, sultan of the territories of Siwas
LIII. Of the expedition of the armies of Syria to repel that danger
LIV. Of the return of that covetous one (Timur) and his plan of subduing the countries of India
LV. Of the stratagem of that deceiver in putting the elephants to flight
LVI. That wicked one receives news of the death of kings—Abul Abbas Ahmad and Malik Azzahir Barkuk
LVII. Of the calamities and new things which befell and evils and injuries which were inflicted when the sword was drawn after the death of the sultan of Siwas
LVIII. A fragment of the affairs of the Qazi and how he became ruler of Siwas and those lands
LIX. How Qara Iluk Othman destroyed the traces of the fires of Sultan Burhanuddin, because of hidden enmity raising open rebellion against him, and seized him, when fortune betrayed and deceived him
LX. Of the good counsel which Qara Iluk took, but turned to bad at the prompting of Sheikh Najib
LXI. Of the evils which the world and the Faith endured after Sultan Burhanuddin was slain by Qara Iluk
LXII. The people of Siwas take counsel how they should proceed and who should rule
LXIII. That traitor attacks Siwas and its territories
LXIV. The thunderstorms of that exceeding disaster pour from the clouds of greed upon the territories of Syria
LXV. Of the letter and base despatch; which he sent to the governors at Haleb, while he was at Aintab
LXVI. How the governors in Haleb plotted against Timur, who was at Aintab
LXVII. How he poured thunders of swords and breastplates upon the armies of Syria, when he reached Haleb.
LXVIII. This disaster is more fully set forth from those things which I have taken from the Chronicle of Ibn Al Shahana
Volume II
I. How the troublous news was brought and Istanbugha Aldawadar and Abdul Qasar came to Damascus
II. How Sultan Al Malik Al Nasir set forth from Cairo with troops and armies of Islam
III. Of the battle that befell and the breaking of the line, tho’ not without profit
IV. Of the deceit and fraud practised by Sultan Hussein, son of the sister of Timur
V. Of the jealousy and discord which arose among the armies of the Muslims
VI. How the leaders went forth, after the sultan had departed, and sought security from Timur
VII. The deed of one of the more prudent who feared the threatening disaster and by means of his resources preserved men and goods from harm
VIII. Of the substance of the letter, which the sultan of Egypt sent to Timur by the hand of Bisaq, after they had fled from him
IX. How they set fire to the city to destroy all traces of it
X. How those afflictions were removed and those clouds of calamities and troubles dispersed from Syria, along with what she had endured from wrongs and sins
XI. Of what befell in Egypt and other countries after these news were heard and these events and misfortunes known
XII. Concerning the blows of the darts of fate and how the leaders of Damascus fell into the claws of his captivity
XIII. Of the damage which locusts did after him
XIV. Of his awful approach to Mardin and departure from there after a vain siege
XV. Abandoning the siege and strife and his obstinacy he marched from Mardin to Bagdad along with his fierce raiders
XVI. Of the deeds of Sultan Ahmad, son of Sheikh Avis, when he learnt that that profane man was attacking him
XVII. That tyrant returns and halts at Qarabagh
XVIII. Of the letter which that obstinate one sent to the sultan of Rum, Ildarim Aba Yazid
XIX. That owl flies to lay waste the realms of Rum
XX. Setting forth what Ibn Othman resolved against him, when that flood burst upon him
XXI. What that cunning deceiver did and said, that he might entice the armies of the Tatars from Ibn Othman
XXII. How Ibn Othman acted with unsound counsel and went to meet Timur with his unwieldy army
XXIII. Showing how that lame one outwitted Ibn Othman and his army
XXIV. Of the panic which happened after Ibn Othman fell into distress and bondage
XXV. Of the sons of Ibn Othman and how time scattered and destroyed them
XXVI. Returns to the affairs of Timur and his evil attempts
XXVII. How he grievously afflicted Ibn Othman, with evil tales of a past time
XXVIII. How Isfandiar came to him and submitted in his presence
XXIX. Of the storming of the fort of Izmir (Smyrna) and its destruction, and describing briefly its wonderful position and quality
XXX. Of the furthering of his purpose, while he was in the countries of Rum, of attacking the countries of the Khatas and conquering the kingdoms of the Turks
XXXI. How the anger of that hunter fell on Allahdad whom he banished to the furthest borders
XXXII. An example showing the way through the depths of that surrounding sea, and what the keen diver of its exploration obtained
XXXIII. Of the treachery which that deceiver committed against the Tatars after finishing the affairs of Rum
XXXIV. How that cloud with its thunderstorms of calamity lifted from the countries of Rum
XXXV. How that punishment poured water and fire into the kingdom of Georgia and the countries of the Christians
XXXVI. Of the means whereby he gained this impregnable fort and the new and wonderful deed which then happened
XXXVII. Concluding the history of the doings of Timur, the lame sheikh, in Georgia
XXXVIII. How the Georgians sought peace and implored the intercession of their neighbour, Sheikh Ibrahim, governor of Shirwan, with that tyrant
XXXIX. How he returned to his home and sought his own country after concluding his destruction
XL. How the kings of the borders rose to meet him and went to felicitate him on the success that he had gained
XLI. How the Tatars were dispersed, being sent east and west, north and south
XLII. Of the prodigies that he planned and the seal of his final crimes, which were fully discharged by the Shepherd of Death
XLIII. Some new additions to the circumstances of that vainglorious one
XLIV. Of his project against the Khatas, when the stupor of death truly came upon him and the veil was taken from him and he was removed from the march to hell
XLV. Of the command sent by Timur to Allahdad, whereby he split livers and broke hearts and arms and his distraction was increased by anxiety because of troubles
XLVI. How that proud tyrant was broken and borne to the house of destruction, where he had his constant seat in the lowest pit of hell
XLVII. Of the events and happenings that occurred after the death of Timur and things joyous and evil that befell
XLVIII. Showing who with the help of fortune obtained the throne after the death of Timur
XLIX. The armies released from the standard return to Samarkand with his bones
L. Of the secret designs which all the viziers of Timur fostered in their breasts
LI. How Khalil Sultan came with the power, which he had gained, to his own country
LII. Of the burial of that evil one, who was cast into the pit of pollution
LIII. Of the change of seasons and the deeds of Khalil Sultan
LIV. Of those amirs and vazirs who made open opposition and strife and clung to the train of sedition and rebellion
LV. Of the deeds of Allahdad, lord of Ashbara, and his leaving it and coming to his own country
LVI. Allahdad receives two letters from Khalil Sultan and Khudaidad, whose substance and sense are at variance and opposite one to the other
LVII. Of those whom Allahdad left behind at Ashbara and the strifes and contentions which afterwards arose among them
LVIII. What Allahdad did with Khudaidad and how by his arts he stole his mind and deceived him
LIX. A letter arrives from Khalil in soft words to settle a hard matter
LX. Allahdad comes to Khalil Sultan and abides with great honour in his own country
LXI. How Khudaidad awoke while Allahdad stole away his intellect by troubles and afflictions
LXII. Of the turns of fortune which befell in Turan after the death of Timur
LXIII. How Idaku rose with the Tatars and invaded Transoxiana and those parts
LXIV. Of Bir Mahomed, grandson of Timur, and his appointed heir, and what passed between him and Khalil, his kinsman
LXV. How Khalil Sultan sent Bin Hussein to defend him and he deserted Khalil Sultan and laid hands on the amirs and opposed Khalil
LXVI. Allahdad outwits Sultan Hussein, using craft and guile as remedy for his ruin
LXVII. Sultan Hussein makes an agreement with the amirs who were held in bondage by him and moves against Khalil Sultan
LXVIII. Khalil Sultan leads his army from Samarkand to meet Sultan Hussein, who was disappointed in his hopes
LXIX. Of the other accidents which befell Bir Mahomed, whether fortunate or adverse, and how he came to calamity and sorrow and failure
LXX. The armies of Khalil engage with the forces of Kandahar in strenuous combat and inflict on them in their flight grievous slaughter
LXXI. Of the mutiny of the army of Iraq from Khalil Sultan and the energy which they showed in their defection and of their return to their country
LXXII. Concerning the deeds of Bir Mahomed after his defeat and his coming to his own city of Kandahar
LXXIII. Of the second expedition of Bir Mahomed against Khalil Sultan and what came to him from his pride and how as at first he was turned to flight
LXXIV. Of the device employed by Bir Mahomed, the planning of which harmed him, for it was of little use
LXXV. Bir Mahomed sees the injustice of his usurpation and seeks peace and submits to Khalil Sultan
LXXVI. Of the strife and enmity that arose between Bir Mahomed and Bir Ali Taz
LXXVII. Of the events which happened in the absence of Khalil Sultan
LXXVIII. Khalil Sultan sends for his armies and fights against Sheikh Nuruddin and Khudaidad
LXXIX. Sheikh Nuruddin and Khudaidad kindle a fire against Khalil, whereby they might consume him, but God Almighty quenched that fire and protected him
LXXX. Nuruddin and Khudaidad depart one from the other and divide that country between them
LXXXI. Sheikh Nuruddin returns to excuse himself and is released by Khalil Sultan from his former fault
LXXXII. Khalil Sultan gives orders to build Tarmid, which Jenghizkhan had laid waste, and prepares his army for that work
LXXXIII. Of that which Shah Rukh did towards Khorasan opposite to the work of Khalil Sultan
LXXXIV. Of new events in the parts of Iraq and the torrents of blood which flowed when that storm burst
LXXXV. Men leaving the city of Samarkand seek their homes in Transoxiana
LXXXVI. Of the destruction wrought by deceitful fortune, whereby Khalil was cast into the fire
LXXXVII. Showing the plan of Allahdad and his device in sending news to Khudaidad
LXXXVIII. Of the stratagem of Khudaidad, by which Khalil Sultan fell into the hunter‘s net
LXXXIX. Of the evils which Samarkand endured when Khudaidad came
XC. These things are announced to Shah Rukh, son of Timur, who brings a remedy for those new changes and cuts off the material of those disorders
XCI. Of those things which happened at Samarkand after the departure of the army of Jand and before the coming of the hawks of Shah Rukh
XCII. The full moons of the prosperity and rule of Shah Rukh revolve in the sky of the kingdoms of Transoxiana after the setting of the sun of the fortune of Khalil
XCIII. Of the malice and insolence which Khudaidad strove to accomplish, and how that evil at length reached so far that he suffered punishment
XCIV. Adding how Khalil and Khudaidad made and confirmed mutual promises, pacts and friendship, until the destroyer of pleasure seized them both
XCV. Khalil Sultan returns from the kingdoms of Andakan and seeks his uncle Shah Rukh and plays with that rook
XCVI. Of the wonderful gifts of Timur and his nature and character
Appendix
Index

Citation preview

TAMERLANE

TAMERLANE THE LIFE OF THE GREAT AMIR

BY

AHMAD IBN ‘ARABSHAH TRANSLATED BY

J.H. SANDERS INTRODUCTION BY

R.D. McCHESNEY

New edition published in 2018 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd London • New York www.ibtauris.com First published by Luzac & Co. in 1936 as Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir Copyright Introduction © 2018 R.D. McChesney All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. -7&2 I-7&2 I4(* A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

CONTENTS

Introduction by R.D. McChesney  Introduction to the first edition Sketch map

xvi xxxv xl

VOLUME I CHAPTER I. Of his origin and the way in which he gradually subdued kingdoms to himself II. Of his tumultuous and marvellous crossing of the Oxus III. Of the danger which he confronted in the attack on the city of Qarshi and his escape from that difficulty





IV. Relates who were held bound by the attack of that despot and what noble princes he wished to be enslaved to him V. How when the Moguls rose against the sultan his power was broken VI. Timur’s crafty designing and the device which he planned VII. Timur proceeds to Balkhshan, receiving aid against the sultan from those who were holding that city VIII. Describes the expedition of Toqtamish Khan, sultan of Dasht and Turkistan IX. Concerning the quarrel and evil things which arose between Ali Shir and Timur X. What Timur did with the rogues and villains of Samarkand and how he sent them to hell

1 7

8

9 10 11

12 13 15 15

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CONTENTS

XI. The territories of Samarkand are described and also those which lie between the rivers of Balkhshan and Khajend XII. Of the beginning of his tyranny after he had subdued the provinces of Transoxiana XIII. Timur plans to invade countries and first the territories of Khwarizm XIV. The second invasion of Khwarizm XV. Timur sends a letter to Malik Ghayatuddin, sultan of Herat, who snatched him from the cross, and on his account opposed his own father XVI. How that tyrant visited the venerable Zainuddin Abu Bakr of Khawaf XVII. Timur returns to Khorasan and lays waste the provinces of Seistan XVIII. That deceitful one advances to the territories of Sabzuar, which submit to him and whose prince comes to meet him XIX. The acts of that villain in the city of Sabzuar with Sharif Mahomed, the head of a band of villains XX. A letter of that intrepid one to the sultan of Persian Irak, Abul Fuaris Shah Shujah XXI. The third expedition of Timur into Khwarizm with armies ravaging and destroying XXII. The fourth expedition of this wanderer into Khwarizm XXIII. The threats uttered by that demon against Shah Wali, the amir of Mazanderan XXIV. Of the letter of Shah Wali to the sultans of Irak and the dissensions and discord which then arose XXV. The conflict of Abu Bakr of Shasban with this despot XXVI. How Timur invaded Persian Irak and Shah Mansur went under the floods of that sea which devoured with open mouth XXVII. Of the subtle plan which was uncovered and how that which Shah Mansur wove was unravelled

17 18 18 19

20 22 23

24

24 27 30 32 32

32 34

36 38

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XXVIII. Of the battle and destruction which Shah Mansur inflicted on the army of Timur under the wing of night XXIX. Of the events and disasters which befell after the overthrow of Shah Mansur XXX. Of the efficacy of the time of his entry into Ispahan XXXI. Of the military stations which he imposed on the Moguls and Jatas and his exploits in those parts XXXII. This viper returns to the kingdoms of Fars and Khorasan and crushes the kings of Persian Irak and drains these provinces and peoples of all goods

vii

39 43 43

47

48

XXXIII. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  51 XXXIV. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  51 XXXV. The cause of his invading Arabian Irak, though his tyranny needed no reason or cause 54 XXXVI. The rest after that fierce storm and the calming of that troubled sea, that it might break at will the surrounding coasts, freed from fear of it, and make untoward happenings befall there 55 XXXVII. An example of the way in which that faithless despot plunged into the seas of his army, and dived into affairs, then advanced with the surge of calamities; and particularly his plunges into Transoxiana and his coming forth from the country of Lur 55 XXXVIII. This bastard begins to lay waste Azerbaijan and the kingdoms of Arabian Irak 57 XXXIX. The fort of Al Naja is described 60 XL. The story of the lord of Bagdad, the names of his fathers and ancestors and how he came to this country 63 XLI. Of the trickery and fraud which he committed in the country of Erzinjan and Diar-Bakr65 XLII. Concerning the calamity and hardship which that treacherous impostor brought upon the sultan of Mardin, Isa Malik Azzahir 66

viii

CONTENTS

XLIII. His hidden designs become clear and those evil plans are in vain

XLIV. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  XLV. Timur returns from Diar-Bakr and Irak, and turns towards the deserts of Kipchak, whose kings and kingdoms are described, with an account of its plains and ways XLVI. That flood comes and sweeps over the peoples of Dasht after breaking Toqtamish XLVII. Concerning the contention that arose in the army of Toqtamish at the time of battle XLVIII. Of the cunning of Idaku and how he deceived Timur and cajoled him  XLIX. Of the fights and battles between Toqtamish and Idaku fought in northern parts, until the condition of those parts was utterly changed L. Returning to the story of the deeds of Timur and his oppressions LI. He begins to invade the territories of Syria LII. Of the reply which Sultan Aba Yazid gave to Qazi Burhanuddin Abul Abbas, sultan of the territories of Siwas LIII. Of the expedition of the armies of Syria to repel that danger LIV. Of the return of that covetous one (Timur) and his plan of subduing the countries of India





LV. Of the stratagem of that deceiver in putting the elephants to flight LVI. That wicked one receives news of the death of kings—Abul Abbas Ahmad and Malik Azzahir Barkuk LVII. Of the calamities and new things which befell and evils and injuries which were inflicted when the sword was drawn after the death of the sultan of Siwas LVIII. A fragment of the affairs of the Qazi and how he became ruler of Siwas and those lands LIX. How Qara Iluk Othman destroyed the traces of the fires of Sultan Burhanuddin,

68 69

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91 94

95 97

100

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because of hidden enmity raising open rebellion against him, and seized him, when fortune betrayed and deceived him LX. Of the good counsel which Qara Iluk took, but turned to bad at the prompting of Sheikh Najib LXI. Of the evils which the world and the Faith endured after Sultan Burhanuddin was slain by Qara Iluk LXII. The people of Siwas take counsel how they should proceed and who should rule LXIII. That traitor attacks Siwas and its territories LXIV. The thunderstorms of that exceeding disaster pour from the clouds of greed upon the territories of Syria LXV. Of the letter and base despatch; which he sent to the governors at Haleb, while he was at Aintab LXVI. How the governors in Haleb plotted against Timur, who was at Aintab LXVII. How he poured thunders of swords and breastplates upon the armies of Syria, when he reached Haleb. LXVIII. This disaster is more fully set forth from those things which I have taken from the Chronicle of Ibn Al Shahana

ix

109

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114 114 116

117

119 120

123

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VOLUME II CHAPTER I. How the troublous news was brought and Istanbugha Aldawadar and Abdul Qasar came to Damascus 133 II. How Sultan Al Malik Al Nasir set forth from Cairo with troops and armies of Islam134 III. Of the battle that befell and the breaking of the line, tho’ not without profit 138 IV. Of the deceit and fraud practised by Sultan Hussein, son of the sister of Timur 140 V. Of the jealousy and discord which arose among the armies of the Muslims 140

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CONTENTS

VI. How the leaders went forth, after the sultan had departed, and sought security from Timur VII. The deed of one of the more prudent who feared the threatening disaster and by means of his resources preserved men and goods from harm VIII. Of the substance of the letter, which the sultan of Egypt sent to Timur by the hand of Bisaq, after they had fled from him IX. How they set fire to the city to destroy all traces of it X. How those afflictions were removed and those clouds of calamities and troubles dispersed from Syria, along with what she had endured from wrongs and sins XI. Of what befell in Egypt and other countries after these news were heard and these events and misfortunes known XII. Concerning the blows of the darts of fate and how the leaders of Damascus fell into the claws of his captivity XIII. Of the damage which locusts did after him XIV. Of his awful approach to Mardin and departure from there after a vain siege XV. Abandoning the siege and strife and his obstinacy he marched from Mardin to Bagdad along with his fierce raiders  XVI. Of the deeds of Sultan Ahmad, son of Sheikh Avis, when he learnt that that profane man was attacking him XVII. That tyrant returns and halts at Qarabagh XVIII. Of the letter which that obstinate one sent to the sultan of Rum, Ildarim Aba Yazid XIX. That owl flies to lay waste the realms of Rum XX. Setting forth what Ibn Othman resolved against him, when that flood burst upon him

143

152

155 158

158

159

160 162 164

165

167 169

170 173 176

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xi

XXI. What that cunning deceiver did and said, that he might entice the armies of the Tatars from Ibn Othman 178 XXII. How Ibn Othman acted with unsound counsel and went to meet Timur with his unwieldy army 180 XXIII. Showing how that lame one outwitted Ibn Othman and his army 181 XXIV. Of the panic which happened after Ibn Othman fell into distress and bondage 184 XXV. Of the sons of Ibn Othman and how time scattered and destroyed them 186 XXVI. Returns to the affairs of Timur and his evil attempts187 XXVII. How he grievously afflicted Ibn Othman, with evil tales of a past time 188 XXVIII. How Isfandiar came to him and submitted in his presence 190 XXIX. Of the storming of the fort of Izmir (Smyrna) and its destruction, and describing briefly its wonderful position and quality 192 XXX. Of the furthering of his purpose, while he was in the countries of Rum, of attacking the countries of the Khatas and conquering the kingdoms of the Turks 193 XXXI. How the anger of that hunter fell on Allahdad whom he banished to the furthest borders 195 XXXII. An example showing the way through the depths of that surrounding sea, and what the keen diver of its exploration obtained 196 XXXIII. Of the treachery which that deceiver committed against the Tatars after finishing the affairs of Rum 197 XXXIV. How that cloud with its thunderstorms of calamity lifted from the countries of Rum 202 XXXV. How that punishment poured water and fire into the kingdom of Georgia and the countries of the Christians 202 XXXVI. Of the means whereby he gained this impregnable fort and the new and wonderful deed which then happened 205

xii















CONTENTS

XXXVII. Concluding the history of the doings of Timur, the lame sheikh, in Georgia XXXVIII. How the Georgians sought peace and implored the intercession of their neighbour, Sheikh Ibrahim, governor of Shirwan, with that tyrant XXXIX. How he returned to his home and sought his own country after concluding his destruction XL. How the kings of the borders rose to meet him and went to felicitate him on the success that he had gained XLI. How the Tatars were dispersed, being sent east and west, north and south XLII. Of the prodigies that he planned and the seal of his final crimes, which were fully discharged by the Shepherd of Death XLIII. Some new additions to the circumstances of that vainglorious one XLIV. Of his project against the Khatas, when the stupor of death truly came upon him and the veil was taken from him and he was removed from the march to hell XLV. Of the command sent by Timur to Allahdad, whereby he split livers and broke hearts and arms and his distraction was increased by anxiety because of troubles XLVI. How that proud tyrant was broken and borne to the house of destruction, where he had his constant seat in the lowest pit of hell XLVII. Of the events and happenings that occurred after the death of Timur and things joyous and evil that befell XLVIII. Showing who with the help of fortune obtained the throne after the death of Timur XLIX. The armies released from the standard return to Samarkand with his bones L. Of the secret designs which all the viziers of Timur fostered in their breasts LI. How Khalil Sultan came with the power, which he had gained, to his own country

207

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211 212

214 222

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238 238 241 241 243

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LII. Of the burial of that evil one, who was cast into the pit of pollution 244 LIII. Of the change of seasons and the deeds of Khalil Sultan 245 LIV. Of those amirs and vazirs who made open opposition and strife and clung to the train of sedition and rebellion 247 LV. Of the deeds of Allahdad, lord of Ashbara, and his leaving it and coming to his own country248 LVI. Allahdad receives two letters from Khalil Sultan and Khudaidad, whose substance and sense are at variance and opposite one to the other 250 LVII. Of those whom Allahdad left behind at Ashbara and the strifes and contentions which afterwards arose among them 251 LVIII. What Allahdad did with Khudaidad and how by his arts he stole his mind and deceived him 252 LIX. A letter arrives from Khalil in soft words to settle a hard matter 253 LX. Allahdad comes to Khalil Sultan and abides with great honour in his own country 255 LXI. How Khudaidad awoke while Allahdad stole away his intellect by troubles and afflictions 256 LXII. Of the turns of fortune which befell in Turan after the death of Timur 257 LXIII. How Idaku rose with the Tatars and invaded Transoxiana and those parts 258 LXIV. Of Bir Mahomed, grandson of Timur, and his appointed heir, and what passed between him and Khalil, his kinsman 259 LXV. How Khalil Sultan sent Bin Hussein to defend him and he deserted Khalil Sultan and laid hands on the amirs and opposed Khalil 261 LXVI. Allahdad outwits Sultan Hussein, using craft and guile as remedy for his ruin 262 LXVII. Sultan Hussein makes an agreement with the amirs who were held in bondage by him and moves against Khalil Sultan 264

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LXVIII. Khalil Sultan leads his army from Samarkand to meet Sultan Hussein, who was disappointed in his hopes LXIX. Of the other accidents which befell Bir Mahomed, whether fortunate or adverse, and how he came to calamity and sorrow and failure LXX. The armies of Khalil engage with the forces of Kandahar in strenuous combat and inflict on them in their flight grievous slaughter LXXI. Of the mutiny of the army of Iraq from Khalil Sultan and the energy which they showed in their defection and of their return to their country LXXII. Concerning the deeds of Bir Mahomed after his defeat and his coming to his own city of Kandahar LXXIII. Of the second expedition of Bir Mahomed against Khalil Sultan and what came to him from his pride and how as at first he was turned to flight LXXIV. Of the device employed by Bir Mahomed, the planning of which harmed him, for it was of little use LXXV. Bir Mahomed sees the injustice of his usurpation and seeks peace and submits to Khalil Sultan LXXVI. Of the strife and enmity that arose between Bir Mahomed and Bir Ali Taz LXXVII. Of the events which happened in the absence of Khalil Sultan LXXVIII. Khalil Sultan sends for his armies and fights against Sheikh Nuruddin and Khudaidad LXXIX. Sheikh Nuruddin and Khudaidad kindle a fire against Khalil, whereby they might consume him, but God Almighty quenched that fire and protected him LXXX. Nuruddin and Khudaidad depart one from the other and divide that country between them LXXXI. Sheikh Nuruddin returns to excuse himself and is released by Khalil Sultan from his former fault LXXXII. Khalil Sultan gives orders to build Tarmid, which Jenghizkhan had laid waste, and prepares his army for that work LXXXIII. Of that which Shah Rukh did towards Khorasan opposite to the work of Khalil Sultan

265

266

267

269 270

271 272 273 274 275 275

276 276 277

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LXXXIV. Of new events in the parts of Iraq and the torrents of blood which flowed when that storm burst LXXXV. Men leaving the city of Samarkand seek their homes in Transoxiana LXXXVI. Of the destruction wrought by deceitful fortune, whereby Khalil was cast into the fire LXXXVII. Showing the plan of Allahdad and his device in sending news to Khudaidad LXXXVIII. Of the stratagem of Khudaidad, by which Khalil Sultan fell into the hunter‘s net LXXXIX. Of the evils which Samarkand endured when Khudaidad came XC. These things are announced to Shah Rukh, son of Timur, who brings a remedy for those new changes and cuts off the material of those disorders XCI. Of those things which happened at Samarkand after the departure of the army of Jand and before the coming of the hawks of Shah Rukh XCII. The full moons of the prosperity and rule of Shah Rukh revolve in the sky of the kingdoms of Transoxiana after the setting of the sun of the fortune of Khalil XCIII. Of the malice and insolence which Khudaidad strove to accomplish, and how that evil at length reached so far that he suffered punishment XCIV. Adding how Khalil and Khudaidad made and confirmed mutual promises, pacts and friendship, until the destroyer of pleasure seized them both XCV. Khalil Sultan returns from the kingdoms of Andakan and seeks his uncle Shah Rukh and plays with that rook XCVI. Of the wonderful gifts of Timur and his nature and character

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Appendix331 Index334

Introduction by R.D. McChesney

In the late summer of 1405, when the body of the great Central Asian conqueror, Amir Timur, was returned to his capital, Samarkand, for burial, one of the residents of the city was a 16-year-old Syrian boy from Damascus named Ahmad, better known to his later colleagues, and to us today, as Ibn ‘Arabshah.1 Some three decades later, he would take reed in hand and begin to write what became a world-famous history of Timur, ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur fi nawa’ib Timur [The Wonders of Destiny Concerning the Calamities Wrought by Timur]. It is unquestionably one of the most important sources not just for Timur’s life but for the history of the events immediately following his death (approximately one-third of the book is devoted to the period after 1405). Written in an elegantly literary and very difficult style (referred to by some as florid and verbose), its fame outside the Arab world has in large part been generated by the present 1936 translation of it by a gifted but now-obscure amateur Arabist, J. H. Sanders of the India Civil Service. While the Sanders translation has been of enormous influence on the study of Timur in modern times, Ibn ‘Arabshah’s own life, about which the translator actually had little to say, has remained relatively unknown. The few accounts of it found in Western encyclopaedias2 are abbreviated and do little to provide any understanding of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s nearly pathological distaste for his subject, Amir Timur.

Ibn ‘Arabshah’s Life The sources for Ibn ‘Arabshah’s life are quite rich, in part because he became a renowned figure and in part because of his connections to three of the greatest biographers of the fifteenth century writing in Arabic: al-Maqrizi (1364–1442), Ibn Taghribirdi (1411–69), and al-Sakhawi (al-Sakhawi (1427–97).

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Al-Maqrizi died eight years before Ibn ‘Arabshah and so only knew his subject at a certain point in his life but they met several times and on at least one of those occasions Ibn ‘Arabshah read to al-Maqrizi from his biography of Timur, which al-Maqrizi says he called “Umur Timur” [The Affairs of Timur], a title far from the elaborate one that Ibn ‘Arabshah would eventually give it, indicating that the biography of Timur was still a work in progress. Al-Maqrizi’s biographical entry for Ibn ‘Arabshah focuses on the latter’s command of rhetoric rather than his skill as a historian, suggesting that he heard the work that was read to him as an example of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s rhetorical competence and not as history or biography.3 al-Sakhawi and Ibn Taghribirdi, both much younger than al-Maqrizi, outlived Ibn ‘Arabshah and so had the advantage of being able to view his entire career. As a consequence they both provide long and comparatively detailed biographies of him, which naturally overlap in many places but also complement one another.4 The bulk of Ibn Taghribirdi’s biographical entry for Ibn ‘Arabshah is actually the latter’s autobiography, a firstperson account presented to the Egyptian scholar in writing in the form of an ijaza, a certificate or license giving Ibn Taghribirdi the authority to teach and transmit all of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s works. The ijaza was signed and dated by Ibn ‘Arabshah on 15 January 1450, a little more than seven months before his death.5 al-Sakhawi’s entry on Ibn ‘Arabshah, on the other hand, is a third-person account, although he does tell the reader that he met Ibn ‘Arabshah in Cairo in 850/1446 at a khanqah, or hostel, restricted to Sufi visitors to the capital.6 al-Sakhawi’s sources, besides Ibn ‘Arabshah himself, include al-Maqrizi, whom he cites, and “others” (ba’duhum) whom he does not specifically name but who probably included Taj al-Din ‘Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1495), Ibn ‘Arabshah’s son. Ibn ‘Arabshah also provides information about his own life in his history of Timur. Although he makes only a few direct references to himself, there are numerous indirect references that may be understood as autobiographical, thanks to information given in these other three sources. Finally, Ibn ‘Arabshah’s son, Taj al-Din, a noted scholar in his own right, wrote a biography of his father, Tarjamat walidihi sahib Fakihat al-khulafa [Biography of the Author of Fakihat al-khulafa], which, however, does not seem to have survived but may have been one of al-Sakhawi’s sources.7

Ibn ‘Arabshah’s Life and Career Ibn ‘Arabshah was born in Damascus on 15 November 1389 and, after an adventure-filled life, died a highly respected scholar in Cairo in late August 1450.8 Other than the date of his birth, we have very little information about his childhood. This is not surprising given the tendency in biographical

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literature to focus on the accomplishments of the adult years. We know that he grew up in Damascus and studied the Koran there under a Koran-reciter named al-Zayn ‘Umar b. al-Labban.9 Perhaps Ibn ‘Arabshah’s father was a businessman or skilled artisan – someone who could afford to send his son to a maktab to study the Koran or perhaps even hire al-Zayn ‘Umar as a private tutor. When Ibn ‘Arabshah was just 11 years old his world was turned upside down. In the late fall of 1400, Damascus fell victim to Timur, who besieged the city and the Mamluk garrison defending it. A Mamluk army sent to confront the Central Asians withdrew without a fight, leaving the garrison on its own. As Ibn ‘Arabshah tells the story, the garrison only surrendered after obtaining guarantees of security “forty-three days” after Timur first entered Damascus. However, no security was actually given and, after its surrender and execution, the whole city was turned over to Timur’s troops for the traditional three days of rape, plunder, and murder (qatl-i ‘amm): And they took matrons prisoners, uncovered the veils of veiled women, made the unveiled suns descend from the orbits of palaces and the moons of beauty from the sky of dalliance, afflicting great and small alike with every torture … and men fled from their brothers, mothers, fathers, friends and children … and I call God to witness that those days were a sign among the signs of the last day. And this general plunder lasted three days.10

This is somewhat rhetorical to be sure, yet one cannot help but feel there was a good deal of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s own experience being described here. Matrons taken prisoner and men fleeing their children, sounds like what might have been happening to his own family. When Timur and his troops finally withdrew, among the spoils of war was the 11-year-old Ibn ‘Arabshah, his mother and sister, and, according to al-Sakhawi, his sister’s son. In his ijaza to Ibn Taghribirdi, Ibn ‘Arabshah only briefly mentions this event, which at his age must have been extremely traumatic. The trauma comes through more clearly in the lengthy account he gives to the siege and its aftermath in ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur. In the ijaza, after relating the precise time of his birth, he launches rather laconically into this apparently first memorable event of his life: It happened that I made my way to Samarkand with [my] sister and [my] mother as a result of the disaster which happened in 803 [1401] at the hand of the God-forsaken Timurlank.11

He does not say here ‘we were taken as captives’ but that was the story he told al-Maqrizi, for the latter writes, “he was among those who were taken prisoner and transported with the Timurid army (al-Timuriyya) to Samarkand.”12 Ibn ‘Arabshah probably told the story of his capture and transportation from Damascus in late winter 1401 to many different people

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but when it came time to write out the ijaza for Ibn Taghribirdi, perhaps because he realized his end was near, he omitted things that he did not consider relevant to the ijaza or, more likely, that he did not want people to remember about him. The Timurid army, its size now swollen with booty and prisoners, including women like Ibn ‘Arabshah’s mother and sister, who were probably taken for the sexual pleasure of the troops, now left Damascus. A more positive interpretation often placed on Timur’s transportation of captured populations to Central Asia is that he wanted to have access to their artisans, artists, and scholars and that the women and children transported were presumably the families of the artisans. There is nothing to suggest that this was the case with Ibn ‘Arabshah and his family. Sexual slavery would seem to have been the fate of many Syrian women, including “maidens and brides” taken in Homs and Hama.13 However, a few of those involuntarily returning with Timur did go as honored guests. Ibn ‘Arabshah mentions two: ‘Abd al-Malik Tikriti and Yalbugha “al-Majnun” (the demented one) being later appointed governors in Central Asia. Of the people whom Timur hoped would bring lustre to his capital, Samarkand, were: learned men and craftsmen and all who excelled in any art, the most skilled weavers, tailors, gem-cutters, carpenters, makers of head coverings, farriers, painters, bow-makers, falconers, in short, craftsmen of every kind … Likewise all his amirs and lords took an infinite multitude of theologians, of men who knew the Koran from memory, and learned men, craftsmen, slaves, women, boys and girls….14

But the horde of displaced persons was, as one would expect, not so fortunate – desperate, miserable, and fearful of what lay ahead. Timur could have had no inkling that in this mass of humanity there was a young boy who would return to his native land one day and devote himself to blackening Timur’s name forever in the Arabic–reading world. At Hama, the force turned east, striking out across what was mostly desert, to reach the banks of the Tigris almost 120 miles away. There they crossed in boats, perhaps near present-day al-Raqqa, then continued on in a north-easterly direction reaching Mardin, another 130 miles away on the 10th Ramadan (24 April 1401). This must have been a trip from hell for Ibn ‘Arabshah and his family – and more was to come. At this point, Timur’s army and captives had covered at least 360 miles in perhaps a little more than fifty days. At Mardin the captives had a chance to rest as Timur mounted a month-long (ultimately unsuccessful) siege of Mardin’s citadel. When he lifted the siege, he turned his eyes on Baghdad. Before he marched down the Euphrates, however, he dispatched many of

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the captives to Samarkand under the command of Allahdad Bahadur, one of Timur’s generals and a man for whom Ibn ‘Arabshah later showed considerable respect in his book. The group that was sent on to Samarkand almost certainly included Ibn ‘Arabshah, and probably his mother, sister and nephew as well. We can make this assumption for a number of reasons. First, he provides a fairly detailed itinerary of the group’s march to Samarkand, with a plausible account of the speed with which it moved. Second, he names one of the notable individuals sent with this group as if he was familiar with him. Third, when he returns to his account of Timur’s 1401 attack on Baghdad, he indicates that he was not with the army, telling the reader that he was later briefed about the Baghdad attack and its bloody aftermath by Qadi Taj al-Din Ahmad al-Nu’mani, the Hanafi governor of Baghdad at the time of the assault.15 So it seems most likely that Ibn ‘Arabshah was in the group that was sent off to Samarkand shortly after the siege of Mardin ended. Here is Ibn ‘Arabshah’s account as given in the translation: Then he [Timur] descended to Bagdad [sic] with troops countless like ants, moths, and locusts, and sent a company to Samarkand with Allahdad and they reached the city of Sur, where there was no high-built house; then came to Khalat and Abduljauz, which are populous cities of the Kurds, well built and first among those submitting to his authority in the provinces of Tabriz and Azerbaijan; and the company kept that holy day of Ramzan [sic, presumably the ‘Id al-Fitr, 14–15 May 1401] at Abduljauz. Then they entered the province of Tabriz, then Sultania and then the territories of Khorasan. And now the winter was ending and spring adorning herself and approaching … And that company continued its journey day and night, not like the pilgrims of Mecca, who daily complete the day’s journey and rest each night; then they reached Nisabur, then Jam, then they crossed the deserts of Bavard and Makhan, then came to Andkhui, then to the river Oxus, which they crossed in skiffs, and proceeded on their journey like a piercing star, and at length came to Samarkand on the thirteenth day of Muharram and the third day of the week in the year 804 [23 August 1401]. There were among them many Syrians, of whom the chief was Qazi Shahabuddin Ahmad, son of the martyr Vazir, while the rest were farriers, dyers and silkworkers. And this was the first spoil which he had brought from Syria and the first fruits of prisoners and wealth, which he had plucked, to reach Samarkand.16

All told, Ibn ‘Arabshah’s party spent about a hundred days on the road from ‘Abd al-Jawz (somewhere just west of Tabriz) to Samarkand. We can never know for certain why Ibn ‘Arabshah and his mother, sister and nephew were taken to Samarkand. His experiences in Timur’s capital, where he would stay for the next eight years, indicate that he was not a slave, although he may have been kept for his sexual attractiveness until he reached puberty. He was apparently free to pursue an education and he

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might have had a sponsor in doing that since one did not sit at the feet of the masters with whom he studied without paying a fee or perhaps working off the tuition. Conceivably, Ibn ‘Arabshah’s including “silkworkers” among the group brought to Samarkand could have included his mother and sister but there is no real evidence. One would hardly expect that the fate of his mother and sister would ever have been explicitly stated had it been to serve the sexual needs of Timur’s troops, and in some ways it is surprising to find it even alluded to. Perhaps it is a measure of how traumatized the boy had been that in writing and telling about it years later he would mention things that the reader or listener who knew the context would understand as happening to him or his family. It is difficult not to conclude that it was this moment in his life – the kidnapping of his family from Damascus – that sowed the seeds of his antipathy for Timur. To be wrenched from Arabic-speaking Damascus by foreigners whose tongue was completely alien to him, and to be forced to make the long march to Samarkand and a very uncertain future, could hardly have left the young man with feelings of respect and warmth for Timur. And there is also the unknown fate of his father. Neither Ibn Taghribirdi nor al-Sakhawi seems to mention him, which suggests that he had no distinction as a scholar. Ibn ‘Arabshah’s silence on the subject suggests his father was dead or had vanished and may indicate a lack of close attachment to his father. His own rhetoric in describing the havoc wreaked in Damascus by Timur’s troops – “men fled from their brothers, mothers, fathers, friends and children” – is also suggestive of the fate of his father.

The education of Ibn ‘Arabshah in Samarkand (1401–9) Ibn ‘Arabshah would stay in Samarkand for some eight years. He arrived at a most extraordinary moment, when some of the greatest figures in fifteenth-century scholarship were gathered there – many against their will. But for Ibn ‘Arabshah the moment was brief. Although Ibn ‘Arabshah stayed in Samarkand for eight years, Timur died only a little more than three years after his arrival and with Timur’s death there was a mass departure of scholars to other more welcoming places. We do not know how quickly these men departed Samarkand after Timur’s death but we know that they did leave. It is probably safe to say that Ibn ‘Arabshah would have had four or five years to take advantage of the presence of some of the greatest figures in Islamic scholarship, men known even in their own time as great, and elevated to the status of intellectual legends after their deaths. One of the greatest of these, Sa’d al-Din Mas’ud al-Taftazani, had already passed from the scene when Ibn ‘Arabshah found himself in Samarkand but ‘Ali b. Muhammad al-Jurjani, known as al-Sayyid al-Sharif, al-Taftazani’s successor as dean of the city’s intellectuals, was at the peak of his powers and influence.

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Another great figure who arrived in Samarkand about a year after Ibn ‘Arabshah was a fellow Damascene, Shams al-Din Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Jazari, in his early fifties when Ibn ‘Arabshah first met him. Al-Jazari was renowned for his scholarship in the Islamic subjects of jurisprudence, the variant readings of the Koran, and in the Traditions (hadiths) of the Prophet Muhammad. He wrote an enormously popular work of selected hadiths used in prayer called al-Hisn al-hasin [The Mighty Fortress] that was a staple in the library of any Sunni who had one. He was a well established scholar in the Arab lands and in Anatolia, where he had, from his standpoint at least, the misfortune to be serving the Ottoman sultan, Bayazid I (r. 1389–1402) at the time of the latter’s defeat at Ankara by Timur on 20 July 1402. Forcibly taken back to Central Asia, first to Kash and then to Samarkand, al-Jazari made the best of it for the approximately two years he spent in Samarkand before Timur died. He was ensconced at the Bagh-i Khuda,17 one of the garden residences for which the city was famous and from this fact, and from the reputation he already had, we know Timur treated him well. One can imagine that Ibn ‘Arabshah might have offered al-Jazari his help in getting acclimated to Samarkand and the latter might well have been grateful for the help of this young man from his own home town. It is not unreasonable to think that al-Jazari and Ibn ‘Arabshah, despite the nearly forty-year difference in their ages, were in some sense kindred spirits. Both were originally from Damascus and both had been forced against their will to leave their homes and move to Samarkand. Also, Ibn ‘Arabshah was already well trained in Arabic, the only language that al-Jazari ever wrote in or probably ever really knew. The second great scholar that Ibn ‘Arabshah claims to have studied with in his early teenage years in Samarkand was the dean of Samarkand scholars: ‘Ali al-Jurjani (1339–1413), “al-Sayyid al-Sharif” (the Noble Sayyid). Like al-Jazari and Ibn ‘Arabshah, al-Jurjani had been forcibly brought to Samarkand after Timur captured Shiraz in south-western Iran in 1387. Al-Jurjani was a prolific and well known scholar by the time he arrived in Samarkand as a privileged captive. Using the commentary form as the medium of choice for his works, he wrote on jurisprudence, logic, law, Arabic grammar, theology and lexicography. In Samarkand, al-Jurjani’s base was the Idigu (Edige?) Timur Madrasa18 and it was here that Ibn ’Arabshah attended his lectures. A third very influential figure with whom he had at least enough of an acquaintance to include him in his ijaza was a man he calls simply Mawlana Muhammad al-Bukhari al-Zahid (“our master Muhammad from Bukhara, the ascetic”) who, he says, wrote a “one hundred volume commentary on the Koran.” Muhammad al-Bukhari “the Ascetic” was far better known later in Naqshbandi Sufi circles by the name Khwaja Muhammad Parsa (d. 1420). Although the list of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s teachers is illustrious, nothing suggests that they were particularly kind to him. He appears to have suffered, as many students did, from overbearing and sometimes even sadistic teachers.

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There is a section in the ‘Aja’ib where Ibn ‘Arabshah seems to be reflecting on his experiences as a student under a harsh mentor: But some [teachers], along with poverty of estate and subtlety of the faculties and abundant learning and elegance had a heart harder than rock and by their deeds wounded more vehemently than the blows of the sharpest sword, speaking with the words of the most excellent of creatures [i.e. the Prophet] but bending away from religion as the arrow bends the bow. When any Muslim fell into their talons or a stranger was afflicted by their torture, that wise searcher of truth and subtle doctor in extorting wealth devised tortures and torments of diverse sorts and employed books and questions as means of torture and composed speeches and dissertations in the science of accusation, but when that wretched one was scorched with pain and lamented and with impatient wrath implored the aid of God and His miracles and besought the intercession of all those in earth and sky, angels, prophets, friends and helpers, that elegant one would smile and show his skill and turn proudly this way and that, flatter, recite witty verses and employ the refinement of rare sentiments and histories; sometimes he would be kindled with anger and would weep and groan at the torture which he inflicted and grieve vehemently and do as some judges of Islam, who having seized the goods of orphans and lament, while by their deeds they wound the hearts of Muslims.19

One would like to know which of his teachers might have inspired such resentful feelings.

Samarkand to Astrakhan, 1409–11 Now begins a peripatetic period for Ibn ‘Arabshah. He did not immediately leave Samarkand, as many scholars did on Timur’s death, but remained four more years, his departure coinciding apparently with the time when Timur’s youngest son, Shahrukh, took Samarkand in 811/1409 and ended the struggle to succeed Timur. Despite the departure of his teachers, there were many factors that might have kept Ibn ‘Arabshah from following his mentors west any earlier than 1409 – for example, his age (he was just 16 when Timur died but 20 when he quit Samarkand), and possible family obligations. One important skill he gained at Samarkand and polished subsequently was linguistic. “I acquired the ability to speak Persian (al-lisan al-farisi) and to write ‘Mongol’ (al-khatt al-mughuli),” he notes in the ijaza.20 Spoken Persian would certainly have been extremely important to him in Samarkand. All his formal studies with al-Jazari and al-Jurjani would have been in written Arabic and, certainly with al-Jazari at least and probably with al-Jurjani, any lectures and discussions would have been in Arabic. But with the people he had to deal with daily in Samarkand – shopkeepers, officials, and service people – Persian would have been the language to speak. What

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he meant by ‘Mongol’ is probably what his Spanish contemporary, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, meant by it – i.e. Chaghatay Turkish.21 If we imagine the career prospects of a literate young man in the Timurid capital, it is not hard to understand why written Chaghatay would have been useful to know. By the time he left Samarkand Ibn ‘Arabshah had lived through momentous times. He was there when news came of the victory of Timur over the Ottoman sultan Bayazid I at Ankara on 27th of Dhu’l-Hijja 804/28 (28 July 1402);22 he was present when Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, ambassador of King Henry III of Castile and Leon, accompanied by an ambassador of the Mamluk sultan, al-Malik al-Nasir Faraj, arrived in the city in 1404;23 and he was there for the great feast that was held that same year to celebrate the marriages of some of Timur’s sons and grandsons (although he was probably not invited). He probably witnessed the construction work on Timur’s huge congregational mosque and work done on Muhammad Sultan’s (Timur’s grandson’s) madrasa-tomb complex, where Timur himself would eventually be buried. Yet he gives no signs either in his ijaza or ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur that he was aware of any of these at the time they were happening. If he was, he left no record of them as far as we know. He was in Samarkand when Timur set out on his final campaign and was there when Timur’s body was brought back and buried beside his grandson. When he records this and other events thirty years later, he does so in a manner that distances himself as bystander, observer, or participant in any of them. How aware he was of them as they happened cannot be answered. After a brief sojourn in the east, Ibn ‘Arabshah turned around and headed for Khwarazm. By this point he was almost certainly married for he switches from the first person singular, used up to this point in the ijaza, to the plural (“then we made our way to Khwarazm”). In Khwarazm (probably meaning here the city of Urganj) Ibn ‘Arabshah says he studied with “Mawlana Nur Allah and Mawlana Ahmad al-Wa’iz al-Sara’i the son of Shams al-A’imma.” Ibn ‘Arabshah describes the latter thus: “He is called the king of eloquence (malik al-kalam) in Persian, Turkish and Arabic.”24 His stay in Khwarazm must have been brief – a year at most. From Urganj he set off across the desert for Saray. At this time Saray, on the lower Volga River, was still an attractive destination despite Timur’s sacking and burning of it in 1395. It remained the capital of the Golden Horde, or the remnants of that once mighty western Mongol power. The politics of the place probably mattered little to Ibn ‘Arabshah. To all appearances he was prompted to head for the lower Volga region by the reputation of the people he hoped to study with there, despite the difficulties posed by travel conditions. His comments in ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur emphasize the challenge, even in settled times, of crossing the desert that flanks the northern and eastern sides of the Caspian Sea, let alone the parlous times in which he lived. He imagined that conditions for the caravans that had in the past routinely made the journey from Khwarazm to what is now south-west Russia and the

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southernmost part of the Ukraine were far better than those he experienced. In the ‘Aja’ib, he blames Timur’s devastating 1395 campaign for the changed conditions. There used to advance convoys from Khwarazm, making the journey in wagons, securely without terror or fear, as far as Crimea – a journey of about three months; in width there is a sea of sands as broad as seven seas through which the most skilful guide could not show the way nor the most crafty of experienced men make the journey and those convoys did not take supplies or fodder or join to themselves companions – this because of the multitude of the people, and the abundance of security, food and drink among the inhabitants, and did not set out except tribe by tribe or turn aside except to one who would receive his guest generously, so that they were well described by that verse:

All the people of Mecca go round the hill of Okaz And their sons shout: “There comes a guest.”

But now through those places from Khwarazm to the Crimea of those people and their followers none moves or rests and nothing ranges there but antelopes and camels.25

In other words in pre-Timurid times the hospitality and generosity of people on the route ensured the safe and speedy passage of anyone who traveled it. Nonetheless he himself did not hesitate to set off, although we have to assume that it took him a good deal longer than the three months he says caravans previously took in traveling all the way to the Crimea. After a short stay in Saray, Ibn ‘Arabshah went to Astrakhan, where he became the student of one of the most famous of Hanafi legal scholars of his age, Mawlana Hafiz al-Din Muhammad, the son of Nasir al-Din Muhammad al-Bazzazi al-Kardari. “I stayed with him about four years,” he writes, “and from him learned legal reasoning (fiqh) and its principles.”26

Astrakhan to Aleppo, 1411–21 After Astrakhan, Ibn ‘Arabshah moved to Old Qirim on the easternmost tip of the Crimean peninsula, near present-day Kerch, where he attended sessions with two scholars: Mawlana Ahmad Bayruq and Mawlana Sharaf al-Din b. Kamal al-Qirimi. His association with Mawlana Sharaf al-Din shows his continuing interest in acquiring credentials in jurisprudence, although, as mentioned above, his own writings do not reflect that interest at all. One strongly suspects that these credentials were intended to serve the more practical purpose of landing a job, as in fact they eventually did. From the port of Kefe in the Crimea, Ibn ‘Arabshah took ship sometime in or after 1413 for the western shores of the Black Sea, probably disembarking at Sozopolis, the nearest Black Sea port to Edirne (Adrianople), at this time the Ottoman capital. In 1413 Muhammad b. Bayazid, known as Mehmed I, succeeded in establishing himself in Edirne as sultan of much

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of the former Ottoman state, at least the part that lay in the Balkans and Rumeli. It seems likely that Ibn ‘Arabshah went to Edirne at this particular moment to seek Mehmed’s patronage. It would have seemed like an auspicious moment. As an outsider he had the advantage of not having been a partisan of any of the other princely or non-princely factions that Mehmed had to overcome. Thanks to his background, or perhaps thanks to the intervention of an old friend, he was soon working as a munshi (drafter of correspondence) for the sultan and as an interpreter and translator. The friend was al-Jazari’s son, Shaykh Abu al-Khayr, and it is reasonable to imagine that he provided Ibn ‘Arabshah with an entree to the court. In the ijaza, Ibn ‘Arabshah describes this period and what he was doing: Then I crossed the Black Sea (Bahr al-Rum) to the land of the Ottomans where I stayed for about ten [sic probably no more than eight] years. There, for al-Malik Ghiyath al-Din Abu’l-Fath Muhammad [Mehmed] b. Abi Yazid Murad b. Adar Khan b. Uthman – May God Most High have mercy on his soul – I translated from Persian into Turkish Kitab Jami al-hikayat wa lami’ al-riwayat [A Collection of Stories and a Luster of Narratives] in some six volumes, [from Arabic] into Turkish, Abu al-Layth al-Samarkandi’s commentary on the Koran, and [translated into Turkish] and versified the Ta‘bir al-Qadiri [al-Qadiri’s Dream Interpretation]. After this I worked for him [Mehmed I] as a writer of formal correspondence (insha’) during which I wrote on his behalf to foreign kings in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. I also read al-Miftah with Mawlana Burhan al-Din Haydarat [sic] al-Khwafi.27

This suggests that the focus of his working life in Edirne was government work and perhaps less on engagement with the intellectuals who had gathered under Mehmed’s patronage. We should keep in mind that he was only in his early twenties when he arrived in Edirne and there is no sign that others saw him as academically qualified to recite works and have his own students. Quite the contrary: it was he who was consistently seeking out others to instruct him. This would seem to have been the case throughout his time at Edirne and well after he returned to Syria. In 1421, probably due to Mehmed I’s death, Ibn ‘Arabshah returned to Syria, but he does not give this as a reason for moving on. Certainly he must have been curious about, if not homesick for, Damascus. Stopping first in Aleppo and finding himself back on his native soil for the first time since his kidnapping twenty years earlier, he affectionately refers to it as “the old homeland” (al-watan al-qadim). “I stayed there [in Aleppo] for about four months then made my way to Damascus entering it in Rabi’ al-Akhira 825 ( March–April 1422).28

Damascus and Cairo, 1422–50 Ibn ‘Arabshah would settle in Damascus and spend the rest of his life there, though he made frequent and prolonged trips to Cairo. He lived fairly

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modestly according to his ijaza, without entree to the governor’s court or to any other source of patronage, at least for a time. In the obituary for him in al-Nujum al-zahira, Ibn Taghribirdi says, “he had held a number of religious offices, including that of Cadi (qadi) of Hama on occasions.”29 But it would take him awhile to establish himself. As he would later recall: “I did not try to make contact with anyone and wrapped the foot of effort in the hem of frugality,”30 by which I understand him to mean he had to find real work (as distinct from a government appointment) to keep himself alive. This is not surprising: whatever patronage he enjoyed under Mehmed I was not transferable to Damascus. Although scholars could and did pass back and forth between the Ottoman and Mamluk territories, they were either clients of the patronage system of one or the other and it would have been highly unusual to carry a letter of introduction from an Ottoman patron to a prospective Mamluk one. In any case Ibn ‘Arabshah’s Ottoman patron, if one can call the relationship a patronage one, was dead and there is little to suggest Ibn ‘Arabshah yet had a reputation that would have solicited such an invitation from a Mamluk patron. As he told the story to al-Maqrizi and al-Sakhawi, although in somewhat different terms, he had to earn his living in Damascus working in an unprestigious profession. When he met al-Maqrizi in Cairo in 840/1436–7 he told him that when he first arrived back in Damascus “he earned his living as a professional notary [shahid pl. shuhud] in the stalls of the notaries.”31 Ten years later, when he met al-Sakhawi for the first time, he appears to have revised this somewhat in a way that suggests he felt the work was unworthy of him: “He [Ibn ‘Arabshah] sat in the stall of the Qasab Mosque with its (other) notaries where most of the time it was easy to stay clear of the common herd.”32 It is not surprising that he might have wanted to gloss over his work as a notary. After serving as the Ottoman sultan’s amanuensis, or so depicting himself, being a mere notary among the hundreds that must have populated Damascus at the time might have seemed an embarrassing plunge in status. A man of his apparent – though we should remember mostly self-reported – skills (linguistic, diplomatic, and literary) might be expected to have an entree to the governor’s court or at least the household of a wealthy merchant or religious figure, but for reasons unknown Ibn ‘Arabshah either did not seek employment on his return to Damascus or, as seems more likely, simply had to make a virtue of necessity, not finding a market for his particular talents. This situation may have lasted about seven or eight years. In his mind the turning point of his return to Damascus came during the last days of Muharram 832/early November 1428, with the arrival in Damascus of Mawlana Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Bukhari, a man better known to his contemporaries than to posterity and not to be confused with Khwaja Muhammad Parsa.

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al-Bukhari clearly became Ibn ‘Arabshah’s most important mentor. Not only did he work with him for nine years – by far the longest contact he had had with any other scholar – but the attributes he accords him are far more extensive than those he accords any other scholar – “accomplished, consummate, and excellent, pearl of the age, phoenix of time, wisest of men, teacher of the world … pole star of his time, guide of the age….”33

Writing Timur’s biography By the time of his return to Damascus, the idea of a book about Timur must have been percolating in Ibn ‘Arabshah’s head. One of the oral sources whom he cites in Aja’ib is Mawlana Jamal al-Din Ahmad al-Khwarazmi. The story that Ibn ‘Arabshah proceeds to narrate from al-Khwarazmi makes it clear that the interview could not have taken place in Samarkand because the story relates to events that happened after al-Khwarazmi left the city following Timur’s death. The last months of 824/1421, when Ibn ‘Arabshah was on his way out of Ottoman territory, seem the most likely time for their meeting. What is most interesting about al-Khwarazmi’s story, is that it is not about an event or deed related to Timur particularly but rather is al-Khwarazmi’s mea culpa for having served Timur. In the story, he tells of an encounter with some warriors of Timur, who speak bitterly and regretfully of the atrocities they have been forced to commit as obedient soldiers. They profess wonder that someone of al-Khwarazmi’s apparent learning and moral stature would willingly choose to serve such wickedness. Al-Khwarazmi berates himself in the story for having done so and says how this reminder of his sins has added “affliction to my affliction and trouble to my troubles.” The story is quite long, taking up six pages (pp. 324–30) in the Sanders translation and its moral point is never in doubt. It is not unthinkable that part of the inspiration for writing the kind of history that Ibn ‘Arabshah undertook came from this self-flagellating tale of al-Khwarazmi. Or at least, perhaps, the story served to focus Ibn ‘Arabshah’s own sense of moral outrage. Whatever the time and significance of his interview with al-Khwarazmi, one can at least say that by 831/1427–8 Ibn ‘Arabshah had formulated the idea of writing a history of Timur and was beginning his research, dredging his own memory and mining the recollections of others who had lived and worked in Samarkand. Some considerable part of the intellectual activity of the next nine years of his life would be devoted to interviewing sources and organizing and writing the history.34 From the interview that took place 833/1429–30, Ibn ‘Arabshah learned that after the people of Sistan returned to their cities following Timur’s withdrawal from the region, they wanted to perform the Friday prayer but they no longer knew when Friday was and someone had to be sent from Kerman to tell them.35 From the interview of 836/(28 August 1432), this one

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with his Damascus mentor al-Bukhari, he was told that Timur killed his arch-rival Sultan (or Amir) Husayn in Sha’ban 771 (March 1370), the point from which Timur’s reign as ruler of the former Chaghatayid lands of Central Asia is conventionally dated.36

His career progresses The years after 830/1426–7 were highly productive for Ibn ‘Arabshah, with more than just research for the book on Timur. He was beginning to make a name for himself with other works of rhetoric as well. In 836/1432–3 al-Sakhawi writes that Ibn ‘Arabshah met Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, arguably the most famous living scholar in the Mamluk realm, and recited his Mir’at al-adab [Mirror of Etiquette] to him, a 2,000-verse work in ghazal format on rhetoric. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani was said to be impressed.37 It would appear, then, that by the mid-830s/early 1430s Ibn ‘Arabshah was becoming known in fairly rarefied scholarly circles as a capable and noteworthy rhetorician. It was at this time that he must have realized he would need to go to Cairo and try to see the Mamluk sultan, if his reputation had become well known enough to warrant an official appointment and thus a respectable income. The first record we have that Ibn ‘Arabshah visited Cairo comes in 840 (the year began 16 July 1436), when he met al-Maqrizi for the first time. This year was also important, for it is the year cited in ‘Aja’ib as the “current year”, i.e. the year in which he was writing the history of Timur. But after this visit, and for another ten years, we know almost nothing of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s life. It is possible that he stayed the whole period in Cairo hoping for some office. Ibn Taghribirdi is alone in saying that Ibn ‘Arabshah received appointment as qadi of Hama, but he does not indicate the year or the length of tenure. Fierce competition for such patronage positions was common among the ulama and it may have resulted in a premature death for Ibn ‘Arabshah.38 On the first of Dhu’l-Hijja 854/15 January 1450, Ibn Taghribirdi came to see Ibn ‘Arabshah at the Sa‘d al-Su’ada hostel (khanqah) in Cairo and asked him for an ijaza, a license to transmit his “poetry and prose, whether heard or written.” Ibn ‘Arabshah wrote one out—in effect the autobiography referred to above—and signed and dated it. Eight months later, at the age of “sixty-two (Hijri) years, six months and twenty days”39 he passed away at the khanqah, “far from his family and home.”40

Conclusion As a product of the time, the ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur fi nawa’ib Timur is most remarkable for the uncompromising hostility that it shows for its subject. Even the book’s end, where its author, Ibn ‘Arabshah, sums up what we might call the accomplishments of Timur’s career, suggests at best a very grudging regard for the man, and includes information that could only have

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been considered defamatory.41 In general, major political figures, however loathsome their deeds, were almost always treated in writing with a degree of respect. Not only does Ibn ‘Arabshah fail to attach even the most innocuous verbal marks of regard to Timur’s name but he never hesitates to modify that name with adjectives like “the vile” (makhdhul) and “accursed” (mal’un), or simply to refer to him as “the deceiver”(al-ghaddar) or “the coward” (al-kharab).42 At the outset of his book Ibn ‘Arabshah calls on God to banish Timur from Paradise and, when he gets to recording Timur’s death, he praises God for His mercy in relieving mankind of Timur’s wickedness. Given the intellectual status that Ibn ‘Arabshah achieved within his lifetime, and the mature age at which he wrote his account of Timur, the level of calumny and bitterness seems even more unusual. Undoubtedly, there were political considerations based on the time and place where he wrote the work and which affected the tone, but even these are not sufficient to explain the level of vituperation. No doubt there exist works with literary and historical pretensions that rise to the same degree of obloquy as this one in denigrating a contemporary historical figure but I am hard pressed to think of one. Ibn Taghribirdi, who borrowed heavily from Ibn ‘Arabshah, his teacher, in his own biography of Timur offers a “May God damn him” here and there in reference to Timur43 – but these seem mild compared with the scathing excoriations of Ibn ‘Arabshah. On the other hand, the great historian of Iran, V. M. Minorsky, in his review of the translation pointed out that along with “the opprobrious epithets which he heaps on Timur’s head” Ibn ‘Arabshah also “very keenly appraises Timur’s natural gifts and talents.”44 Ibn ‘Arabshah’s legacy as a rhetorician, if not jurisprudent, would long survive in the Perso-Turkish-Arab world that had shaped him and in turn been shaped by him. In comparison with his peers he was extraordinarily accomplished in terms of his multilingualism and command of rhetoric. He is also remarkable for having left an autobiographical legacy, both explicitly in the ijaza given to Ibn Taghribirdi, and implicitly in the many direct and indirect observations about his own life made throughout the ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur. From the standpoint of his wide travels and his network of acquaintances he was not, however, unusual for his time. This was a period of great mobility for scholars, helped immensely by an extensive network of financial and institutional support for them. Outside Islamdom, it was Ibn ‘Arabshah’s role as recorder of the life and times of Timur, the ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur, and as a compiler of animal fables, the Fakihat al-khulafa’, that define him down the ages. The former work was first published and translated in the seventeenth century and there have been many editions since, with translations into Latin, French, Turkish and English. Ibn ‘Arabshah’s life and career provide the means to understand the subjects, tone and perspective of his published writings. The emphatically hostile tone of the ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur is understandable when we view his own life,

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especially his childhood and adolescence, and when we consider the political conditions under which he would write it. His life is also symbolic of the larger world of Muslim scholarship in the fifteenth century, its dynamism and its ecumenical, transnational and social qualities. It was a special time, perhaps not unique but certainly noteworthy, for the relative freedom with which scholars could move from one political jurisdiction to another. The Ottoman state was enriched by the migration of Central Asian and Iranian scholars to and through it, and Cairo, with the rich institutional support provided by the khanqahs and madrasas, was a powerful magnet for qualified individuals.

Appraising the translation The reception of Sanders’ 1936 translation was decidedly mixed. As Minorsky made clear in his review, the translation would have been greatly improved had Sanders been aware and made use of two later editions of Ibn ‘Arabshah’s ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur. Sanders also omitted both the 13-page introduction and the conclusion in the edition he did use. Moreover, alluding to Sanders’ amateur status in the field of orientalism, Minorsky mildly bemoans the disconnect between the important work done by amateurs like Sanders and the professional scholars of whose work the amateurs, no matter how gifted linguistically, often fail to show any awareness. This is most noticeable in Sanders’ strange renderings of names and places (“it would be well-nigh impossible to enumerate all the single misspellings”), his mistakes in converting dates, his misidentifications of places and his outright mistranslations. Two other reviewers, R. Hartmann and Gustave von Grunebaum were somewhat less kind than Minorsky in their criticism. Von Grunebaum’s review really consists in little more than a list of the mistakes he found.45 Nonetheless, despite its many failings, both Hartmann and Minorsky considered the translation an important contribution to the history of Timur for its bringing scholarly attention to the value of the original work by one of the few contemporaries of Timur to leave an independent record. Minorsky, in fact, admitted that the translation inspired in him a fresh interest in Ibn ‘Arabshah and his work. Much recent scholarship on the Timurid century would be decidedly less rich had the Sanders translation not drawn scholars to Ibn ‘Arabshah’s biography of Timur.

Acknowledgement This introduction is a much abbreviated but somewhat updated version of my “A Note on the Life and Works of Ibn ‘Arabsha-h” in Judith Pfeiffer & Sholeh A. Quinn, eds, History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East: Studies in Honor of John E. Woods, Wiesbaden, Harrasowitz, 2006, pp. 205–49.

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Notes 1. His given name was Ahmad the son of Muhammad and his lineage went back five generations to a man named ‘Arabshah, hence the family name Ibn ‘Arabshah. The Egyptian historian, al-Maqrizi, writing sometime between 840/1437, when he first met Ibn ‘Arabshah, and 845/1442 when he himself died, said he was known as “the Persian, the Hanafi.” Durar al-‘uqud al-farida fi tarajim al-a‘yan al-mufida [The Unique Strung Pearls of Biographies of Noteworthy and Instructive People] (henceforth al-Durar) (Beirut, 2002), 4 vols, vol. 2, p. 26. To the Egyptian biographer al-Sakhawi, he was “known as al-‘Ajami [the Persian] and as Ibn ‘Arab Shah and this is most common.” al-Daw’ al-lami’ li-ahl al-qarn al tasi‘ [The Bright Light Cast on the People of the Ninth/Fifteenth Century] (henceforth al-Daw’) (Cairo, 1394 H), vol. 2, p. 126. A modern Turkish source (Abdulkadir Yuvalı, “Ibn Arabshah, Sehabeddin,” Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Islam Ansiklopedisi, vol. 19 (1999), pp. 314–15 says he was called “al-Rumi” because he spent time under Ottoman aegis (p. 314). 2. Ibrahim Kafesogˇlu, “Ibn Arabşah,” lslam Ansiklopedisi, vol. 5 [1950], p. 698–701; J. Pedersen, “Ibn ‘Arabsha-h, ”Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, vol. 3 (1971), pp. 711–12; John E. Woods, “Ebn ‘Arabsa-h,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 7 (1996), p. 670; Abdulkadir Yuvalı, “Ibn Arabşah, Şehabeddin,” Türkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 19 (1999), pp. 314a–15c. 3. al-Durar, vol. 2, pp. 26–7. 4. Yusuf Ibn Taghribirdi, al-Manhal al-safi wa al-mustawfi ba’d al-Wafi [The Limpid and Satiating Spring after the Adequate One (the latter referring to al-Wafi bi al-wafayat of al-Safadi (d. 1363), a major biographical dictionary of the 14th century)] ed. Muhammad Muhammad Amin (Cairo, 1984), vol. 2, pp. 131–44 (henceforth al-Manhal ) and al-Daw’, vol. 2, pp. 126–31. 5. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 144. 6. al-Daw’, vol. 2, p. 129. 7. C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur [GAL] (Leiden, 1938), Suppl. II, pp. 13, 25. 8. His birth date as found in non-Arabic sources has frequently been given in the wrong Common Era years. All sources, Arabic and non-Arabic, agree on the Hijri date that Ibn ‘Arabshah himself gave to al-Maqrizi and Ibn Taghribirdi: “Friday night, the 15th of Dhu’l-Qa’da, 791.” (al-Sakhawi says “the middle of Dhu’lQa’da.”) Brockelmann may not have been the first to equate this incorrectly to 1392 (i.e. “6.11.1392” [6 November 1392] see GAL 2, p. 29/36) rather than 15 November 1389 but his error has proven durable, making its way through both editions of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and into work by otherwise careful scholars. It is worth noting, however, that neither Kafesogˇlu nor Woods repeats the error. 9. al-Durar, vol. 2, p. 26; al-Daw’, vol. 2, p. 126. 10. Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir, translated by J.H. Sanders (London, 1936), p. 157. Henceforth referred to as Tamerlane (Sanders). 11. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 140. 12. al-Durar, vol. 2, p. 26. 13. Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 163. 14. Ibid., pp. 161–2. 15. Ibid., p. 168.

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6. Ibid., pp. 165–6. 1 17. The Bagh-i Khuda is not one of the bagh-garden estates listed in the authoritative work of Lisa Golombek and Donald Wilber, The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan, 2 vols (Princeton, 1988), vol. 1, p. 174. but there were probably many such that predated the Timurid era of garden-residence building but were occupied by the Timurids. 18. There are two significant military figures with the name Idaku (Edige?). The one most likely to have founded the madrasa in Samarkand was Idaku Timur, one of the first members of Timur’s band in Kash and a lifelong devoted follower. See Kafesogˇlu, “Ibn Arabşah”; and Ibn ‘Arabshah, ‘Aja’ib al-maqdur (al-Himsi edition, Beirut, 1986), p. 42, Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 2. 19. Tamerlane (Sanders), pp. 322–3. 20. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 141. 21. See Guy Le Strange’s introduction to Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange (London, 1928), p. 12. 22. Ibn ‘Arabshah’s own date, Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 184. (20 July 1402 according to F. Taeschner, “Ankara,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, vol. 1 (1960), p. 510b.) 23. Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 220. 24. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 141. 25. Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 77. 26. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 141. 27. Ibid., pp. 142–3. 28. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 143. The Qudsi edition of al-Daw’ says he stayed three years (sic!) in Aleppo. 29. Ibn Taghribirdi, History of Egypt, 1382–1469 AD Part V 1438-1453 AD, trans. William Popper (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1958), vol. 19, p. 224. 30. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 143. 31. al-Durar, vol. 2, pp. 26–7. 32. al-Daw’, vol. 2, p. 127. 33. Tamerlane (Sanders), pp. 5–6. 34. He dates interviews to 833/1429-30, 834/1430–1, and 836/1432–3 (Tamerlane (Sanders), pp. 23, 168, 5–6 respectively). He explicitly dates the writing of his work internally to 840/1436–7 (Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 78), a year confirmed by al-Maqrizi (al-Durar, p. 27), although the latter indicates that Ibn ‘Arabshah had yet to come up with the final title, so the work may still have been in progress in 1436–7 albeit substantially completed. Ibn ‘Arabshah also indirectly confirms 840 as the date of composition when he speaks of his mentor in Damascus, al-Bukhari, as being alive (Tamerlane (Sanders), pp. 5–6) and in his ijaza (al-Manhal, vol. 2, pp. 143–4) gives the date of al-Bukhari’s death as Ramadan 8, 841 (5 March 1438). 35. Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 23; al-Himsi ed.,’Aja’ib al-maqdur, pp. 72–3. 36. Tamerlane (Sanders), pp. 5–6. 37. al-Daw’, vol. 2, p. 128. 38. See R. D. McChesney, “A Note on the Life and Works of Ibn ‘Arabshah,” pp. 241, 243. 39. al-Manhal, vol. 2, p. 145. 40. al-Daw’, vol. 2, 128. “ghariban ‘an ahlihi wa watanihi” and in the abbreviated obituary found in Ibn Taghribirdi’s Hawadith al-duhurfi mada al-ayyam wa

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41. 42.

43. 44.

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al-shuhur (Beirut, 1990), 2 vols, vol. 1, p. 308. Popper, in his translation of the same author’s al-Nujum al-zahira, vol. 19, p. 224, says “far from his wife and children.” The Arabic version in al-Nujum al-zahira is indeed “ghariban ‘an ahlihi wa awladihi” as Popper translated. Tamerlane (Sanders), p. 311, where he charges Timur’s daughter with lesbianism. Sanders chooses to translate the word as “bastard.” Unvowelled, the word has a number of possible meanings, including the (presumably derogatory) “anus” (al-khurb) but no dictionary of my acquaintance translates it as “bastard.” However, to rhyme with its consort al-‘Arab it must be al-kharab, universally translated (Lane, Dozy, Hava) as “the male bustard, hence coward.” Presumably, Sanders – or his editor – misread “bustard.” al-Manhal, vol. 4, pp. 103–38. V. Minorsky, Review of Tamerlane or Timur, the Great Amir, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 9, (1937), pp. 237–8 (quotation on p. 238). Minorsky’s review appeared in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 9, no. 1 (1937), pp. 237–8; Hartmann’s in Historische Zeitschrft, Bd. 157 (1938), pp. 172–4; and von Grunebaum’s in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 45 (1938), pp. 148–9.

INTRODUCTION is now scarcely more than a name. Though his career inspired a play by Marlowe and occupied nearly a chapter of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, most educated people to-day would be at a loss to give him a date or his place in history. Yet he is one of the world's great conquerors, of the same class as Jenghizkhan, Alexander, Attila and Napoleon; in short, a scourge of humanity. It would be difficult to maintain that any benefits which he conferred on his subjects or their posterity were equal to the evils which he inflicted. " The ground/* says Gibbon, " which had been occupied by flourishing cities was often marked by his abominable trophies, by columns, or pyramids of human heads. Astracan, Carizme, Delhi, Ispahan, Bagdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Boursa, Smyrna and a thousand others, were sacked, or burnt, or utterly destroyed, in his presence and by his troops : and perhaps his conscience would have been startled if a priest or philosopher had dared to number the millions of victims whom he had sacrificed to the establishment of peace and order." Gibbon flatters Timur's conscience. There is nothing to suggest that he had a conscience of that sort. He seems to have put even children to the sword without pity. Clemency to the conquered was with him the exception. A man of learning like Ibn Khaldun might save his life with the help of flattery. An opponent worthy of his steel, like Bayezid, was treated with ignominy and ingenious refinement of cruelty. Dangerous rivals were liable to be entrapped by a show of friendship and murdered under the guise of hospitality. Though Tamerlane had no greatness except his military genius and that is one of the lowest kinds of greatness, yet his bigness is unquestionable. He ranged over the Middle East like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour. He conquered from the Levant and Hellespont to the borders of China; in the north he dominated at least for a time Southern Russia and parts of Siberia and southwards he carried his banners to victory over Northern India. From his victories he

TAMERLANE

XXXV

INTRODUCTION brought back to Samarkand the loot of many cities and not a few men of learning, artists and craftsmen. The life by Ahmed Ibn Arabshah, formerly secretary of Sultan Ahmed of Bagdad, has never before been translated into English. It is one of the chief authorities for the career of Tamerlane or Timur and the period from his death to the accession of his youngest son Shah Rukh, written soon after the events described. The author, who wrote as a good Moslem, is sometimes charged with bias against " the great amir," but I find no injustice in the account, except in the first few pages where he vaguely depreciates Timur's origin. The book is especially important for the later and principal years of the reign and for the description of Timur's character and appearance in Chapter XCVI of Volume 2. The style is florid but often eloquent and adorned with beautiful passages both in prose and verse ; crammed too with phrases from the Koran and quotations from the poets, which retain their charm even for a Western ear. To clear up the facts of Timur's birth it should be said here that he was born in A.D, 1336 at Kesh in Transoxiana (called in Arabic Mawaralnahr), roughly fifty miles south of Samarkand and was the son of Teragai, the head of the Berlas tribe of Turks and the great grandson of Karachar Nevian, who was commander-in-chief under Jagatai, the son of Jenghizkhan. On the death of Jenghizkhan his empire had been divided among his sons and the middle portion had been allotted to Jagatai. Hence the inhabitants of this area came to be called Jagatais in addition to their own tribal names. This area too was subdivided and at this time the western Jagatais were ruled by Kazan, who was overthrown by Kurgan. The latter deputed Timur to invade Khorasan and he succeeded in this and other military operations. Kurgan was murdered and the succession was disputed. Toghluk Timur of Kashgar invaded the country and Timur was made governor of Mawaralnahr, then displaced in favour of a son of Toghluk, whom Timur however defeated. Toghluk died and Timur with Hussein (Hosain), his brother-in-law, reconquered Mawaralnahr and gained some additional territories. In 1369 Hussein was murdered and Timur became sole ruler and was enthroned at Samarkand. He ruled until his death in A.D. 1405 and the thirty-six years were spent chiefly in conquest; the following is a brief summary of his chief expeditions ; xxxvi

INTRODUCTION 1370. 1371-2 1374. 1375. 1376. 1377. 1378-9 1380-1 1382. 1383. I

384-5. 1386. 1387.

1388. 1388-9. 1389. 1391. I 2 39 ~3^ 1393-4. I

395-

1396. 1398-9.

Invasions of Jat country. Invasions of Khwarizm. Invasion of Jat country, Invasion of Khwarizm, Jat country and Kipchak. Timur sets up Toktamish against Uruskhan. Timur defeats the army of Uruskhan. Toktamish enthroned at Saganak. Birth of Shah Rukh, youngest son of Timur. Toktamish defeats Timur Malik of Kipchak, son of Uruskhan, and becomes Khan of Kipchak. Conquest of Khwarizm. Conquest of Khorasan. Conquests in Persia. Invasion of Jat country and of Sistan. Taking of Kandahar. Conquest of Mazanderan and Sultania. Conquest of Azarbaijan (incl. Tabriz) and Georgia. Defeat of the army of Toktamish Khan of Kipchak, who had revolted against Timur. Defeat of the Black Sheep Turkomans. Submission of Erzinjan. Seizure of Ispahan and Shiraz. Return to Samarkand to repulse Toktamish, who had invaded Transoxiana. Reconquest of Khwarizm. Campaigns against Toktamish. Invasion of the Jat country incl. part of Mongolia. Invasion of Kipchak. Flight of Toktamish. Invasion of Iran (Persia) to suppress revolts. Invasion of Iraq. Capture of Bagdad, Avenik, Erzinjan, etc. Invasion of Georgia. Defeat of Toktamish in Kipchak. Invasion of parts of Russia: Sharifuddin says that his troops reached the Dnieper and that he himself went to Moscow, and plundered it. Invasion of Kuban (Circassia). Destruction of Astrakhan and Serai. Conquests in South Persia. Invasion of India. Occupation of Multan, Delhi, Jammu, etc. xxxvii B

INTRODUCTION A.D.

1399—1400. 1400. 1401. 1402. 1403. 1405.

Invasion of Georgia. Invasion of Rum (Anatolia) and Syria. Taking of Damascus, Bagdad and other cities. Battle of Angora. Defeat and capture of Bayezid, Ottoman Sultan. Capture of Smyrna. Death of Bayezid. Expedition in Georgia. Expedition against China sets out. Death of Timur at Otrar.

For this summary I have drawn on Sharifuddin's History of Timur Bee" in the English version, a good though too eulogistic account: somewhat long however and not easily obtained. Throughout I have used freely Manger's annotated Latin version of Ibn Arabshah. After Timur's death his issue strove for power and before long Shah Rukh gained the empire. He ruled with success until A.D. 1447, when he died and was succeeded by his son, Ulugh Beg, who was murdered two years later. However he had already achieved fame as a patron of architecture and astronomy. After his death the dynasty declined, though another line descended from Timur gained power in India. Samarkand is now the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Republic and a town of some activity. The Muslim city is still beautified by colleges and other buildings of the time of Timur and his successors, but his own tomb is half in ruins. . . . I have to acknowledge help received from and my debt to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th edition), Rodwell's Translation of the Koran in Everyman's Library and Tamerlane, the Earth Shaker by Harold Lamb (Thornton Butterworth), which contains a good bibliography and a lively account of Timur's life.

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VOLUME I CHAPTER I OF HIS ORIGIN AND THE WAY IN WHICH HE SUBDUED KINGDOMS TO HIMSELF

H

GRADUALLY

IS name was Timur; it is pronounced in this way and so also the form of the name implies; but foreign words are turned in a circle like a ball by the sporting cudgel of the Arabic tongue and revolve at pleasure in the field of speech; so they say sometimes Tamur, sometimes Tamarlang—which is not wrong; and Tamar in Turkish means iron, but lang means lame. He was the son of Taragai, son of Abgai. The birthplace of this deceiver was a village of a lord named Ilgar in the territory of Kesh—may Allah remove him from the garden of Paradise ! And J£esh is one of the cities of Transoxiana, about two days distant from Samarkand. They say that on the night on which he was born something like a helmet appeared, seemed to flutter in the air, then fell into the middle of the plain and finally was scattered over the ground; thence also live coals flew about like glowing ashes and collected so that they filled the plain and the city : they also say that when that evil man saw the light, his palms were full of freshly shed blood. They consulted the augurs and diviners about these portents and referred to seers and soothsayers about their meaning, of whom some replied that he would be a guardsman ; others that he would grow up a brigand, while others said a bloodthirsty butcher, others finally that he would be an executioner, these opinions contending with each other, until events decided the issue. He and his father were shepherds, belonging to a mixed horde, lacking either reason or religion ; others say that both belonged to a tribe accustomed to travel hither and thither, i

LIFE OF TIMUR and courageous, who lived in Transoxiana and wintered within its borders. Others again say that his father was a poor smith, but that he himself from his youth excelled in keenness of intellect and strength; but because of poverty began to commit acts of brigandage and in the course of these exploits was wounded and mutilated ; for when he wanted to carry off a sheep, which he had stolen one night, the shepherd cleft his shoulder with an arrow and maimed it, and shooting a second arrow at his hip, damaged the hip. So mutilation was added to his poverty and a blemish to his wickedness and fury, with which he went about with his hand against every man. Then he sought men like and equal to himself and neglected God, and collected Satanic companions, such as Abbas, Jahanshah, Qamari, Suliman Shah, Idaku Timur, Jaku and Seifuddin, about forty men without resources or religion. But however powerless he was and however meagre his resources and equipment, and however weak his physique and bodily condition, without property or troops, yet he used to tell them that he aimed at royal rank and would attack the kings of this world with fatal onset; and they jested together about these professions, most counting him a lunatic and imbecile ; and they went to him and met him to make him the object of laughter and ridicule. " Truly when fortune aids him and makes the weak strong, he will forward his purpose, with fate directing and providence guiding." " By no means despair of glory, from which you are far removed: for the path to it is made by stages and degrees. Truly the reed, which you see rising high, grows and swells joint by joint." Now there was in the city of Kesh an old man named Shamsuddin Fakhri, of the greatest authority in those parts, consulted by all in affairs of state and religion. They say that Timur, when poor and weak and between his imagined greatness and actual wretchedness, he had nothing but a cotton garment, sold it and with the price of it got himself a she-goat from the flock, with which he went to pay respect to the Sheikh and entrusted his plan to the Sheikh's honour. Now he had fastened one end of a rope to the goat's neck and with the other bound his own neck and so, leaning on a staff taken from a branch of a palm, he advanced with slow step, until he came to the worthy Sheikh, whom he found 2

LIFE

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engaged with fakirs in remembrance of divine things and plunged in the deepest meditation. Accordingly he waited until they had come back to themselves and rested from their conversation. As soon as the Sheikh turned his eyes towards him, he at once kissed his hands and threw himself at his feet. Then the other, reflecting for a little, raised his head to the company and said : " This man spends his self and pelf that he may ask our aid in seeking that which Allah Almighty reckons of less worth than the wing of a fly. Let us see therefore that we help him and do not curse or repel him." Accordingly they assisted him with prayers, by which they aided his desire ; and so he acted the part of a fox ; then he camef back from the Sheikh's presence and advancing climbed gradually, lame though he was, to his desired eminence. It is related, too, that when he was engaged upon a certain robbery and appeared to be missing his way—in fact, he wandered so much from the right path that he almost died of thirst and hunger—when he had spent a week in this plight, he came on the Sultan's horses, whose keeper received him with courtesy and kindness. Now Timur was one of those who know the points of a horse and can distinguish at a glance by the outward shape between good and bad stock. Accordingly, when the keeper of the horses had sounded him and learned this science thoroughly from him, his affection for him grew and he sought his constant society. He also took him before the Sultan with horses which he had collected, showing the Sultan Timur's skill and what he himself had seen of his capacities. The ~Sultan therefore received him with favour, and dismissed him after commending him to the keeper of the horse. When the keeper died soon afterwards, Timur was appointed to his place and did not cease to insinuate himself in a higher degree into the Sultan's favour, until he married the Sultan's full sister. This lady afterwards was annoyed by his conversation and reproached him with his original condition and status ; whereupon he drew his sword and threatened her so that she fled from his hands. But when she paid no heed to him he slew her with a blow and gave her body to burial. Then he had no course but sedition, rebellion, ferocity and outrage until he achieved his destiny. This Sultan was called Hussein, and was of royal blood, 3

LIFE OF TIMUR with power of life and death; his capital was Balkh, in the country of Khorasan, but the seas of his commands flowed through the territory of Transoxiana right up to the borders of Turkistan. Others say that his father was an Amir under the said Sultan, renowned among his comrades for strength and courage. But these differing traditions can be reconciled by a consideration of different times and the change which alterations and accidents of fortune bring. The sounder opinion is that his father, the above-mentioned Taragai, was among the magnates of the Sultan's court. And I have seen, in the appendix of the Persian Chronicle called Muntakhab, which is brought down from the creation to the times of Timur with truly admirable effort, the genealogy of Timur traced without a break to Jenghizkhan through females, snares of Satan. But after conquering Transoxiana and rising above his companions, he married princesses and therefore they gave him the surname Kurkan, which in the Mogul language means Son-in-law, since he had gained affinity with kings, and enjoyed the highest authority in their courts. He was one of four Viziers of the said Sultan, with whom was the hinge of evil and good, since they were the eyes of the kingdoms, and by their advice affairs were directed. The Turks forsooth have tribes and a race, like the Arab tribes, and each of these Viziers was to his own tribe a tall wick for the lamp of its counsels in the houses of its habitation. One of these tribes is called Arlat, the second Jalabar, tjie third Qavjin, the fourth Barlas. Timur, however, sprang^from the fourth ; as a youth he grew up brave, great-hearted, active, strong, urbane, and won the friendship of the Viziers' sons of his own age and entered into company with his contemporaries among the young Amirs to such a degree, that when one night they had gathered in a lonely place and were enjoying familiarity and hilarity among themselves, having removed the curtains of secrecy and spread the carpet for cheerful intercourse, he said to them, " My grandmother, who was skilled in augury and divination, saw in sleep a vision, which she expounded as foreshadowing to her one among her sons and grandsons, who would conquer territories and bring men into subjection and be Lord of the Stars and master of the Kings of the age. And I am that man and now the fit time is at hand and has 4

LIFE OF TIMUR come near. Pledge yourselves therefore to be my back, arms, flank and hands and never to desert me." They assented and promised to aid him whenever summoned and swore that they would be with him in prosperity and adversity and never against him. Nor did they cease to carry these conversations everywhere with them and stir hither and thither the flood of the pool of this treachery without shame or secrecy, until every inhabitant of Egypt and Syria saw his lightning and all who had long been absent from their own country, from the least to the greatest, had in talk followed his new enterprise. The Sultan well knowing this, for his rebellion was open, wished to outstrip his treachery in its beginning and to keep the world quiet from his villainy and protect his subjects and territories from Timur's wickedness and havoc, and did according to the words of the poet: " The apex of a height will not be safe from injury unless its sides are drenched in blood/' But Timur, informed of this plan by an honest adviser, revolted and fell safely to the abyss of rebellion, nay, in this way climbed higher. It may be that at this time and while affairs stood thus, he visited the Sheikh Shamsuddin, already mentioned, and implored his help, as just now described, for executing the object which he had revealed to him, for he was wont to say: "Whatever empire I have gained and whatever forts I have stormed, are due to the intercession of Sheikh Shamsuddin Fakhri and the zeal of Sheikh Zeinuddin Khwafi, and I have not won success except by the aid of Said Barka " ; and the tale of Zeinuddin and Barka will be told hereafter. Timur further said, " Not open to me were the gates of happiness and fortune, nor did victories over the world smile upon me like a bride until after the arrows of Seistan and from that very time, when that damage befell me, right to this day I have won continuous gains." For it is agreed that the beginning of his exploits and rebellion fell at that time, which is between the years 760 and 770.* And my master, the learned Imam, accomplished, consummate and excellent, pearl of the age, phoenix of his time, wisest of men, teacher of the world, glory of religion, teacher of those who rightly and subtly study philosophy, polestar of his time, guide of the age, Abu Abdallah Mahomed, * A.D. 1358 and A.D. 1368.

5

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son of Mahomed, son of Mahomed Bukhari, citizen of Damascus, (May Allah Almighty make eternal the days of his life and increase Islam and the Muslims through his fortunate benedictions !), said during the year 836 that Timur killed the said Sultan Hussein in the month of Shaban, in the year 771,* and was raised to royal rank from that moment, and that his death fell in the month of Shaban, in the year 807, f as will be told later. The period of his complete dominion was therefore thirty-six years, and that without reckoning the time from his sedition and brigandage up to his gaining the throne. For after he had rebelled, he and his companions were ravaging the territories of Transoxiana with hostile and violent assaults on the people. Therefore all moved to drive them out and closed to them those habitations and places. Accordingly, they crossed the Oxus, and when that tract was exhausted by brigandage, turned to the territory of Khorasan and particularly the borders of Seistan, nor could their raids in the huge deserts of Bavard and Makhan be counted. But setting out one night, when want pressed his men, and the flame of hunger scorched them, he entered one of the enclosures of Seistan, into which a shepherd had taken his sheep, and when he had carried off one sheep the shepherd saw him making off, and following him out of the enclosure pierced him with two arrows, one of which penetrated his thigh, the other his shoulder, so that by the will of Allah he was maimed in half his body through that justly weighed blow. Then he seized and brought him and carried him before the Sultan of Herat, by name Malik Hussein, whq ordered him to be whipped and then crucified. Now the Sultan had an unwise son named Malik Ghayatuddin, who interceded for him and sought to have him from his father, and his father replied: " Nothing proceeds from you to show that you are acting aright and to reflect a fortunate disposition and destiny ; for if this Jagatai brigand, cancer of corruption, is left alive, he will be the bane of peoples and lands." But his son answered : " That half-man already overwhelmed by dire calamity can achieve nothing. The end of his life is already without doubt at hand. Do not then be the * AJD. 1369.

6

t A.D. 1405.

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cause of his death." Accordingly the Sultan gave him up to his son, who entrusted him to a doctor, that his wounds might heal and his scars be cured. Afterwards he was among the slaves of the son of the Sultan of Herat, a most sage and valuable servant. In his household his dignity grew, and his rank was advanced and all that he said was obeyed. And when a Nawab of the Sultan's rebelled, the Governor of Seistan, Timur sought the opportunity of opposing him, and the Sultan trusted him and granted his wish and gave him a military force. And when he reached Seistan, he seized the Governor, who was continuing in rebellion, and after exhausting the resources of that country and taking the troops which followed him, he began an open revolt and crossed into Transoxiana with his men. Others, however, say that he remained in the service of the son of the Sultan until his father had died and passed away and the son had attained full power. Then, they say, Timur fled into Transoxiana, and his forces were strengthened. For already his companions were joining him and his fellowbandits and friends were again collecting round him. Then, indeed, Ghayatuddin sent men to pursue them from the rear, exerting himself to keep the Moslems safe from their assaults and attacks. But, alas ! the sword had already eluded his grasp and they came after the feast.

CHAPTER

II

OF HIS TUMULTUOUS AND MARVELLOUS CROSSING OF THE OXUS

A

ND Timur and his company reached the Oxus, which L then—like them—was swelling beyond its bounds, and they could not delay, because their pursuers, like themselves, were ruthless. Timur therefore bade his men with all speed hurl themselves into the water, each holding the bridle and mane of his horse ; and they arranged a place among themselves. He added, " Cross without delay and everyone who does not come to the appointed place will know that it is finished with him/' Then they threw themselves and their horses into those roaring waters and swelling waves, like moths flying towards a lamp. Nor did one care for another's plight 7

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or the man in front watch the fate of the man behind, and they endured the tortures of death and saw openly the terrors of destruction. They emerged however, and without even a man lost collected at the place agreed ; but as soon as the country was free of anxiety about them and each man was quietly attending to all his business, they began to spy out everything and make war upon Allah and His Prophet and harass His worshippers and break His laws. Nor did he cease to rage hither and thither in that manner, until he came to the city of Qarshi.

CHAPTER

III

OF THE DANGER WHICH HE CONFRONTED IN THE ATTACK ON THE CITY OF QARSHI AND HIS ESCAPE FROM THAT DIFFICULTY

T

IMUR said one day to his comrades, when fate was already driving and spurring him to evil, and bringing abundant booty in the place of their brigandage and blossoming finely : " Near us is the city of Nakhshab, the city of Abi Tarab the Nakhshabi (on whom be the mercy of Allah !), well fortified and strong. If we seize it, it will be a protection to us, a fortress, refuge and place of escape, and its ruler is Musa. If we surprise him, take his wealth, and slay him, his horses and means will be a strength to us and we shall win escape after difficulty. And I know a narrow street into which one can easily climb by means of water which runs through it." Accordingly, they girded their loins and leaving their horses in a certain place, gave the night to execution of their plans, and entering the city canal, eagerly sought the house of the Amir and they raised their hands and withdrew them. And the Amir was in a suburban garden. Then they seized all that they found of his arms and supplies, and mounting his horses, slew by surprise the leading men that they encountered. But the townsmen gathered against them and summoned the Amir, who following them with a large force, heaped damage upon them there and from all sides, until they had no resource, but to commend themselves to the help of Allah. And when Timur's friends said to him, " Now in truth we have rashly hurled ourselves to certain destruction/' he replied, 8

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" This does not become you, for in such fields of battle a man is tried and proved. Therefore summon your devices, then attack in mass, and rush upon the gate of the city, breaking in with united hand and breaking through the enemy without sloth or delay. And I think nothing will resist you or stand before you." And hearing his words they raised a shout and made for the gate, meeting the floods of death, and rushed on the enemy with the charge of a lion and poured out with far more force than a bursting cloud. And they had the gate open by the will of the supreme Arbiter. Nor did one man succour another against them. Nor did the great strength of the enemy avail him anything. Then they came back safe to their position, and none the less in this condition of affairs they ceased not to move from place to place carrying havoc. And assembling their comrades and combining with those who were equally committed to brigandage, they reached a number of about three hundred, collecting a horde of scoundrels. And the Sultan sent an army against them which they overthrew, while it regarded them as of little account, and they seized one of the forts, which they made a safe place for all their booty. I have said : " Weigh not lightly any act and trick of a foe; For sometimes the fox has overthrown lions." It is said also that " the gnat wounds the eye of the lion " ; or in other words, " The King sometimes is checkmated by a wretched pawn."

CHAPTER

IV

RELATES WHO WERE HELD BOUND BY THE ATTACK OF THAT DESPOT AND WHAT NOBLE PRINCES HE WISHED TO BE ENSLAVED TO HIM

T

IMUR sent to the prefecture of Balkhshan, governed by two brothers holding absolute power received from their father. But when the Sultan had torn it from their grasp, presently he confirmed them in it on condition that they 9

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should be under his sway, wishing that their sons should be hostages with him, whereby they became slaves of his rule. And Timur demanding their submission, they assented and placed themselves under his dominion.

CHAPTER

V

HOW WHEN THE MOGULS ROSE AGAINST THE SULTAN HIS POWER WAS BROKEN

T

HEN the Moguls rose on the East against Sultan Hussein, who equipped an army against them and crossed the Oxus and battle was joined between the two sides. Then the Sultan being put to flight, that demon (Timur) also sent an envoy to them, and their leader was called Qamaruddin Khan. And they assented to his petition and followed his wishes. And they set him against the Sultan, that he might drag his territories from his hand, promising him a matrimonial alliance and supporting him by their help. And they returned to their own country, leaving him the control of his own affairs. His power, therefore, grew strong by these means and fear of him filled men's hearts. Therefore the Sultan could not but exert his zeal and power to destroy him completely with all his followers. Accordingly, attacking him, he proceeded against him with an army which gave forth a roar like a raging sea, until he came to a place called Qaghalghar, In that place is a double tract of mountains, between the jaws of which a large road, by which it is crossed, goes for an hour's distance, in the midst of which is a narrow pass ; and when this is closed and defended, nothing is so inaccessible. Mountains surround it, each of which rises to a lofty ridge, while the foot stands fixed and immersed in abysmal depths, so much that it may truly be said of them " Nose in the sky and rump in the water.", And the army occupied the entrance of that pass from the direction of Samarkand, while Timur held the other side, where he was, as it were, in a defile and besieged. 10

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CHAPTER TIMUR'S

CRAFTY

VI

DESIGNING AND THE PLANNED

T

DEVICE

WHICH

HE

HEN Timur said to his friends : " I know that somewhere here is a hidden way with most difficult paths, which footsteps have never trodden and through which even the sandgrouse birds would not offer themselves as guides. Come, then, let us go by night and leading our horses let us come on them from the rear while they suspect no harm ; for if we come upon them by night we are safe." And when they had approved this, they presently strove to climb these hilly and difficult paths. And all night they advanced, but when, the sun rising and the dawn coming upon them, they had not yet reached the enemy, the earth was narrowed for them for all its breadth and they were thrown into the greatest anxiety. Nor could they go back, since the sun was already rising, when they came near the army, which, with baggage packed, was already prepared for the march. His comrades therefore said : " We have formed a ruinous plan; we have come into the power of the enemy and now we have fallen into a trap and have with our own hands hurled ourselves to destruction." But Timur replied : " There is no danger ; turn towards the enemy and in their sight dismount from your horses and send them to graze, and complete the span of sleep and rest which you have lost during your night march." Then they dismounted from their horses and threw themselves down and loosened their horses to graze. " When the eyes of safety guard thee, sleep; and every kind of horror will be security itself ; and chase the griffin with security's aid and it will be like a net: lead the sheep with her favour and it will be in place of a halter." The army passed them, thinking they were comrades in arms, until having taken their rest they mounted their horses, and with a shout drew their swords against the enemy and riding on their shoulders from behind dealt them swift destruction and left them wounded and prostrate. II

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And general was the awful slaughter and none knew the disaster how it befell. And when the Sultan heard the news and no chance of recovery remained, he fled to Balkh and put on a foul hide instead of the royal robe torn from him. But Timur was active in plunder, pillage and spoliation, and gathered supplies and collected resources and won to his side the common people and the leaders alike, who obeyed him whether they wished or not. So he gained the realms of Transoxiana and subdued the population by force and compulsion. And he began to establish forces and armies and seize forts and castles. The Governor of Samarkand in the name of the Sultan was one of the magnates, called Ali Shir, to whom Timur wrote that they should divide the power between them and that he should stand on his side against Sultan Hussein. Then Ali Shir agreed, and dividing with him the provinces and kingdoms and coming to him, stood in his presence and was active in showing him every kind of honour and omitted nothing by which he might honour him.

CHAPTER

VII

TIMUR PROCEEDS TO BALKHSHAN, RECEIVING AID AGAINST THE SULTAN FROM THOSE WHO WERE HOLDING THAT CITY

T

HEN Timur, dismissing Ali Shir and confident of his loyalty, proceeded to Balkhshan, whose two Princes went to meet him, showing him reverence, and presented him with gifts and helped him with soldiers and followers. They themselves went with him and advanced from Balkhshan, from which place they continued to Balkh to besiege the Sultan, whom they surrounded on all sides, while he was equipping himself against them. Accordingly, he produced the sons of both of them, whom he held as hostages—and cut off their heads in their fathers' sight, showing them no pity or mercy. Then his condition weakened and his cavalry and infantry were broken and fell away from him, and he surrendered and gave himself up to destiny and Providence, resting in the decision, whether sweet or bitter, of the Divine 12

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decree. Then, when he had been cast into bonds, Timur seized power. Then, sending the Princes of Balkhshan to that place with honour, he advanced to Samarkand, taking Sultan Hussein with him ; and this was in the month Shaban, of the year of the Hegira 771.* And when he reached Samarkand, he made it his capital and, laying the foundations of empire, he placed the city in the cord and bond of his rule. Then, after slaying the Sultan, he appointed deputy in his own name one Shiur Ghatmish of the seed of Jinkizkhan. And only men of the tribe of Jinkizkhan claim the title Khan and Sultan, since they are the Koreish of the Turks, of whom no one can take precedence or pluck that nobility from their hands ; for if anyone could have done it, it would certainly have been Timur, who conquered kingdoms and dared everything. However, he set up Shiur Ghatmish to repel the calumnies of detractors and cut off the piercing point of every tongue. And he was only entitled Timur, the Great Amir, although under his sway were ruler and subject alike ; and the Khan was in his bondage, like a centipede in mud, and he was like the Khalifs at this time in the regard of the Sultans. And he continued Ali Shir in the Governorship of Samarkand, and honoured him, seeking advice from him in his business, and kept him in the chief position.

CHAPTER

VIII

DESCRIBES THE EXPEDITION OF TOQTAMISH KHAN, SULTAN OF DASHT AND TURKISTAN

T

HEN, when Toqtamish Khan, Sultan of Dasht and of the Tatars, saw what had occurred between Timur and Sultan Hussein, his heart's blood boiled and raged—and that because they were kinsmen and neighbours—and enrolling a numerous army and plentiful forces, he advanced against Timur's camp from the side of Saghnaq and Atrar. Timur coming out against him from Samarkand, they met in the parts of Turkistan, near the river of Khajend, which is the Jaxartes (Sihun) ; and * A.D. 1369.

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Samarkand is between the rivers Jaxartes (Sihun) and Oxus (Jihun). Then, between the two armies seethed the traffic of battle and nothing was sold there between them but the trade of mutual blows and the millstone of war did not cease to turn until Timur's army was being crushed to pieces ; and when his army was already broken and the bond of his hosts dissolved, lo, a man came, called Said Barka. To whom Timur in this utmost crisis said : " My Lord Said ! My troops are being put to flight." To him the Said replied, " Fear not ! " Then the Said, dismounting from his horse and halting, seized a handful of gravel, and mounting his ashcoloured steed, hurled the gravel in the face of the enemy, who were fighting with the utmost vigour, shouting at the top of his voice, " The brigand is in flight." And Timur echoed the cry in a terrific voice, following the valiant old man and shouting like a mail calling a thirsty camel to the water. Then the army turned like cattle around their young and began to fight with the enemy and those like unto themselves and there was none in the army but shouted in a great voice, " That brigand is in flight." Then with united force they again charged, with well-combined courage and zeal in mutual aid. And the forces of Toqtamish, driven to flight, turned and retired with back turned. Then Timur's army, falling upon them with the sword, through these openings poured out for them goblets of death ; and they seized the supplies and beasts of burden and took prisoners of every rank. Then Timur returned to Samarkand, having already subdued Turkistan and the territories of the River Jaxartes. And he conferred great authority at his court on Said Barka and made him Governor throughout his dominions and kingdom. About this Said accounts differ. Some say that he came from the West and had been a surgeon in Egypt, then went to Samarkand, where raised to the rank of Said, he obtained higher power and authority. But others say that he came of the people of Medina Al Sharifat, others, on the other hand, that he came of the people of Mecca Al Munifat. Whatever the truth, he was certainly among the great magnates of the provinces of Transoxiana and Khorasan; especially, after he aided Timur so actively and snatched him from that danger, his cunning coinciding with destiny and Providence. 14

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And Timur said to him : " Ask of me and use your right with me." And he replied : " My Lord and Amir, there are several fiefs in the provinces of Mecca and Medina, and particularly that of Andakhoi, in the territory of Khorasan, to which benefit I and my sons among all are entitled. And let the basis of this be openly fixed and the whole produce of it be ascertained. And let the estates and properties and income be assigned, lest my portion and my sons' in this town be slighter than a reed in this valley ; therefore, allot that to me." Timur therefore allotted it to him with its territories, estates and villages, and his grandsons, descendants and kin have held it right to this day.

CHAPTER

IX

CONCERNING THE QUARREL AND EVIL THINGS WHICH AROSE BETWEEN ALI SHIR AND TIMUR

T

HEN a quarrel arose between Timur and Ali Shir, and both had their partisans, but Timur suddenly took him by surprise. Then, after he had been seized and put to death, the kingdoms and territories were subdued to Timur with some tranquillity, all the magnates hastening to do homage to him, who had hitherto haughtily declined.

CHAPTER WHAT

A

X

TIMUR DID WITH THE ROGUES AND VILLAINS SAMARKAND AND HOW HE SENT THEM TO HELL

OF

T Samarkand there was a crowd of rogues of different Lsorts, among them wrestlers, swordsmen, boxers and mountebanks. And there were two factions among them like Qais and Yemen, which constantly practised mutual enmity and hostility and both sides had their leaders, supporters, helpers and partisans. Timur feared them despite his power, when he saw their obstinacy and hostilities. And when he wished to leave the 15 c

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place, he used to appoint a deputy at Samarkand. And as soon as he had left the city, they used to break into revolt and depose the deputy or form a faction with him and declare open rebellion. And Timur did not return until the string of pearls was broken and everything in confusion ; consequently he was compelled to restore, make smooth, destroy and build, putting some to death and removing some from office, wooing others with presents and rewards. Then he betook himself elsewhere to arrange and strengthen the affairs of his kingdom, but they soon would return to their own filth and recur to their deceit and craftiness. And this story was repeated about nine times. Accordingly Timur, finding force in vain against those rogues and villains, sought by cunning to destroy them and to restrain the injuries they inflicted and root them up completely. He therefore arranged a feast, to which he invited men of every kind and divided them into sections and placed each workman under his overseer together; but he placed those rogues separately with their leaders, in the manner in which Anushirvan, the son of Kaikobad, dealt with the infidels. And he placed on one side in ambush guards, with whom he arranged that they should do away with anyone whom he removed to them and this removal was a signal to kill. Then calling the chief persons to him he extended a goblet with his own hand and clothed them in splendid raiment and when the turn of those vagabonds came, he gave each a cup to drink and presented each with a mantle, at the same time giving a signal that having put it on he should go towards the men in ambush. And when he reached them, they stripped off his mantle—nay, rather the garment of life—and tore it to shreds, pouring the gold of its pattern into the bowl of destruction and melting it, until all were destroyed. And when they were utterly destroyed and all trace of them wiped out and when their fire was quenched, the springs of water flowed for him and his kingdom was cleared of enemies and rebels, for none was left in Transoxiana disobedient to him or ready to resist him.

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CHAPTER

XI

THE TERRITORIES OF SAMARKAND ARE DESCRIBED AND ALSO THOSE WHICH LIE BETWEEN THE RIVERS OF BALKHSHAN AND KHAJEND*

S

AMARKAND, with its provinces, has seven turnans, and Andekan (or Feraghan) with its districts has nine tumans ; and tuman is the common name for a population that produces ten thousand soldiers. Among the more notable cities and famous places of Transoxiana is Samarkand, the walls of which formerly, according to popular account, were of twelve parasangs in length and that from the time of Sultan Jalaluddin before Jenghizkhan. I saw at the end of the wall on the west a town built by Timur, called Damashq, half a day's journey from Samarkand— where to this day they dig up remains of old Samarkand and discover drachmas and obols inscribed in the Cufic character, by melting which they obtain fine silver. There is also a city of Transoxiana called Marghinan, which was once a capital in which the Ilek Khan resided, and from which came the famous and wise Sheikh, Burhanuddin of Marghinan, author of the " Hidaya." May God Almighty have mercy upon him ! Besides there is Khajend, which is on the Jaxartes; and Tarmaz on the bank of the Oxus ; Nakhshab, otherwise called Qarshi, which I have already mentioned, Kesh, Bokhara and Andekan, which are famous places. Further among the provinces of Balkhshan are the territories of Khwarizm and the regions of Saghainan and other spacious countries and far-flung domains. And that part which lies beyond the Oxus on the East is commonly called Turan and the part on this side the Oxus on the west, Iran. For when Kaikaus and Afrasiab were dividing provinces between themselves, Turan went to Afrasiab and to Kaikaus, son of Kaikobad, Iran and Irak on the West of Iran. * i.e. the Oxus and Jaxartes.

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CHAPTER

XII

OF THE BEGINNING OF HIS TYRANNY AFTER HE HAD SUBDUED THE PROVINCES OF TRANSOXIANA

A

FTER the provinces of Transoxiana were reduced to ^absolute submission and those had accepted his sway, who had long proudly resisted, Timur eager to win territory for himself and to reduce men to servitude, began with fingers of cunning to weave nets and snares, that with them he might catch kings of countries and lords of lands. Accordingly, he first made an alliance by marriage with the Moguls, and gained their friendship and brought them to peace and tranquillity, taking as wife the daughter of their king, Qamaruddin, and became safe from their onslaughts and attacks ; for they were his neighbours on the east. And they were not torn or divided among themselves, since there was a double reason, first race, af&nity and neighbourhood, and second, their religion, which is called the law of Jenghiz Khan and was spread through the whole of both states ; he was therefore safe from their enmity and repelled their wiles and power to injure.

CHAPTER

XIII

TIMUR PLANS TO INVADE COUNTRIES AND FIRST THE TERRITORIES OF KHWARIZM

T

HEN Timur, secure from their arts and having blocked their boundary by pacification, planned to invade the territories of Khwarizm, which bordered his own on the west on the left side, but differed from him in maintaining the principles of Islam ; the capital of those territories is Jurjan, a very large city. And this kingdom contains large cities and great provinces. The capital is a place in which gather men of distinction, a place of meeting for the learned, a home for men of culture and poets, a resort of the refined and great, a centre of the sect of Mutazalites and a fountain of a multitude searching for truth following right and wrong paths. The city 18

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abounds in luxury and excellent plenty, and its beauties make a fine show; the name of the Sultan was Hussein Sufi, who followed untrue doctrines. The cities of Transoxiana almost resemble each other, for all are built of brick and tile on earth. And the people of Khwarizm equal those of Samarkand in subtlety, but excel them in magnificence and elegance, being devoted to poetry and humane learning, admirable in various kinds of fine arts and accomplishments, especially in the science of music and tone, which is practised equally by the nobles and commons. In truth, it is commonly said of them that their children in the cradle when they cry or shout " Ah ! " do it in harmony. When Timur came to Khwarizm, Hussein Sufi was absent and he laid waste the country round and all that his hand obtained thence ; but he made little effort over the city which he could not take and made little of it. Then collecting his followers he went back to his own kingdom.

CHAPTER

XIV

THE SECOND INVASION OF KHWARIZM

T

HEN tightening the belt of resolution, Timur invaded Khwarizm a second time, equipped with every requirement and a large army, while the Sultan was still absent, as before ; and to the beautiful virgin (city) he sent in a suitor and besieged her and reduced her to the utmost distress, tightening the garments of the throat at the neck of her approaches, so that his nails were almost fixed in her lappets. Therefore a man went out to him, one of the chief citizens, a merchant, who had won much merit with the Sultan, and who was named Hasan Surbaj, praying him to free them from that confusion and offering him what he might demand in place of the expected gain from captives and booty. Then Timur demanded from him that a weight of silver coin, such as two hundred mules could carry, should be conveyed to his treasury. Nor did he cease to persuade and cajole him and steadfastly refuse, until he agreed with him for a quarter of the sum demanded, and he performed that undertaking, weighing out that sum immediately to him from his own resources and private means. *9

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Timur accordingly betook himself on his way, prohibiting the devils of his army from plunder, and sought to return t ° Samarkand.

CHAPTER

XV

TIMUR SENDS A LETTER TO MALIK GHAYATUDDIN, SULTAN OF HERAT, WHO SNATCHED HIM FROM THE CROSS, AND ON HIS ACCOUNT OPPOSED HIS OWN FATHER

T

IMUR then wrote a letter to the Sultan of Herat, Malik Ghayatuddin, who was really his helper, beginning it with a saying (of Mahomed), " God has written concerning every wicked soul," and praying him to submit to his sway and demanding a consignment of slaves and a contribution in proportion to his strength ; adding that if he refused, he would attack his cities and destroy him. But Malik Ghayatuddin replied : " I swear by the allies of the Prophet! -You were my slave and I did good to you, and spread over you the mantle of my kindness and favour, but you have deceived and slain, destroyed unawares and given over to slaughter, acted guilefully and accomplished the crime which you have accomplished, although I rescued you from blows and the cross ; but if you refuse to be a man who recognizes kindnesses, be like a dog." Then he crossed the Oxus and advanced against him, but when Ghayatuddin had not strength to meet him in open battle, his followers and townsmen at his command had assembled with their beasts around Herat and he dug round the gardens a ditch, which surrounded the wretched cowards and weaklings ; but he shut himself in the fortress, thinking that in this way he would be inaccessible—because of the weakness of his counsel and the stupidity and folly, by which his mind and the condition of his state was overthrown and confounded. I have said : Him whose rule is not aided by fortune, Ruin assails, though he govern well. Timur however did not think it worth while to fight with him and make a siege, but the army surrounded him on every 20

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side, Timur holding a safe and secure position, while his enemy had exchanged open spaces for confinement. For, meantime, the nobles and commons were troubled and the cattle and beasts moved this way and that, and the town was choked with a dense mob, gentle and simple perished, disease consumed them and hunger destroyed them and wailing and murmuring arose. Accordingly, the Sultan sent to him, seeking security, and informing him that because of him he had been brought into the greatest stress and that he had helped him previously and cared for him, and reminded him of his former kindness and the web of good service he had woven for him, and sought from him security confirmed by oath. And Timur swore to him that he would preserve for him his ancient rights and would not shed his blood or break his skin. So he went out to him, and approaching him submitted to him; then Timur entered the city and climbed the fort and the Sultan with him, with the troops and guards of Herat surrounding him; then one of the brave men, the governor of Herat, gave a sign to the Sultan that he would slay Timur and that he was ready to sacrifice his life on his behalf and spoke to him in this wise : " I will ransom the Muslims at the risk of my life and wealth, and will kill this cripple, caring naught." But he did not consent to his intimation, and trusted to the decree of Almighty God and His will, and said : " Almighty God has supreme power over his servants and the arrow of His will cannot fail to go through them, nor can be escaped or avoided the decree, which God Almighty has made and decreed/' When any destined thing ought to befall you, while you flee from it, you will approach the nearer to it. Nor can this mystery of Providence fail of its issue ; Nor can man dispute the truth of its behests. He who struggles with Fate, is conquered And he that resists Fortune is dragged along. Who opposes the floods of Destiny is drowned And he that slothfully enjoys the resorts of pleasure is choked. Then he remembered what his father had said to him and marked its truth, but the arrow once shot could not be brought back. 21

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CHAPTER HOW

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TYRANT

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XVI

VISITED THE VENERABLE ABU BAKR OF KHAWAF

W

ZAINUDDIN

HEN at length Timur came into Khorasan, he heard that in a town called Khawaf there was a man, to whom God Almighty had granted excellent gifts, a man of learning and action, born in noble station, endowed with excellent understanding, remarkable for pure virtue and wonderful holiness, ready and brilliant in daily conversation, but his deliberate speech in the assemblies excelled much more ; in doctrine he was faithful, in dealing with God always true, and was called Sheikh Zainuddin Abu Bakr, who with the wings of his zeal occupied a lofty nest in the chief place in Paradise. Timur, therefore, anxious to see him, hastened to him and his company. And when they said to the old man, "Timur comes to you desiring to see you and hoping for your blessing," the old man did not reply even a word or raise his eyes ; and when Timur came to him, he dismounted from his horse and went in to him. But the old man sat occupied in his accustomed posture meditating on the carpet of adoration. But when he reached him, the old man rose, but Timur bent with his face bowed towards his own feet and the old man put his hands on his back. Timur said: " I f the old man had not quickly removed his hand from my back, I should have thought it was broken ; and I truly thought the sky had fallen on the earth, and that I was to be broken between the two with a mighty breaking." Then he sat in the presence of that incomparable one ready to receive instruction and said to him courteously in conversation as though greedy to learn but not disputing : " Venerable master ! Do you teach nothing to your kings concerning justice and equity and warn them not to turn to violence and tyranny ? " -And the old man replied to him : " We teach that in truth and for that reason we visit them ; but they do not suffer themselves to be taught, and so we have appointed you Lord over them." But as soon as he went out from the old man, his hump stood erect and he said : " I am Lord of the World by the 22

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Lord of the Kaaba ! " And this old man is he about whom a promise was made before to speak. Then Timur throwing into bonds the King of Herat resolved to guard his gains, and to hold all his territories in allegiance, appointed in each a deputy, and returned to Samarkand with his booty. But the Sultan he held prisoner in the city and forbade him to go out and entrusted him for being guarded to the citizens, to whom he joined his lions as guards, stark and staunch watchmen, because of his oath not to shed his blood and to maintain his rights ; therefore he did not indeed shed his blood, but slew him in prison with hunger and thirst.

CHAPTER

XVII

TIMUR RETURNS TO KHORASAN AND LAYS WASTE THE PROVINCES OF SEISTAN

T

HEN Timur returned to Khorasan. with a fixed purpose of taking revenge on Seistan, whose inhabitants went out to him asking for peace and agreement, which he granted them on condition that they should hand over their arms to him, of which they produced the whole equipment which they had, hoping in this way to escape from their extremity; and he put them on oath and ordered them to swear plainly that no further weapons of theirs were left in the city. And as soon as they had given this guarantee, he drew the sword against them and billeted upon them all the armies of death. Then he laid the city waste, leaving in it not a tree or a wall and destroyed it utterly, no mark or trace of it remaining. And when he went away, no one was left alive in the city ; and he dealt in this manner with them only because he had first been injured by them. An old man, skilled in the law, Zainuddin Abdul Latif, son of Mahomed, son of Abil Fatah of Kerman, a Hanifi, living at Damascus in the college of Jakmak, told me in the year 833 that those of the citizens of Seistan, who had escaped slaughter by flight, either by aid of darkness or by the special grace of God Almighty and Generous, when they had gone back 23

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to the city after the departure of Timur and wished there to hold sacred assemblies, forgot the day of assembly and did not learn it until a messenger sent to Kerman showed it to them.

CHAPTER

XVIII

THAT DECEITFUL ONE ADVANCES TO THE TERRITORIES OF SABZUAR, WHICH SUBMIT TO HIM AND WHOSE PRINCE COMES TO MEET HIM

T

HEN Timur, after taking that revenge on Seistan, advanced with an army to the city Sabzuar, whose Governor, named Hassan Jauri, who had seized power and was a Rafizite,* was obliged to submit to him and offer him gifts and slaves to the extent of his power ; he accordingly confirmed him in his governorship, nay, increased his authority. It was Timur's habit and care at the beginning of his rule, that when he was a guest with anyone, he questioned him about his descent, and noted his name and stock and said to him : " When you perceive that I have attained power and have been raised to dominion, come to me with this token and I will repay you generously." Accordingly, as soon as his renown was spread abroad and his power published, and his exploits became known in the world, men hastened to him, bringing those tokens and all those at a distance came to him, and he placed each in his station and allotted to each his rank.

CHAPTER

XIX

THE ACTS OF THAT VILLAIN IN THE CITY OF SABZUAR WITH SHARIF MAHOMED, THE HEAD OF A BAND OF VILLAINS

I

N the city of Sabzuar there was a noble among the rebels, by name Said Mahomed Sarbazal, and his followers were all rogues called Sarbazalis or insurgents. And this Said was a man famous for remarkable gifts and renowned for especial * i.e. a Shiah. 24

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virtues. Timur therefore said : " Bring him to me ; I have come only because of him, for already I have desired to see him and have burned with desire to observe his gifts more closely." Accordingly, they sent for him, and Timur rose when he entered and embracing his neck received him with outstretched and smiling face and honoured him and took him nearer to himself and spoke to him briefly in this way : " My Lord Said ! Tell me how I shall gain the kingdoms of Khorasan and occupy them and how I shall win its near and distant territories ; and what must be done that I may accomplish this business and climb this steep and rough path ? " Then the Said replied to him : " O Lord and Amir ! I am a poor man, even if of the seed of the Prophet; why such prominence for me ? Indeed, though I am called Sharif, I am a man powerless, weak and unequal to deadly campaigns ; and who am I to discern regarding the ordering of the kingdom ? For he who mixes in the affairs of kings, either by opposing or by jesting, is like one who swims in the confluence of two seas or who sits between the butting of two goats ; and he who uses a tongue other than his own errs, and there is a great difference between Mamun* and a miller." Then Timur said to him : " It is necessary that you should show me this way and point out to me the right path to arrive here ; in truth had I not observed this concerning you and divined that kingdoms follow your counsel and had you not been suited to this knowledge, I would not have spoken a word to you or sought aid from you like poor men from rich ; for in skill in physiognomy I am like Iyas and all my judgments are conclusive." Then the counsellor replied : " O Amir ! Will you comply with my opinion in this thing, and follow my counsel ? " Timur, however, replied: " I have not consulted you, except to follow you, or met you, except to walk with you." Then the other said: " I f you desire for yourself a clear spring of water and the occupation of kingdoms without wearying yourself, you need Khwaja Ali Ibn Muid Tusi, who is the hub of the wheel of these realms and the centre of the circle of these paths, and if he joins you outwardly, he will not inwardly be anything but your ally, but if he turns his face from you, no one else will help or profit you. Be, therefore, resolutely eager to conciliate him and attract him. For he is a staunch man, * One of the Abbaside Khalifs.

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the same without and within, on whose allegiance hangs the allegiance of the rest, by whose counsel the acts of all are bound, who do what he does, stand if he stands and go if he goes." This man just mentioned, to wit, Khwaja Ali Shia, was a follower of Ali in continuous series, from father to son, who minted money in the name of the twelve Imams and at the beginning of the assembly prayed in their names and he was fearless and expert in weighty business. Then the Said said : " O Amir, summon Khwaji Ali, and if he obeys your summons and appears before you, you should omit no kind of respect and honour, nothing honorific and splendid, which you can show to him ; for that will serve you and amply repay you ; and set him in the rank of great kings, exalting, honouring and venerating him ; and do not omit towards him anything which befits your honour, for all that will redound to your majesty and greatness/' Then the Said left Timur and sent a messenger to the said Khwaja Ali, to say that Timur was entrusting all affairs to him ; if then that messenger came to him, he should not hesitate to obey or delay a moment in presenting himself before him and should be cheerful and without fear of violence to his condition and estate. Accordingly, Khwaja Ali prepared for the coming of the messenger and the presence of the envoy and made ready gifts, offerings and beasts of burden and struck gold and silver coins engraved with his name and his Governor's, and spoke in their names in the mosques of the chief cities, and applied himself devotedly to furthering his business and held himself ready and equipped for accomplishing whatever was desired; and then came Timur's messenger with a letter, in which he openly summoned him, using flattery and harlotry of language, and with the fullest indication of honour and favour. Accordingly, he rose, declaring himself ready for allegiance, and did not delay more than was needed for traversing the way, and came full of abundant hope and with firm confidence. When his arrival had been announced to Timur, he sent to meet him the generals of his army, manifesting the greatest pleasure, and behaving like one who had newly become King. And when he came near, he offered him valuable gifts, precious offerings, excellent riches of princes and royal treasures, and showed him the highest honour and in the most courteous manner conferred favours upon him, and abundantly threw 26

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upon the height of his hope the flowing skirts of the mantles of his own generosity and confirmed him in his province and heaped favours and honours upon him. Then there remained in Khorasan no Amir of a city, Governor of a fortress or counsellor, but came to Timur, and joined his side, chief of whom were Amir Mahomed, Lord of Bavard, and the Amir, Lord of Sarkhas. And the fear of him spread through the further countries and dread of him reached to Mazanderan, Gilan, and the Provinces of Rai and Irak and hearts and ears were filled with his fame and terror of him seized neighbours and distant people, but above all Shah Shu j ah. And all this happened in a little time and a few days— about two years, after he had killed Sultan Hussein.

CHAPTER

XX

A LETTER OF THAT INTREPID ONE TO THE SULTAN OF PERSIAN IRAK, ABUL FUARIS SHAH SHUJAH

W

HEN the provinces of Khorasan were completely subdued and the whole population near and distant submissive to his authority, Timur sent a letter to Shah Shuj ah, Sultan of Shiraz and Persian Irak, demanding from him homage and obedience, and that he should send goods and slaves; and this letter was briefly in this wise : " God Almighty has appointed me Lord over you and over unjust Princes and despotic Kings, and has raised me above my enemies and aided me against my adversaries, as you have seen and heard; therefore if you obey and compose yourself to it, you will have done well; if not, know that three things go before me, devastation, barrenness and pestilence ; all which evil will come back upon you and be imputed to you." And Shah Shujah had no choice but to appease and conciliate him, undertaking a marriage alliance and friendship, and gave his daughter to Timur's son ; however these joys were not fulfilled because of a new onset of misfortunes and that happiness after being arranged was scattered, becoming a matchmaker of destruction, a compeller of accusation and 27

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a tirewoman of desolation. these verses:

TIMUR Whereon I have improvised

If you have chosen the noblest of women to negotiate Beware none the less her misfortunes and be wary in consideration of your business. And know that human nature is based On cunning, deceit and fraud. Trust yourself therefore to no female matchmaker But without delay yourself manage your transaction. He is indeed a man without compare and unique, Who leans on no one in this world. But to loosen the reins of speech upon this topic would take us too far from our mark ; meanwhile however the gardens of love were blooming and the bed of affection was frequented and the caravans of intercourse and friendship came and went hither and thither, and in this wise they continued without dispute until the death of Shah Shuj ah. This Shah Shujah was a learned and excellent man and expounded the Kashaf* with orthodox and sound interpretation, also a charming poet and excelling in culture, of whose Arabic poetry this is a sample : " If my life were spent in love And the cause of my long suffering ceased not to delay, Would I not keep her love, whenever the rising sun scatters its beams anew, Though wasting destroy me ? He who has not tasted the pure sweetness of love in youth, Truly I know that he is utterly a fool." And of his Persian verse : " O thou who art peerless beauty to the taste of lovers, If ever I choose another in thy stead Or neglect thy memory, may my life be accursed ! And if by thy cruelty I die and my life-blood flows, Let all see to my affairs, We will commit them to the Best Protect or." This Shah Shujah was son of Mahomed, the son of Muzaffar and his father, an excellent and pious man, lived in the plains * A commentary on the Koran. 28

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of Yezd and Abarkova, noted for great courage, feared and dreaded by neighbours and those dwelling afar. And there had arisen between Yezd and Shiraz an Arab brigand of the family of Khafaja, by name Hamaluk, who had blocked the straight course to travellers and used to rob the rich and slay the poor, reckless of small numbers or great and careless of gleaming darts, when stars were strewn above his head, and who slew many husbandmen and destroyed fields and men. But God loves not outrage. Then the father of Shuj ah laid an ambush for him in a certain valley or plain, where attacking him face to face and engaging him in close combat he overthrew him, and cut off his head, which he offered to the Sultan, who set him over the whole army and presented him with many places and gave him private audience, planning to use his aid in every difficulty. He had many children, relatives and grandsons, all princes practised in submission and his sons were Shah Muzaffar, Shah Mahmud and Shah Shujah, each of whom had gained great authority and power ; but the Sultan had no son to succeed to the throne or hold dominion. And when the shepherd of death approached him, he assented to him and turned himself back and did not kick back, since the pegs of Mahomed, son of Muzaffar, were firmly fixed; and in the Sultanate he was preferred to his comrades and he became absolute king in the realms of Persian Irak and was raised without sedition or dispute and according to his will exercised dominion, with the mantle of which God Himself had clothed him. " O God, Lord of the kingdom ! Thou grantest the kingdom to whom Thou wilt! " And while he was still alive, his son Shah Muzaffar already mentioned died, leaving a son Shah Mansur. But after there had arisen between Shah Shujah and his father a quarrel and extreme evil, he seized and held his father and plucking out his eyes, blinded him and seized the Sultanate and was confirmed in it. But he was so torn by faintness that he could not endure fasting either at home or abroad, and often prayed God the Forgiver to raise no dispute between himself and Timur. When, however, he was close to his destined goal and the valet of death folded up and removed from him the carpet of hope, he summoned his relatives and sons and divided the kingdoms and countries between them and bequeathed to 29

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his own son Zain Abadin Shiraz, the capital and centre of chief men of the kingdom, and to his brother, Sultan Ahmed, gave the provinces of Kerman ; but to his brother's son, Shah Yahia, he gave Yezd, and to his brother's son, Shah Mansur, Isfahan, and of this will he appointed Timur executor, and he confirmed that by open document making all who were present witnesses to that transaction, like one who adds wind to a storm. And when death had marked with a border the garment of the life of Shah Shujah, shreds of dissension and dispute unfolded between his kindred, and Shah Mansur attacked Zain Abadin, and taking him, obtained Shiraz and took out his eyes, and opposing his uncle's wish, broke the bond of his will and dealt with his son, as his father had dealt with the grandfather of Zain Abadin. But the extended thread of this tale, and the task of its loosening and twisting would lead me from my purpose. But Timur, seized by grief, restrained and held down his anger, but nevertheless waited in that matter for an opportunity which he might seize.

CHAPTER THE

THIRD

XXI

EXPEDITION OF TIMUR INTO KHWARIZM ARMIES RAVAGING AND DESTROYING

T

WITH

HEN Timur, renewing his zeal and strengthening his purpose of invading Khwarizm, moved towards those parts from Khorasan along the road of Asterabad, wishing, while the Sultan was still absent, to set over them a deputy in his own name. But Hassan, already mentioned, met him and sought to appease him, and gained from him injury and insult and said to him : " O Lord and Amir ! We are all your slaves ; but when in the absence of our Sultan, a deputy is set over us in your name and the Sultan returns to us, without doubt enmity will arise between them, and if this happens, trouble will thereby easily be made for me, and this will be the cause of establishing hostility, so that annoyance and distress would increase between you and your rage would be poured upon Muslims and destruction would come upon them; and Allah 30

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loves not destroyers. Proclaim therefore that Hussein Sufi is truly your deputy, for all men are bound to maintain your service and your side and your purpose is foremost and it is best to obey your command." Then Timur hearing his speech and calmly receiving his words, moved his tents. And that Hassan had a son, who was reckless and wicked ; and when he had violated one of the concubines of the Sultan, the crime began to be made known and its odour to be carried to the noses of the world; but Hassan recked little of that shameful crime, saying : " The Sultan owes me far the greatest thanks, since I have protected his country from every wicked man and infidel and have poured out in that business my wealth and dignity three times, and no doubt he will pay for this pacification by pardon and connivance in my son's crime/' But when the Sultan returned home from his journey and learned the truth of all that affair, he put Hassan and his son in chains and slew them, and threw them into the grip of the lion of his might, who devoured them and laid waste their houses and transferred all their goods to the treasury. Then, shortly afterwards, when Hussein Sufi died, his son, Yusuf Sufi, succeeded him. But Timur aided them before and gave them resources and support against their enemies, and gave to his son, Jehangir, as wife a maiden from them of the highest rank and greatest wealth, sprung of distinguished stock, of brilliant beauty, more beautiful than Shirin and more graceful than Waladah ; who, although she was a daughter of kings, was called Khanzada, and she bore to him Mahomed Sultan, who was a manifest prodigy in his noble nature and vigour. And when Timur saw in his nature signs of singular good fortune and that in the excellence of his talents he surpassed the rest of his sons and grandsons, he disregarded all of them and turned his mind to this one and appointed him his heir, while so many of his uncles were alive ; but fate resisted that despot and he died before Timur himself at Ak-Shahr in the territory of Rum—which will be told in the proper place.

3*

D

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TIMUR XXII

THE FOURTH EXPEDITION OF THIS WANDERER INTO KHWARIZM

B

UT when Timur heard the misfortunes which had befallen Hassan, seized with anger, he resolutely discharged the cavalry of his wrath against Khwarizm, and captured it and killed the Sultan, pulled down its fortifications, laid waste the buildings, and set up over the remnants of it a deputy in his own name, and carried away everything movable from there to the realms of Samarkand. And the era dating from the spoiling of Khwarizm is called Azab, as that from the spoiling of Damascus is called Kharab.

CHAPTER

XXIII

THE THREATS UTTERED BY THAT DEMON AGAINST SHAH WALI, THE AMIR OF MAZANDERAN

T

HEN after he had come to Khorasan, he sent a letter to Shah Wali, the Amir of the territories of Mazanderan, and wrote to the Amirs, who were under his own sway in this region, especially to Iskandar Aljalali, Arshiund and Ibrahim Alqami, summoning them according to his habit; and under stress of force Ibrahim and Arshiund and Iskandar submitted to him, but Shah Wali, that brave hero, refused, and disregarding his addresses replied roughly to him.

CHAPTER

XXIV

OF THE LETTER OF SHAH WALI TO THE SULTANS OF IRAK AND THE DISSENSIONS AND DISCORD WHICH THEN AROSE

T

HEN Shah Wali sending a letter to Shah Shujah, Sultan of Persian Irak and Kerman, and to Sultan Ahmed, son of Sheikh Avis, ruler of Arabian Irak and of Azerbaijan, imparted to them the dispatches received from Timur and the 32

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reply sent by himself and added : " I am your defence ; if my affairs are well contrived, yours will be also; if disaster befalls me from him, it will also reach your kingdoms ; if you both aid me, I shall suffice to you for averting this trouble ; if not, it will happen to you according to the saying of the poet: ' When the beard of a man's neighbour is shaved, he should water his own beard/ " As for Shah Shujah, he rejected and completely spurned his advances and as already said made peace with Timur ; but Sultan Ahmed replied ambiguously, saying: " Does this maimed and lame Jagatai assume to achieve anything and how could that lame Jagatai trample upon both Iraks ? For indeed between him and these countries there intervenes a fence of goat's thorn, and even between one place and another ; and he will not come down into Irak, as into Khorasan ; but if he has firmly resolved to invade our countries, he will rush to his own fate and his ambitions will abandon him. For certainly we are a race possessing courage and vigour and equipment and numbers and power and high spirit and it is our habit to hold our heads high and show pride, so much that regarding us Mutanabi seems to have said : " We are a race, sprung from demons, in human form ; Above our head is a bird tall like a camel.'' When Shah Wali understood this from them, and knew that both of them were careless of him, he said : " Truly by Allah ! with vigorous purpose and confident spirit I will meet him ; and if I conquer him, I will make you a public example and aji example to those that have eyes, and if he conquers me, the fault will not be mine, whatever may reach you both ; therefore upon you would fall overpowering fate and complete disaster." Then he prepared to meet him and committed himself to the Providence of God Almighty and to His decrees ; but when the armies were in sight of each other and blows of javelins, swords and spears were being dealt indiscriminately, Shah Wali withstood some time his adverse fortune ; then he turned his back after deciding upon withdrawal and flight and in fleeing he followed the tradition concerning flight and made for Rei, since he could not regain Irak. The absolute Amir of that place was called Mahomed Jaukar, governing these towns and cities with complete power, 33

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a prince noble, fearless and of great power; none the less he flattered Timur and obeyed his orders in many things, and fearing his violence and power he put to death Shah Wali, and sent his head to Timur. CHAPTER

XXV

THE CONFLICT OF ABU BAKR OF SHASBAN WITH THIS DESPOT

T

HERE was in a certain province of Mazanderan, a man called Abu Bakr, from a village called Shasban, who in battles was like a fierce lion and had destroyed and overthrown many nobles and commoners alike among the forces of the Tatars, whom men could not withstand, when he came into the field of battle, and when he laid down his turban, he caused among them a Day of Judgment, and he ceased not to lie in ambush between hills and mountains and overcome soldiers and warriors, so that proverbs were coined about him and men's shoulders shook in fear of him, even in a dream. Nay some of them would say to their beasts, when they gave them fodder or water and the beast drew back from the water or jumped back from the sack of food : " It is as though Abu Bakr of Shasban were in the water or the beast saw him among the food." And it is said that the army of Timur received no harm in the whole period of his rule in all his battles, fights and expeditions, except from three men, who inflicted great disasters on him and his armies, and drove many of them to the abodes of hell, of whom the first was Abu Bakr of Shasban, the second my Lord Ali Kurd, and the third Amma Turkoman. As for Abu Bakr, they say that in a certain narrow place in Mazanderan, when Timur was overcoming him on all sides and they had blocked the way of escape against him and tightened the noose of the hunting-net and had driven him to a height, opposite which was another height, and between the two a space of eight cubits, the bottom of it deep like a well or like the bottom of Gehenna: that Abu Bakr dismounted from his swift horse and jumped down from one height to the other with his arms and helmet and escaped without suffering any harm from them, as Taabata Shara escaped ; then he came to the followers of Timur, whom he overcame and among 34

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them transferred to the millstone of perdition those whose threshing and harvesting he had completed. But I do not know what afterwards befell him and what changes he experienced. But my Lord Ali Kurd was Amir in the country of the Kurds, and had a troop of excellent horses and men by no means beardless, in rough mountains and impassable and precipitous places, from which he came out with his comrades and those who were entirely in submission to him and leaving men whom he trusted at the entrance of the pass, he used to make raids in different directions on the forces of Timur and on behalf of the Muslims wreaked vengeance upon them many times over, cutting off the extremities of his armies and seizing whatever he could of the beasts. Then he would return to his caves, having fulfilled his purpose, and he did not give up raids of this sort, as long as Timur was alive and after Timur's death, until death overtook him and he met his end. Finally Amma Turkoman was one of the Turkomans of Karabagh and he had two sons, each of whom put on the heart of Timur a blister which burnt grievously, between whom and Amiran Shah and the armies of Timur there were continuous fights and engagements and of their armies they destroyed a countless multitude and endless host, until the treachery of one of their followers, who took advantage of their carelessness and led the soldiers of Amiran Shah to them ; who attacked them by night and shed their blood like a torrent. And by martyrdom these three were honoured in the way of Allah. May Allah be merciful to them ! I have said: " It is a terrible trial to be consecrated to death by dire enemies, but more terrible to be betrayed by friends." And the poet says : " The wrong done by kinsmen is a heavier blow to a man than the stroke of an Indian sword." And from another poet: " If it be so done to neighbours, what kindness shall be felt towards strangers ? " 35

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XXVI

HOW TIMUR INVADED PERSIAN IRAK AND SHAH MANSUR WENT UNDER THE FLOODS OF THAT SEA WHICH DEVOURED WITH OPEN MOUTH

A FTER the death of Shah Shu j ah there arose discord among ^/j^his family, as I have said, while the rule of Persian Irak remained with Shah Mansur and the provinces and territories of Mazanderan passed to Timur, whom he had appointed guardian of his son Zain Abadin and of all his interests as already recorded ; and Timur found an opportunity of attacking Shah Mansur in the crime, which he had committeed against Zain Abadin his uncle's son; because of which he arraigned him and advanced against him. Shah Mansur therefore sought aid from his neighbours, but they were all his enemies and carried on feuds and were unfriendly to him, one and all being set on the defence of their own borders. He therefore prepared alone to meet Timur with about two thousand mail-clad cavalry, after he had fortified the city and strengthened it with warlike equipment, distributing the cavalry and infantry and rousing the citizens to endurance and resolution ; but the great leaders and the heads of the state said to him : " Undoubtedly through you we are exposed to the gravest danger and the web of war is being woven and we have shut out Timur from approach to us and even driven him back from raiding us and perchance should have overthrown his troops and held in check brave men of his army. But what more will you do with two thousand cavalry against this thick and solid cloud ? When your necklace is broken and your army overthrown, you will think in the struggle that no counsel is so wise for you as to seek escape and flight and you will leave us, like meat on a butcher's pole, after our foot is entangled in battle with them, and belated repentance will not help us after establishing our enmity, nor will this fracture then be repaired by us unless by slaughter, rapine and chains." But Shah Mansur with his hand on his battle-axe swore : " These thousand men are a match for six thousand of those, who have fled from Timur ; as for me, I shall fight; but if my 36

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men betray me, I will carry on the fight alone and spend all my energy and vigour upon it, and will make difficult for him my persistent effort and exertion ; but if I come out victorious, I will complete my undertaking ; if I fail, I shall not be to blame by those who survive me ; and it is as though I had been present and had observed by the mind of the poet, when he says : ' When he does this, he fixes the mark with his eyes ; And he turns away from thought of evils to follow/ " And it is said Shah Mansur distributed his troops among his forts, wishing in this way to defend the cities, but he suffered loss in the country ; then summoning the governors and troops of Shiraz and its citizens and his own children, he said : " This enemy is grievous, who, though a heretic, has entered our territories ; therefore my counsel is not to be shut in a place with him or to attack by sword or spear, but I will move in all directions and with my followers assail him from every side and we will cleave their shoulders and cut off their flanks ; by day we shall cling persistently to him and by night keep a watch on him and we shall use against him so far as may be the power and pressure of cavalry and whenever we catch him off his guard, we shall break his neck and front; at one time we shall strike with the horn, at another we shall reach out with our heels: at one moment we shall drive him, at another wound him ; we shall rob him of rest and prevent him from going back; we shall block the passes for him and stop up for him nocturnal approaches and paths, in addition to your activities. 41 But you, lovers of liberty and leopards of the desert and eagles of the desert, will defend with vigour the walls and will not neglect them during the hours of night or early or late in the day. But so long as I live separated from you, none of them shall attack you at close range : but if they besiege you, you will be sufficient to yourselves ; and I commend you to Allah, whose protection is best; and there will be an end to the time, during which you shall be in this distress, as God Almighty promised by his prophet Moses. By Allah ! this plan is the soundest and the face of this purpose the most beautiful." He then hurriedly went out and departed.

37

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XXVII

OF THE SUBTLE PLAN WHICH WAS UNCOVERED AND HOW THAT WHICH SHAH MANSUR WOVE WAS UNRAVELLED

B

UT while he was going out of the gate of the city, an old vampire and witch saw him and assailed him with abuse and rent him with curses, shouting in a loud voice in Persian : " There goes the son of a whore ! He has devoured our resources and usurped the right of life and death over us ; now he deserts us in the enemy's grip, when we need him most. May Allah turn to evil his warfare and grant no success to his purpose and promote not his desire ! " Then the tinder of his wrath was lit and his heart wounded and the fires of his anger were kindled and the heart of his flame shook the summit of his purpose and his spirit rose to indignation and the fury of the Age of Ignorance seized him, until the understanding of this prudent man failed and wandered, and evening came and he clung to his error and doubled the reins of his purpose and set the teeth of persistence and swore that he would not leave his army or rest on the field of battle from constant struggle and that he would make this his aim morning, evening and night, until Allah gave the victory to whom He willed. Then he went to the battle-front and after deploying his troops gave battle ; however in Shah Mansur's army there was present the Amir of Khorasan, a secret friend of Timur, named Mahomed son of Zainuddin, a villainous rebel, and with him was the chief part of the army, and he went over to Timur and the greater part of the soldiers followed him, and scarcely a thousand of them remained, but none of them refused battle and Shah Mansur persisted, though his affairs were overthrown and the bulls of war did not cease to attack each other with their horns and the tinder of battle to give out fire when struck, and the sparks of arrows to fly and the harvest of heads to be gathered and scattered with swords for scythes, until the army of night approached and the forces of day girded themselves for flight, when all of them returned to their nests and Shah Mansur laboured to devise a stratagem. 38

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XXVIII

OF THE BATTLE AND DESTRUCTION WHICH SHAH MANSUR INFLICTED ON THE ARMY OF TIMUR UNDER THE WING OF NIGHT

T

HEREFORE he made use of a bucking horse, more impetuous and untamable than time and he led it to the army of the enemy, when night was already far advanced : then he bound to the tail of the horse a bronze cauldron rolled in a piece of rag, which he fastened with a firmly-tied knot and turned its head towards the enemy and urged it forwards ; and the horse wandered through the camp, and men, overthrown and confounded by it, engaged in combat, and swords, like streams, poured through the channels of their throats and spread far and wide, as though it were the dread hour of the last judgment, or the sky with shining stars had fallen upon them and the earth had been shaken and swollen ; and Shah Mansur persistently, like a falcon hovering over them, slew each and every foe and destroyed all who took to flight, as it is said : " The night was dark and the Rams struggled fiercely with each other : I did not see them make peace : " If one stood, another sank ; another fell prone ; he who escaped with his head, could count it gain."

They say that they fought so among themselves that about ten thousand were destroyed. But when night had struck its tents, and the day had raised its standards, they understood how that disaster had befallen them and would that night had not removed their defence ! Then Shah Mansur at dawn, his men now reduced to few and his allies having scattered, chose from his army a troop of about five hundred and rushed against the enemy with the onset of a lion and with them entered the eddies of death, and no one stood against them and turning to left and right he shouted continually, " I am Shah Mansur, the staunch, who is a host in himself ! " and before them they seemed like frightened asses, who fly from lions, and when he approached the place of Timur, the latter fled from him and withdrew among the women and hid among them and lay concealed under the quilts; but they hastened to him and said : 39

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" We are women " and they showed a squadron of the army engaged in combat saying: " There is what you seek and among them is what you want." Then he returned and left them being deceived and went away in the direction they showed, and there the squadrons of soldiers again gathered around him and closed the ring, as I have written on the spur of the moment: " None but the women cut the throats of men ; and what hardship is there that they do not devise ? " And however many fires of evil have burnt the hearts of men, yet none was more consuming than their deceit." And Shah Mansur riding a noble horse with two-edged sword fought right and left and with him his swift horse striking and biting any who came near in that struggle ; and it was as though Mansur remembered the sense of that which I said in the " Mirror of Ethics ": " The hand of God strengthens me, but both hands of them are bound : " Therefore this my hand with two-edged sword smites blows upon them." Whenever therefore he attacked a troop, they scattered before him right and left, though all were people of the left or North. " When the help of Allah does not succour a man, Then is what confronts him greatest, and his zeal most intense." At length, his strength exhausted by battle and his hands weakened by stabs and blows, his cavalry and infantry overthrown and slain and his position in every way desperate and his roads blocked and the passes closed, his vigorous shouts became silent amid the destruction of his cavalry and his thunderbolts were extinguished while his infantry faltered and his good fortune waned, his wings were clipped and his vigour worn down and he was burdened by wounds and his roaring subsided and his bellowing ended and he was cut off from his men, being now heavily smitten and overborne by wounds; in which flux of fortune only two men remained with him, one named Tokal, the other Muhutar Fakhiruddin; and he began to be daunted and thirst conquered him and dust and heat dried up his liver and he sought for drink and 40

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found it not; had he found it, whereby he would have wetted his saliva, no one could have stood in his way. Therefore seeing it was best to throw himself among the slain, he fell among them, casting away his weapons and loosing his horse. And Tokal was slain, but Fakhiruddin escaped and after receiving seventy wounds, has yet lived to his ninetieth year, and was a doughty and gallant fighter. Then Timur's army reformed and assembled and rose again after reaching the portals of death, and after innumerable hosts of them had been slain and during the night and day a vast and infinite multitude had been destroyed. But Timur was in continual restlessness, anxiety and insomnia, since Shah Mansur was missing and knowledge lacking of the state of that ravening lion, whether he was still among the living and his cunning to be feared or whether he was already carried to the house of death and he himself could be safe from his devices; and therefore he ordered searches among the wounded and inquiry about him among the dead and fallen, until the sun was about to hide himself with a curtain and place his glittering sword in the sheath of darkness: and when the white shilling (of the sun) had hidden under a cloak the wealth of light and the weaver of .Providence had spread in the free air the mantle of all-shadowing night and scattered over its surface of transparent glass the glittering silver coins of his stars, and darkness was scattered and fixed far and wide, then one of the Jagatais lighted upon Shah Mansur, when he was about to breathe his last and Shah Mansur caught that man, or rather devil and traitor, and shouted to him : " Spare me, spare me ! I am Shah Mansur ; but hide this matter and accept from me* these gems ; and conceal my fate and reveal it not; and let it be as though I had not seen you or you me, and I had not known you or you me ; but if you hide my place and lead me to my brothers and supporters, you will be as one who freed me after buying me and recalled me to life when already dead and you will see reward from me and instead of booty you will take back my sincere friendship." Then he offered to him gems which would have sufficed him and his descendants until the last day ; but in his history and his trouble he was like one who prays for help from life even in the hour of mourning ! and the other stayed not from leaping upon Shah Mansur and cutting off his head, which he 41

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offered to Timur, telling him what he had done and the story of the attempted ransom. But he believed him not nor confided in his words, but ordered the tribesmen and kinsmen of Shah Mansur to be brought, who had knowledge of him and they recognized him by a mole with which his face was marked. But when Timur knew that it was really Shah Mansur, he distinguished the truthfulness of that man from falsehood; but stirred by indignation and anger he grew hot over the murder of Shah Mansur and was grieved. Then he asked that man about his origin and father and children and his tribe and master and teacher and when he had explored his affairs and learned his family and home, he sent a command to the Governor of that tribe, and slew his household, children, supporters, friends, neighbours, grandsons, relatives and kinsmen and killed him with cruel torture and destroyed all trace of him and treated his master evilly and put him to death and laid waste his lands. Then he sent to his most distant provinces letters, in which he set out the manner of those struggles and conflicts and what had been seen concerning the assaults of Shah Mansur and his steadfastness and his rush into the floods of war and his blows and what happened in the battle among the ranks of horsemen and how the vanguard trembled, and the women wailed when their apartments were opened, with terrifying descriptions and words turning in the field of eloquence and fluency ; and these letters were read in assemblies and meeting-places and read out to those who came and went, and learned men took material from them and teachers and boys in school strove to commit them to memory and write them down. I saw in the accounts of one of the learned, that in the month of Shawal of the year 95* there came an envoy of the Lord of Bastan, who informed the Sultan of Egypt, that Timur slew Shah Mansur and after subduing Shiraz and the remaining towns, sent his head to the Governor of Bagdad and demanded obedience from him and from those whom he had with him, sending him a robe of honour and ordered him to coin money inscribed with his name and to hold assembly in his name on the day of prayer, and he, putting on the robe, obeyed, following all his commands, and fixed to the wall the head of Shah Mansur after it had been carried round. But I doubt the truth of this account. * 795, i.e., A . D . 1393.

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XXIX

OF THE EVENTS AND DISASTERS WHICH BEFELL AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF SHAH MANSUR

A

CCORDINGLY when the Kingdoms of Fars and the land of Persian Irak had been subdued by Timur, he wrote to the kinsmen of Shah Shujah and neighbouring Kings and conciliated them and freed the people of the plains and towns from fear and departed and entered the city of Shiraz, and strengthened its condition and placed on it a guard of horse and foot and pledging his honour he summoned men from a distance and those that were scattered ; and the Kings of countries obeyed the summons, for, not being a match for him, they had no choice but to obey and submit. Then came to him Sultan Ahmed from Kerman and Shah Yahia from Yezd ; but Sultan Abu Isaak in Shirjan resisted ; and he received kindly and presented with robes of honour those who obeyed and submitted and did not confront those who defied him, or break a lance between himself and his enemies, honouring only those who respected his authority, that he might in this way attract the recalcitrant; and he conferred security upon Shiraz and the other cities and appointed a deputy everywhere in his own name, then setting out for Ispahan he treated with kindness Zain Abadin whose guardian he had been appointed by his father and assigned to him gifts and presents which would suffice for him and his people.

CHAPTER

XXX

OF THE EFFICACY OF THE TIME OF HIS ENTRY INTO ISPAHAN

W

HEN he came to Ispahan, which is a great city, full of excellent men and teeming with nobles, there flourished there a doctor of Islam and learned teacher, who had reached the apex of erudition ; and was perfect in the practice and study of religion, by his deeds acceptable to Allah and renowned for 43

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his wonderful works and famed for his talents ; his merits were written on the forehead of the days and he was a pillar of Muslims, by name Hamamuddin; and when the people of Ispahan mentioned Timur to him and said how they dreaded his tyranny, he replied : " S o long as I survive among you, his cunning will not cause you any injury, but when the end of my life comes, then beware of harm from him." And it happened that when Timur came, the Sheikh died and Ispahan was turned into darkness, darkness upon darkness, after it had been light upon light and theiilsighing was doubled and one disaster followed another and they fell into stupor, so that what Abu Harira—on whom be the favour of Allah— once said, suited them : " Other men have one care only ; I to-day have two ; The loss of my wallet and the loss of Sheikh Othman/' Then they went out to him, making peace with him, after offering a load of wealth and to collect it he sent men to them ; and they dispersed their resources and laid the burden on villages and parts of the city, and the collectors of tribute were divided among them, and advanced against them to do injury, treating them proudly and dealing with them as slaves, nay even laying hands on holy things ; and they were afflicted by them with the heaviest affliction and the people of Ispahan raised complaints to their Governor, but their indignation was increased the more because they were a spirited people and they said : that death was better in such a state than life under this tyranny. Then the Governor replied to them : " When evening comes, I will beat a drum, but not at the end of the night and when you hear that the drum has been beaten and that I have carried out what I said, let each of you seize on a stranger and judge according to his discretion, whether strong or weak." And they accepted this perverse counsel and vain command under an evil star and the hands of their futile counsel availed not to accomplish this feeble project. And when the air was stripped of the garment of light and the sky had changed ermine for sable and part of the night had passed, the Governor beat a drum and soon lamentation came on the tax-gatherers of whom they slew about six thousand and with the first light they planted in the orchard of rebellion the saplings of sedition, which bore as fruit for them want 44

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after plenty. And ruin confronted them and in the morning they arose most miserable among this destruction. But when the dawn had drawn her sword and the day had stripped off his covering, Timur perceived that evil crime ; and Satan puffed up his nostrils and he forthwith moved his camp and drew the sword of his wrath and took arrows from the quiver of his tyranny and advanced to the city, roaring, overthrowing, like a dog or lion or leopard ; and when he came in sight of the city, he ordered bloodshed and sacrilege, slaughter and plunder, devastation, burning of crops, women's breasts to be cut off, infants to be destroyed, bodies dismembered, honour to be insulted, dependents to be betrayed and abandoned, the carpet of pity to be folded up and the blanket of revenge to be unfolded ; nor did he pity the aged for his age, or the infant for his infancy, or honour the learned for his learning, or the educated for his excellence, or the noble for his blood, or the eminent for his dignity or the stranger for his strangeness, the kinsman for his kinship and propinquity, or the Moslem for his faith, the dependent for his dependence, the weak for his weakness, the obtuse for the weakness ot his judgment and his obtuseness; altogether he showed pity to none of the townspeople. And the citizens knew there was no room for resistance, much less for assault and attack, rather that it would be absurd to put forward excuses and that they would not rescue their wealth or their sons from destined doom nor would their offers be accepted in that hour, and that ransom or entreaty would gain nothing for them ; therefore, they armed themselves with the bows of patience, and put on the corselets of precedents and received the arrows of destiny from the hidingplaces of Fate with the shield of submission to the Will of Allah, and bore the blows of Providence from death-dealing swords with necks of surrender and obedience; then he loosened the reins of the cutting sword in the fields of their necks and made their graves in the bellies of wolves and hyenas and the crops of birds ; and the whirlwinds of destruction did not cease sweeping them from the trees of existence, until they counted the number of the dead, who were six times more than the people of Nineveh. And one of the wise men implored the aid of one of the chief Amirs and said : " Spare, I pray, the remainder and show pity on the wretched multitude ! " 45

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And to this suppliant fakir that Amir replied: " Collect some infants on the hills, that he may be a little softened by the sight of them—as by chance may happen/' And following this counsel they placed in his path a company of children. Then that Amir riding with Timur came with him to those babes and said as he went past: " Behold, my Lord, with the eye of pity, as God beholds him, who needs pity," and when Timur asked, " Who are those poor, abandoned creatures ? " he replied : " They are innocent babes and a company needing pity and inviolable ; death has snatched away their parents and the wrath of our lord and Amir has fallen on high and low, but now they beseech pity through your royal mercy and their own weakness, and pray you because of their worthlessness, feebleness, bereavement, poverty and distress to pity their worthlessness and spare the remnant/' He made no reply and uttered no speech, but urged his horse into them, as though he had not seen them, and likewise with him his troops and army, until he came upon all without exception, and he gave them up to the horses' hooves and ground them beneath the horses' feet. Then collecting wealth and baggage and placing goods on the baggage animals he returned with his booty to Samarkand. But the calamities and hardships which happened amid these affairs and misfortunes and the histories, raising of squadrons and appointments and removals from office and the merriment he produced in the guise of seriousness and seriousness in the guise of jest, how much he built and destroyed, hindered and abandoned, how many places that were laid waste he settled and how many that were settled he laid waste, how many he debased and honoured and made to^bear changes of fortune or supported and his consultations with the learned and disputes with magnates, the raising of the lowly and debasing of the noble, the passing of laws of state, collection of goods from far and removal of goods at hand and promulgation of edicts among all men near and distant, beside other things of this sort, are so many that they could scarcely be recounted or contained in book or tome.

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XXXI

OF THE MILITARY STATIONS WHICH HE IMPOSED ON THE MOGULS AND JATAS AND HIS EXPLOITS IN THOSE PARTS

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HEN he came to Samarkand, he sent his grandson, Mahomed Sultan, son of Jahangir, with Saifuddin, the Amir, to the furthest borders of his rule and empire, that is beyond the Jaxartes into the East up to the confines of the kingdoms of the Moguls, Jatas and Khatas, a journey of about a month from the kingdoms of Transoxiana; and there levelling valleys and low-lying places they built several forts, of which the most distant was a city called Ashbara, in which they built an impregnable citadel, equipped for purposes of plunder and devastation. And he sought a second queen among the daughters of kings. His first queen was called the Queen major and the second the Queen minor. And their King consented, obediently and humbly conceding to his request what he desired of him. And the fear of him spread through the countries of the Moguls and Khatas, especially when they had marked the deeds of violence which he had committed everywhere and that he was extirpating the faith of Islam in all countries and making himself master ; and the messenger in that matter was his grandson and the aforementioned Saifuddin, the same who plundered the wealth of Damascus after being received in the house of Ibn Maskur. Timur also ordered a city to be built on the near bank of the Jaxartes and joined to it a bridge over the river with anchors and skiffs, which city he called Shah Rukhia, and it was placed in open country. The reason why he had distinguished his son by this name, Shah Rukh, and also this city, was that when he was engaged according to his habit in playing chess with one of his attendants and had already ordered that this city should be built on this bank of the river, and one of his concubines was present with him in a state of pregnancy, he attacked his opponent with the Shah Rukh and by this move his opponent was weakened and unnerved ; and while he was defeated, two messengers appeared, one of whom announced that a son had been born to him and the other that the building of the city was finished ; and therefore he called both by this name and distinguished them by this mark. E 47

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THIS VIPER RETURNS TO THE KINGDOMS OF FARS AND KHORASAN AND CRUSHES THE KINGS OF PERSIAN IRAK AND DRAINS THESE PROVINCES AND PEOPLES OF ALL GOODS

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HEN, after he had settled the countries and made laws for the kingdoms of Turkistan, he went back to the territories of Khorasan and there went out to meet him the kings and armies and sultans and viziers and both infantry and cavalry hastened to him from every side, obeying his summons and fearing his terrible power, thinking it a triumph to show obedience to him, and they surrendered to him high places and low, mountains and deserts, towns and their citizens and camps with their inhabitants and fortified citadels, and bound every forelock with the fringe of his authority, complying with his commands and anxiously avoiding those things which he forbade ; binding the girdle of his service with fingers of sincere submission, following the lead of his will on camels of subjection and homage and among them all those whom I have mentioned as having subjected themselves and those who had defended themselves among inaccessible mountains, and especially Iskandar Jalali, one of the Chiefs of Mazanderan, Arshiund Fariskuhi, that angry lion, lord of the mountains and of peaks with impregnable summits and also Ibrahim Al Qami, lord of courage, ready for any danger ; and Sultan Abu Isaak of Shirjan did homage to him; and seventeen men among the Chiefs of Persian Irak assembled before him, all Sultans or sons of Sultans or sons of brothers of Sultans, each of whom enjoyed royal authority in his own realm : namely, Sultan Ahmed, brother of Shah Shujah, and Shah Yahia, son of the brother of Shah Shuj ah, besides the chiefs of Mazanderan and Arshiund and Ibrahim and the chiefs of Khorasan. And when Sultan Abu Isaak went to render homage in the same manner as his kinsmen and acted in the same way, he appointed a deputy in his city Shirj an, by name Kudran. And on a certain day it happened that while these great kings were with Timur and indeed in his tent, where he was alone among them, one of them made a sign to Shah Yahia, an opportunity having arisen, that he should slay him and 48

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remove from the world this suffocating evil; and some assented, others opposed; and to those who were approving Ahmed, one of the Sultans who disagreed, said : " I f you do not restrain yourselves and refrain from this talk, I will reveal this saying to him and inform him of this matter/' So they were driven from this firm counsel and prudent purpose by their disagreement, and did not cease from disputation; but he divined their attitude or knew their conversation by their faces, but he concealed it in his mind and did not reveal it to them. Then after some days had passed he administered justice in public clad in a red robe, and summoned these same seventeen Princes, all of whom at once he ordered to be violently put to death. And after their destruction he seized their territories, collected their wealth, new and ancestral, slew their sons and set over their kingdoms his own sons, Amirs, relatives, grandsons and soldiers. And the reason why he put to death and crushed these kings and rent and tore the curtain of their life was, that the territories of the Persians were not lacking in great kings and men who held kingship and Sultanate by continuous succession : indeed, this kingdom is of wide extent, its borders are widespread, cities abundant, towns numerous, the bases of its mountains fixed deep and their jutting peaks raised to the sky and the virgin citadels raised on high, the treasures of its hidden places and mines not apparent, its Khosrus mighty to destroy and the wings of its vultures outstretched to threaten and its bandits leaping like leopards, its brigands like victorious tigers, its warriors like basilisks conspicuous in the rivers of battle and its rulers like crocodiles strong in seas of war : therefore, Timur saw with the eye of perspicacity in the mirror of his contemplation and wisdom, that the rose of its cheek would not be free from the thorn of a rival or the taste of its sweet mouth free from the touch of an enemy and that in establishing these kingdoms he would lack a solid foundation and that in the garden of its kingdoms no pleasant shoot would sprout for him. But his purpose was to let its buildings remain and to extend his authority there, in the manner that the religion of Jengizkhan required. But he could not cultivate his Sultanate in its wide extent or cause to flow far and wide through the tracts of the kingdoms the rivers of his commands without plucking out the brambles of its nobility and breaking the embroidery of the dignity of its 49

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Khosrus; therefore he strove to pluck them out root and branch and made every effort to destroy them utterly, nor did he see even the smallest bud sprouting from them in the ground of kinship without plucking it out; or smell the odour of a flower still folded by the calix without plucking it. It is said that he held an assembly at which Iskandar Jalali was present and that when the talk grew lively and the assembly merry and free, he asked Iskandar: " I f fate resolves to destroy my building, who, do you think, will oppose my sons and my issue ? " And Iskandar replied (for he was drunk and his brain already affected and from drunkenness he had put the candle of judgment on the ground) " I am the first man, who will oppose your misshapen sons, then Arshiund and Ibrahim; if any of them escapes my claws, he will certainly not escape the teeth of that lion Ibrahim ; but if any of them evades that trap, he will find no way out of the net of Arshiund." But since Arshiund and Ibrahim were then absent, Timur held it not worth the trouble to injure Iskandar or reprove him, planning in preserving him to destroy him along with his two friends ; and when Iskandar had slept off his drunkenness, and was blamed for his words, he replied : " What Allah has decreed cannot be avoided or resisted and no blame falls on me for what Allah made me say, who has given a voice to all things." Then when Iskandar and Ibrahim had taken to flight, he seized Arshiund and threw him to destroying angels and there came to him the message of death and violated the shrine of his life, when he made him swallow the terrors in the beginning of the chapter entitled " Thunder " and bade him read the ends of the chapters " Noah " and " Saba." Then no trace was found of Iskandar and nothing was heard of him up to our time ; and his head was high and he was tall in stature and when he walked, projected among men like a standard, so that it was said that this Colossus filled the measure of three ells and a half in iron. And Ibrahim Al Qami escaped by rapid flight and at length died on his bed. And that was the cause of his destroying those Princes and their sons.

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UDRAN however resisted Timur in the fort of Shirj an, saying " My master, Shah Mansur, is still alive " and this saying was spread everywhere. And Kudran expected that he would appear and in that hope spent his years and months, but Timur besieged the fort of Shirj an and no chance of seizing it appeared to him and he moved to it the armies of Shiraz, Yezd, Abarqoa and Kerman, and joined to them the troops of Seistan, after he had surrounded the place of habitation, and in the siege Shah Abul Fatah took the lead for him ; and they kept it besieged for about ten years, now withdrawing from the place and now persisting. The place was like a maiden, who did not open the gate to her suitor, and a severe maiden from whom the suitor could not gain even a reply. But Timur set over Kerman a man named Idaku, one of the brothers of the Sultan mentioned above, a man of great authority in the army. And when Kudran learned of the death of Mansur a#d that he himself was deprived of any assistance, he fled and Abul Fatah continuously sent messages to him and on his behalf pleaded with Timur ; then he submitted to terms, employing the services of Abul Fatah for that purpose and surrendered, throwing himself at their feet, and handed over the fort to them. But Idaku, becoming enraged with him, because the knot of this peace had not been untied on his own hand, slew him immediately, heedless of Abul Fatah and his entreaties. Then Timur hearing of it from Abul Fatah, while he was staying in a certain province, blazed with furious anger against Idaku, but there was no remedy.

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HERE is a story about this Idaku, the Governor of Kerman: his Sultan Ahmed, brother of Shah Shu j ah, had two little sons, one of whom was called Sultan Mahdi, the other Suliman Khan. Suliman Khan was of consummate 5i

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beauty and charm, possessing the virtues of elegance and ability, full of perfection, abounding in good humour ; his words were pleasing, his eyes penetrated like a dart, people were seized with love of him, and even wise men were devoted to him ; his movements sank into men's hearts and the sight of him bewitched them, as it is said : " The scent of the crocus in running water And the reflection of light on the surface of the air." He was then in his sixth year ; but because on his account the nobles and commons were bewitched, Idaku resolved to remove both, and gather them to their fathers and did not ward off disaster from this pearl, because he was at once most precious and an orphan, or pity his mother, whose territories were laid waste, though she was virtuous and noble, and there was no one to check him and defend them; he therefore sought an assassin to whom he might entrust the task, but no one wished to do violence to the boy and meanwhile some time passed and many were anxious and troubled because of this, until they found a black slave, in whom misfortunes resided as in a watch tower, and who was served by devils and afrits were his soldiers and attendants ; from the warp of his blackness a night-garment of savagery was woven, and a root of the tree, whose branches are like heads of devils, sprouted and rose from the seed of his heart; compared to the grating of his voice the lowing of bulls would give pleasure and compared with the appearance of his form the sight of spectres would seem beautiful. I have said: " The angels of the lower world shun his face And seeing him seek hell as a refuge." Certainly Allah removed pity from his heart and implanted an evil spirit in his breast; him therefore they bade destroy those two by deceit; however Suliman Khan was suffering in the eyes and was resting in the lap of his nurse, when that evil man, when opportunity arose, came upon him and attacking him suddenly while he slept, pierced his side with a dagger penetrating his other side and there rose shouting and wailing and clamour and confusion and the same crime overtook the affrighted mother with her household and men grieved and mourned therefor. 52

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And it was plain that these things were done at a sign from Timur nor was the army of this infidel despot lacking in evil deeds of that sort and evil men and if anyone was not equally wicked, he yet so became by familiarity and association. STORY When he departed from Syria with his abundant army, one soldier had with him a woman captive, whose veil of modesty had been uncovered by the hands of misfortune, and her face buffeted. She was carrying on her arm her sucking child, which she weaned; and when the army came near Hama and the child began to cry loudly, and because of some pain, was much troubled and wept, there was present a camel-driver of Bagdad, given up to violence, abandoned to harshness, formed for roughness and hardness, compounded of inhumanity and stupidity, full of baseness, packed with vice, in whose heart Allah Almighty had implanted no pity, that could be extracted nor given his tongue any goodness that could be heard. But he took that small girl from its mother, who supposed that was done to assuage its discomfort and sat on the camel; then he went away from the baggage for a while, and at length returned empty-handed and laughing loudly ; then the mother asked about the state of the child and he said : " What is she to me ? " and she bereft of her senses and confounded threw herself down from the camel and reaching out towards the child took it away and turning back took it with her and mounted the camel. However he took it from its mother a second time on condition that he would do it no harm, then leaving it and returning, he did as before ; then the mother again threw herself down and went off to the child a second time and came when she was already drained of strength and in the agony of death and riding on the camel, took the child away and placed it on her belly, whence she had given it birth. But he raging with violence, took it away a third time, and swore to her falsely that he would carry it without harm and he carried it for a while, but soon leaving the highway hurled it into a marsh and committed the same crime against it, as the Jew did against the slave girl distinguished for her charity, then came ; and his hand crushing its skull was full of crime but carried no child; so he robbed it and took the spoils to the mother, 53

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who fell before him weeping and wished to return to her daughter, but he said to her: " D o not weary yourself; I will give you enough of trouble; therefore return and ride away " ; then she wept, shouting, lamenting and wailing, and relapsed into grief, though she had become calm for a while. " Men truly walk according to the character of their kings, Walking in their ways."

CHAPTER

XXXV

THE CAUSE OF HIS INVADING ARABIAN IRAK, THOUGH TYRANNY NEEDED NO REASON OR CAUSE

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HEREFORE when all the Persian kingdoms had submitted entirely to Timur and kings and peoples had surrendered to him, and his rule had reached the borders of Arabian Irak, Sultan Ahmed, lord of Bagdad, becoming angry and disturbed, equipped a powerful army, over which he put in command a brave general, by name Sabtani, and the army confronted the forces of Timur; and when the report and knowledge of this reached Timur, his heart rejoiced over it and his breast was cheered and he made it the occasion of interfering and attacking the King of Irak and falling upon him and he sent a fierce army, nay a swollen and tempestuous sea; and they joined battle with vehement determination near the city Sultania and fell on each other with violent blows, with spear-points, and arrows of mutual slaughter, turned towards the throats of the enemy and the sea of the Jagatais rose with the abundance of its waves and collided and the lances of the army of Sabtani were broken in its surging dust, and that army being driven to flight, all betook themselves to Bagdad and were scattered over the country. But Sultan Ahmed ordered Sabtani to be led through Bagdad clad in a woman's veil after being scourged and tortured. And Timur refrained from further violence and returned, marching to his own country. 54

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XXXVI

THE REST AFTER THAT FIERCE STORM AND THE CALMING OF THAT TROUBLED SEA, THAT IT MIGHT BREAK AT WILL THE SURROUNDING COASTS, FREED FROM FEAR OF IT, AND MAKE UNTOWARD HAPPENINGS BEFALL THERE

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HEN Timur setting forth from Samarkand to its further regions, traversed them on every side and built towns everywhere, which he called after great cities and capitals. And Samarkand was now transferred to him in absolute obedience along with its provinces, and the realms of Transoxiana with their territories, Turkistan with its countries, over which Khudaidad ruled in his name, and Khwarizm, which he had suddenly overthrown and brought under his tyranny—Kashgar in the sea of the kingdoms of the Khatas and Balkhshan—which kingdoms are far from the realms of Samarkand ; moreover the lands of Khorasan and the greater part of the territories of Mazanderan—and Rustamdar and Zulistan, Tabaristan and Rei and Ghazni and Astarabad and Sultania and the rest of those countries and the inaccessible mountains of Ghor and Persian Irak and Fars the mountainous —and all that without any enemy disputing or restraining him ; and he had through the whole empire of these realms, either son, grandson or deputy in whom he trusted.

CHAPTER

XXXVII

AN EXAMPLE OF THE WAY IN WHICH THAT FAITHLESS DESPOT PLUNGED INTO THE SEAS OF HIS ARMY, AND DIVED INTO AFFAIRS, THEN ADVANCED WITH THE SURGE OF CALAMITIES ; AND PARTICULARLY HIS PLUNGES INTO TRANSOXIANA AND HIS COMING FORTH FROM THE COUNTRY OF LUR*

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HEN although his kingdom was widespread and fear of him was spread abroad and all men everywhere smitten by fear of him and his equipment so large that no expedition or movement of his could be hidden, yet he ran to the ends * Luristan.

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of the earth, as Satan runs from the son of Adam and crept through countries as poison creeps through bodies. I have said : " Aiming right he struck left And threatening the brow he attacked the neck." Meantime while in the eastern districts he had the standards of armies, lo! in the west darted forth thunderbolts of disaster —and while the sound of his drums and the blows of his drumsticks fell as he besieged Irak, Ispahan and Shiraz, behold the twanging of his strings and the blasts of his trumpets were heard in the dominions of Rum and the assembly of Ruha (Edessa) and the convoy of the Hejaz. So he remained some time at Samarkand, occupied in planting gardens and building forts, until the countries were free from terror of him and the borders feared naught. But as soon as his affairs were finished and his buildings completed, he ordered his troops to be ready at Samarkand, then commanded them to make for themselves felt caps, which he himself had devised and invented of a certain design and to march covered with these so that while it should not appear whither they were proceeding, these caps should be signs to them; and he had already collected squadrons and disposed them through all quarters of his kingdom. Then setting forth from Samarkand he gave out that he was proceeding towards Khajend and the countries of the Turks and Jand,* then hid himself in the whirlpool of his army and was submerged as though he had sunk into an abyss of the sea, none knowing whither he was making his way and whence he purposed plunder and he continued to march by day and night and traverse countries and run with the speed of a rider and travel like the stars, driving the sluggish and wearying the noble beasts until he appeared in the country of Lur, observed by none. This country is well tilled, abounding in good things, rich in fruits ; its fort is called Burujird, and was ruled by Azuddin Abbasi; and that fort, although placed on low ground, yet by its strength could rival forts of the firm-based mountains, being set in the neighbourhood of Hamadan and opposite Irak of the Arabs, like Azerbaijan. Then Timur surrounded this fort and its territory and * A town in Turkistan.

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besieged its ruler and governor, but since the lord of the place was without troops, equipment and aid, like a man who is secure and self-sufficient, disaster befell him whence he had expected not—and nothing was left him but to seek safety and do homage to Timur and submit; so he surrendered and entrusted himself to Timur's will, who cast him in chains and seized his country, then sent him to Samarkand, where he held him in prison and treated him most hardly, but at length taking an oath from him, set him free from his misfortune and made peace with him, after exacting tribute of horses and mules and sent him away to his own country over which he appointed him in his name. But after that infidel had plundered the provinces of these districts, he immediately made his way to Hamadan and reached the place, its citizens acting with negligence, and disaster befell it by night, the citizens sleeping at midday. And there went out to him a noble, by name Mujtabi, a confidant and friend of kings, who interceded for the citizens and won favour on condition that they should pay the tribute of safety and redeem their souls and bodies which he would grant them with their wealth, and they accepted the terms and executed them and they apportioned this tribute among themselves and after collecting it brought it to his treasury. And when that persecutor strove a second time to impose tribute upon them, this true man approached him and stood supplicating with the mien of an abject wretch and he accepted his entreaty and granted everything to him. Then he stayed and remained where he was, until his army joined him and assembled.

CHAPTER

XXXVIII

THIS BASTARD BEGINS TO LAY WASTE AZERBAIJAN AND THE KINGDOMS OF ARABIAN IRAK

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OWEVER when Sultan Ahmed son of Sheikh Avis learnt what this wolf did in the flock of his neighbours the people of Lur and Hamadan, he knew that without doubt he would invade his kingdom and country, since he had shown enmity openly against him and had sent sparks flying against 57

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his wickedness ; and he knew that his army was like a flowing torrent and that he could not resist its sea and its waves, for when the river of Allah comes, the river of Isa stops ; nor can Pharoah's magic resist the staff of Moses. I have said in verse : " The torrent overflowing roots up the trees in its path and carries them away among the mountains, and rocks are split by it. Until it reaches the abyss of the sea ; then you see it has disappeared and no trace of it remains/' So he prepared for disasters before they came upon him and looked forward for himself before they befell him, and girded himself for flight, knowing that a safe return is equal to plunder ; and reducing to brief compass his full knowledge of fighting and combat, he quickly deserted the realms of Bagdad, Irak and Tabriz, saying to himself " Fly ! Fly ! " And he sent his dearest possessions with his son Sultan Zahir to the fort Al Naja and sent to Timur verses and satire, from which I have translated these lines : " Although my hand is palsied in war, Yet my foot is not lame in flight/' Then he made for Syria, and it happened in the year 795,* when there was living Al Malik Az Zahir Abu Said Barkuk,f upon whom be the mercy of Allah the Almighty ! And Timur reached Tabriz, where robbing humble and powerful alike, he sent armies to the fort Al Naja, which was the place of refuge of Sultan Ahmed where he had placed his son, wife and treasures ; but he himself marching to Bagdad plundered the place for he did not lay it waste but despoiled it. The Governor of Al Naja was a man brave and bold, by name Altun, whom Sultan Ahmed greatly trusted and relied on him and he had a force of brave, daring and gallant men, about three hundred in number, with whom Altun used to descend upon the enemy, when the quiet of night fell and from all sides send plunderers into that army and into the camp while it was at rest and harassed the leader of the army. And when this news was brought to Timur, he sent to their help about forty thousand famous soldiers with four * A.D. 1393.

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Amirs, of whom the chief was called Kablagh Timur and when they approached the fort, Altun was absent, having gone to plunder the surrounding fields ; and while he was returning, dust sprang up and on discovering it, he said : " Where is there a place to flee to ? " But they said : " None ; there is no refuge ; we know that there is no place of refuge from Allah but to Him." Then strengthening his own heart and his comrades and taking courage, he said : " Leaders in a position of this sort are wont to be under standards ; therefore break through the centre of these wretches ; and if you succeed or even if you fall dead on your horses' backs, you will show nobility, since nothing can take you from this disaster but true blows of lance and sword." I have said : " Nobly seek death doomed else to die ignoble. By Allah ! after death one has not again to die." Then they aided each other with true and vigorous courage, believing that Allah Almighty would afford them safety. And already they surrounded them like fish with a net and they were in the midst of them like a spindle in a spinning-wheel but they sought the standard and its bearers and those that followed it and belonged thereto and a favourable constellation aided them, and freed from the unfavourable influence of the stars, they made the red blood of the enemy flow over the white standards and all had the way open to the threshold of victory, and safety shone upon them and a happy issue befell them and they escaped from misfortunes with much rejoicing after they had slain two Amirs of the army, one of whom was Kablagh Timur. And when this news was brought to Timur, the world seemed to him to grow black, nay the whole universe seemed to be overturned upon him. Then he set out against the fort and pitched his camp beside it with his followers and surrounded it on every side and made his followers swallow the mouths of swords.

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THE FORT OF AL NAJA IS DESCRIBED

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OW this fort was more inaccessible than the ridge of a mountain and higher than the very clouds ; its height reached to the stars, its strength rivalled the heavenly orbs; the sun at its zenith seemed like a golden shield fixed to its white ramparts and the constellation of the Pleiades in its high station a candle hung from its gate; the bird of imagination would not fly to it nor the garter of imagination and thought hang from the stays of its metacarp, still less would a bracelet be bound on its wrist by troops of horsemen. But Altun, to whom its site was his native soil—and the people of Mecca are the fittest to show its paths—was accustomed, at dead of night, when devilish thieves set their hopeful eyes in ambush, to descend from these hills and walk by night like a ghost, and creep as fat creeps into flesh and water into wood and fire into coal, from the mountain passes, which imagination could not picture, Allah the invisible helping him, so t h a t neither the sentries marked him nor the night-watchmen observed him and ceased not to lull them to sleep as though by a spell and to conceal himself and hide by a sort of magic and go nearer and search until a suitable chance should appear to him ; then he used to kill, rob and plunder and finally withdraw by flight and return unhurt and laden with spoils to his camp ; and this manner of things continued, until he had reduced Timur and his men to impotence. Accordingly Timur thought it best to retire because of the narrowness of the plain and difficulty of the place and so left the fort, after he had established a military post to besiege it—and this siege lasted long, Fate saying to him, " Persist, for it will not cheat you." I t is said to have remained under siege for twelve years. And this was the cause of its capture. Altun, whom I have mentioned, had a brother notorious for wantonness, between whom and the mother of Sultan Zahir an illicit intimacy arose, which made both liable to the punishment which is due to the adulterer, and when Zahir, son of Sultan Ahmed, learnt this, he seized both of them and put them 60

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to death, observing that praiseworthy opinion. However at that time Altun was absent from the fort, having gone out to drive booty, but when Altun returned, they shut the gate of the fort to him and hurled his brother down from the wall to him and explained to him what had happened and all his evil fate. But he said : " May Allah render the best reward and magnify your fortune with excellent wealth ! If I had known his crime or had been present with him, I would have dealt with him according to his deserts and inflicted on him the punishment, which is due to his crime and instead of fortune misfortunes would have befallen him and in him I would have shown an example to you and given him as a guilty person to be seen of men and through the public crier would have announced against him that this is the reward of the man who has committed treachery against a good master/' Then he sought to be admitted, but they refused to let him in and he said : " Truly my brother, since he committed a crime, has tasted the fruit, which he gathered for himself; but I lately strove with all my heart to fulfil even to death the faith pledged to you nor will I cease to show myself an ally to your friends and an enemy to your foes ; but if you drive me out, whither shall I fly and if you rebuff my affection for you, on whom shall I bestow it ? " But they replied: "Perchance indigation and the love of kindred will touch you ; then you will remember your brother and will think of hardness after softness and will take fierce vengeance and show yourself perverse after behaving rightly and will disturb the calm; and the story of the two brothers and the woman called Zat Alsafa will suit you/' I have said in verse : " A rope that has been cut can be joined, but yet there will remain in it the knot that binds it." Then he swore that his words and promises were faithful, but they replied to him : " D o not prolong it, for while you live, you will have no place to take sleep with us at noon or night; therefore return whence you came ; we have no longer anything in common with you, whether it displeases or pleases you." Then he began to revile his fortune and to bite his hand with remorse and grief, since he had spent his life in the service 61

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of one who did not know his worth ; then he again tried blandishments, but being repelled departed with a gloomy face, abandoning his wealth and leaving his cavalry and infantry. And since he had no place of refuge except the fort of Al Naja, but it had betrayed him, and he had set fire to his own liver, he dissembled where among men he would go. Then he kindled his purpose to betake himself to the city Marand,* which was under the sway of Timur and subject to his rule ; so he sought this city and came to its governor wearing a blanket, leaving his wealth and children. And when this was told to the governor, he was beset by cowardice and languor and, smitten with apprehension, he trembled and being excited, confounded and seized with terror wished to fly, but when it was said that he was alone without followers or arms, his mind was restored and Altun entered ; whom he questioned about his affairs, then cut off his head and sent it to Timur, who because of that blazed with anger and sorrowed much and for his sake was overcome by grief and wept; and sending an order to the murderer, removed him from his office and then beat him and put him to death. After this, Sultan Zahir, when these things had become public and he had defiled himself with this impurity, could not remain there longer and accordingly announced his departure and led his assembly in migration, because the matrons of the fort were disobedient to him and he was unequal to guarding its defences, enduring hardships from the violation of its maidens and matrons, his forces being broken and diminished ; and he took thence his goods and offspring. Then the haughty defenders submitted to Timur, and the gate was opened to him without a struggle and he set over it a guard on which he relied, entrusting that on account of neighbourhood to Sheikh Ibrahim, governor of Shirvan. Then he turned the reins of violence against Bagdad with an army—but Sultan Ahmed, as already said, had escaped into Syria—and this was in the month Shawal of the year 795, f and he came to that city on the eleventh day, which was the Sabbath day, and smote it and the surrounding lands and fully subdued it. * Near Tabriz.

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C H A P T E R XL THE STORY OF THE LORD OF BAGDAD, THE NAMES OF HIS FATHERS AND ANCESTORS AND HOW HE CAME TO THIS COUNTRY

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HIS Sultan Ahmed Mughituddin, son of Sheikh Avis, son of Sheikh Hassan, son of Hussein, son of Akbuga, son of Idkhan, was lord of Bagdad and Azerbaijan and the parts of the provinces and realms of Ilkhan and Idkhan which belong to Azerbaijan; his ancestor was son of Ilkhan, and was the great and brave Sharafuddin, grandson of Ilkhan Argun, son of Abu Said. His father Sheikh Avis was a religious and upright man, a just king, a brave leader, an excellent man, refined, victorious, brave, beloved, of few faults, abounding in piety. His appearance was as pleasing as his character. He reigned nineteen years, a friend of poor religious men, companion of the learned and great; but when he had seen in sleep that death was coming to him, he with his relatives left the province of Bagdad, making for Diar-Bakr and Erzinjan and he prepared for the coming of death and marking the approach of his end he abdicated his rule, which he gave to his son Hussein— the eldest—who excelled the rest of his family ; and giving up meaner things he turned to worship of his Lord whom he prayed to be favourable to him and forgive all that was past and he was constant in prayers, fasts, charities and worship of Allah and ceased not to pray and fast until the appointed time of death overtook him; then he opened his hidden secret and read: " When their end shall have come, they shall not put it off for an hour nor go before it." And when he had maintained this way of piety and clung to it for more than thirty years, his moon was eclipsed to the west of Tabriz. And this news came to Syria in the year 776* and in his place was confirmed his son Jalaluddin Hussein, who made his goodness and beneficence abound towards his subjects and possessed a noble nature, great in virtues, full of courage, excellent in generosity and wished to follow the example of his father and recall to life the obliterated traces of his footprints and his precepts, but the fates thwarted him and misfortunes confounded his pure endeavours. * A.D. 1374.

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Now in the year 783* several ambassadors of his came to Syria, to wit Qazi Zainuddin Ali, son of Jalaluddin Abdullah son of Najamuddin Suliman Alsiafi, the Shafeite, Qazi of Bagdad and Tabriz : Sahib Sharafuddin son of Haji Azuddin Hussein Al Vasiti, Vazir of the Sultan, and others. Then in the month Jumadi (the latter half) in the same year Sultan Ahmed, attacking his brother mentioned above, killed him and resolving to aid the kingdom and religion in his stead turned from him and filled the eyelids of his life with the sleep of death, when he was over twenty years of age. But Sultan Ahmed obtaining the Kingdom of Irak stretched out the hand of wickedness and contracted the wing of piety and courtesy and was constant in injustice in himself and towards his subjects and spent days and nights in profligacy and wickedness, then exceeded the bounds in wickedness and crimes displaying his sins and showing his evilness and took the shedding of blood as a ladder to despoil sacred things and rend dignity; therefore the people of Bagdad are said to have spewed him out and called Timur to aid; butf they were aided by water, which like lees of oil or molten pitch scorches the face and Ahmed did not observe until the Tatars overwhelmed him and the armies of the Jagatais, horse and foot, broke him, on the Sabbath mentioned above of the said month. And they overthrew his cavalry and attacked the walls, the river (Tigris) checking them naught nor the arrows shot against them by the townsmen and Ahmed knew that nothing would help him to safety but flight; therefore he departed with those whom he trusted, heading for Syria, but mean hordes of Jagatais pursued him, whom he attacked, but soon avoiding them and fleeing from them he thereby roused their ardour more and there was a bitter conflict between them and great numbers were slain on both sides, until he reached Hilla, where the river Tigris passed through a bridge; and when this was broken he escaped the danger of capture, for the Tatars continuing to follow him, their leading men had almost overtaken his rear, but coming to the bridge they found it broken, therefore they threw themselves into the water and advanced from the further bank and continued to pursue without abatement, but he slipped from them and came to the sepulchre of the Imam which is three days' journey from Bagdad. * A.D. 1381.

| A quotation from the Koran.

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XLI

OF THE TRICKERY AND FRAUD WHICH HE COMMITTED IN THE COUNTRY OF ERZINJAN AND DIAR-BAKR

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E then invaded Diar-Bakr and conquered it and dragged it out of the hands of its governors; but when the Fort of Tikrit resisted him, he sent against it all the afrits of his armies —on the third day of the week, the 14th of Zulhaja— the country being now seized with incredible fear of him; and besieging the place he took it in the month of Safar, giving a promise of security, and the governor, Hassan, son of Bulimur, came down to him, wearing muslin in token of mourning and carrying his small children at his bosom and neck, and his household bade him farewell and his horse and foot left him, after Timur had promised him that he would not shed his blood, but he sent him to a wall and hurling it upon him crushed him, and slew the men who were in the fort, and made the women captives, and the children prisoners and began to devastate, utterly destroy and ravage continuously, until he pitched his camp at Mosul, on the day of assembly, the 21st of the month Safar in the year 796*; and after laying waste and destroying that place, he proceeded to Rasain, j and after despoiling it and taking the inhabitants prisoners, he moved to Urfa and entering it on the first day of the week the 10th of the first half of the month Rabia, he was active in damage and violence and imitated the vehemence of Thamud and Ad ; and he left that city on the first day of the week, the 12th of the same month. Then he chose from his people vultures to fly in all directions seeking for blood, accustomed to slaying Muslims, and taking them he made an attack and plunged into the kingdom of Diar-Bakr, where they continuously did damage, ravaged and committed violence, and there is Mardin, whither he moved with those mighty afrits and continued his march, and came to the place in five days from Tikrit, though the distance between them, even with the greatest diligence, is at least twelve days. And the Sultan Azzahir, assured that he would not harm * A.D. 1394.

t Raselain.

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one who fled to him, went to him clad in the garb of obedience for he could not but cling to the hem of his protection and put himself in the rope of his service.

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CONCERNING THE CALAMITY AND HARDSHIP WHICH THAT TREACHEROUS IMPOSTOR BROUGHT UPON THE SULTAN OF MARDIN, ISA MALIK AZZAHIR

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UT when he feared Timur's attack, he assembled his whole household and his friends and said : " I depart to this man, to offer my submission to him ; if he sends me away, as I wish, I have what I want; but if he demands the fort from me, it will be your part to drive him back and repel him haughtily, and beware of handing it over to him or relying on his words ; but if the matter turns between surrender of the fort and my death, preserve the fort and look to your own advantage by my death ; for if you surrender the fort to him, you will give up all you have, you will all be massacred to a man, you will lose all and will be cheated of your lives and homes ; since that is so, I will give my life to save you, and avert your calamity at the risk of my life ; for one evil is lighter than another ; and look, I will feel his pulse for you." Then he sought that grim and wicked tyrant and first appointing in his own place his nephew, son of his brother Al Malik Al Sala Shahabuddin, by name Ahmed Al Malik Al Said Iskandar son of Al Malik Al Sala Al Shahid,* he went down on the fourth day of the week, the 25th day of the month Rabia (the former) in the year 796 f and came to Timur about the end of the month in a place called Halalit, but he received him foully and laying hands on him demanded from him the surrender of the fort, but he replied : " The fort is with its possessors and in the power of its guards, but I possess nothing except my own life, which I offer you and have brought to you ; do not therefore compel me to that to which I am unequal or force me to that which I cannot perform/' Then he brought him to the fort, demanding it from them, * i.e., The Martyr.

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f A.D. 1394.

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and when they rejected the demand, he proposed to them that he should be put to death or saved by them, but they refused ; he therefore demanded from him for the purchase of his safety a hundred tumans of silver drachmas, each tuman being worth sixty thousand, besides all that he had already offered him. Then he closed every gate to him and held him hard and fast, to take from him all his strength and power, and girt his loins to ravage and ordered that rest be afforded to his infantry and refreshments for his cavalry and drank one after another cups of rapine and raged against the servants of Allah and His countries, and continued in this way neither to come to himself nor emerge from drunkenness and wavered to and fro between Firdaus and Rasmal, Nisibin, and old Mosul. Then he ordered his troops in the second month of Jumadi to make for Mardin by a forced march; then they outpaced the birds and continuing their march crossed rivers by day and torrents by night and cut through the ribs of deserts like an Indian sword and in crossing those mountains and hills did what Alkandi said, to wit: " I climbed to it while its people slept, as bubbles of water climb one after another.'' And they came upon Mardin unawares and hastened into the place forthwith, when, on the third day of the week, which was the 12th of the month, the dawn had drawn the sword of its rising and the crow of darkness had flown from its nest and they surrounded the walls on all sides and made destruction a guest in these places and gradually they covered the walls on all sides and dragged them down and overthrew them by shaking and by beating crushed them with violent disturbance and clung to the very edges of the walls and climbed with the help of ladders from earth to sky : and their climbing was from the South and the slow-stepping West and the enlivening East and they took the city by force and violence and filled it with outrages and impiety and the citizens were driven to ascend the fort—though none else would not desire a higher place and elevation; and in trembling flight like fowls they made for its ramparts and projections and they drove them from the fort with arrows and cross-bows; then Timur's men slew all whom they seized, men and women, small and great—not content with the booty gained there or the prisoners they had made; some therefore boldly resisted them, hoping thereby that their zeal would attain to martyrdom ; and the fight 67

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did not cease to be waged against them until the city was filled with wounded and dead and it lasted from before sunrise beyond the evening; but when the two sides of the face of night had fallen on both faces of the world and these men, measuring unjustly, had exacted the full measurement of their injustice and excess, and when the fish of darkness was hastening to swallow the Jonah of the sun, there came after these commotions calm and they retired and the army pitched camp opposite Arbun and countless hosts were slain of both armies, but more among the citizens, But by night they prepared and made ready their weapons, waiting for the dawn which they thought slow to come, till when night had rent its hidden bosom and darkness had revealed the secret of its hidden mystery and Nature had enjoined the face of day to strike the sides of the horizon with the edges of its whiteness, then in the morning they were active as crows, and hastened to battle and rapine and pressed the citizens and closely surrounded the city and overthrew it with its walls at midday and destroyed its traces about evening; then they gave themselves to iniquities and now darkness spread like their wickedness.

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HIS HIDDEN DESIGNS BECOME CLEAR AND THOSE EVIL PLANS ARE IN VAIN

AFTER he had spent the night in frustration of purpose j f j ^ and could not gain the fort by inspiring fear, he sharpened his mind and used fresh cunning and instead of rudeness turned to pacification, and on that fifth day restrained that army and sent one to them to tell the contents of a letter, with an envoy : " Let the people of the fort of Mardin know : they are weak and powerless, destitute and thirsty ; we grant pardon to them and give them security concerning their lives and blood ; so let them be free of anxiety and redouble their supplications to us "—and this message I have rendered as I found i t ; but his guile did not succeed nor did he gain his mark, because the guardians of the fort were by no means givers, and its demon defenders were intractable like death ; 68

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therefore on the morning of the Sabbath that plague departed to Basharia and sent troops against Amid under an Amir called Sultan Mahmud, who moved against the place a large army, and when he had besieged it for five days, asked for help to be sent him against it; then he himself moved to the place and humbled it so that they sought peace, and he promised safety to the gatekeeper who opened the gate to him; then entering the town through the gate he put all to the sword, and destroyed them all whether they resisted or submitted ; and he put the children in chains, violated the purdahs and the women behind the purdahs, and made men wear the garment of misery, and when some had fled to the mosque, they slew about two thousand of them while engaged in prayer and bowed in devotion. Then after violating the mosque they departed and left the city desolate, then the Devil led him to the fort of Arjis; then hastening further he descended to the fort of Avenik, held by Misar, son of Qara Mahomed, Amir of the Turkomans, and after besieging it, took it, giving a promise of safety—which happened in the year 796,* after the feast of Ramzan; then he put to death all the soldiers of the garrison and sent Misar to Samarkand.

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HEN with evil purpose he took with him Al Malik Azzahir, and departed on the seventh day of Zulkada in the year 796,f and kept him in prison in the city Sultania and with him of the Amirs Amir Rukanuddin and Azuddin Turkoman and Astabugha and Ziauddin, and held him in such strict custody that his household could not receive news of him and no one knew aught of his condition. Then after he had weakened him by harsh imprisonment, he decided to proceed to Dasht Kipchak, and inflicted calamities upon it, establishing them on a firm footing, while Al Malik Azzahir remained for a year in that condition that naught was known of him whether awake or asleep. Then the senior queen coming to Sultania assuaged his distress and hardship and gave him freedom to write letters * A.D. 1394.

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to his household and urged him to seek admission to the favour and homage of Timur, pretending that she was his true friend and sought his good. But this was a plot of Timur's and according to his counsel. Then Timur, returning from Dasht* in the month Shaban in the year 798,f halted at Sultania thirteen days, then made for Hamadan and halted there until the thirteenth of Ramzan, then with honour and kindness called from Sultania to himself Al Malik Azzahir, who when his fetters and the fetters of his companions had been loosed and he and his treated with the greatest honours, went to Timur on the fifth day of the week, which was the fifteenth, and came to him on the Sabbath day, the seventeenth, and he received him magnificently and embraced him and dispelled his fear and trepidation and kissed him often on the face, and openly sought from him pardon for what he had done to him and said to him : " Certainly you are a friend of Allah and of high dignity, like Abu Bakr and Ali," and he excused himself to him for the offence which he had committed against his dignity and entertained him for six days and clothed him with the cloak of great kings and assigned him a beautiful house and gave him many gifts, especially one hundred horses, ten mules, sixty thousand Kubakia dinars, six camels, a cloak embroidered with gold, adorned with gems, and many other gifts without number and a royal standard to wave above his head and sixty-five open diplomas, each with the governship of a city, lest anyone should resist him therein, from Urfa to the furthest limit of Diar-Bakr to the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia ; and all that out of craft and cunning and so that all the rulers of those countries should be reckoned under his power and all his subjects and the people should bring to him tribute and gifts and should not dare even to put a foot forward except at his orders ; so much that each of his neighbours, along with the booty which Allah had given into his hand, would be given to him and nothing would come to Timur or any other. And this, though in appearance it seemed honourable, yet in the end was harm to him and keenness of vengeance and in all this there was something as you will afterwards see and he put enmity between him and his neighbours and contrived that he should flee to him and rely on him in all his affairs and before the multitude of his enemies seek his protection and so * The Kipchak country north of the Caucasus. 70

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hold his fort. Then he agreed with him that whenever he sent for him, he should come to him; then he embraced him and sent him away and ordered his Amirs to conduct him. Accordingly he passed from distress to freedom on the 23rd of Ramzan, on the day of assembly, in the year 798* and came to Sultania, spending a pleasant life and enjoying elegance and splendour; then he went to Tabriz with an exquisite and splendid retinue and met Amiran Shah,f who heaped upon him honours and gifts and conducted him with a fine procession and the greatest security and he came to Vastan and Bitlis and Arzan, J right up to Sur; but when the news reached his tribes and households, men rejoiced on that account and instruments of joy were struck and townsmen and nobles went to meet him as he approached on the day of assembly, the eleventh of the month Shawal, his deputy Al Malik Al Salah going in front; and entering the city with a fortunate omen and signs of prosperity he approached the school of Husamuddin and visited the tombs of his father and his dead ancestors and wished to leave his noble capital and visit the holy Hejaz, but the nobles and people refused to let him go, throwing themselves before him and kissing his feet; therefore he occupied his palace and remained quiet on his throne; these things will be more fully declared in turn and the things which happened, when Timur came and his base soldiers occupied Mardin, after they had laid waste the kingdoms of Syria. It is said that Al Malik Azzahir, when he had become established in his kingdom, called assemblies of learned men whom he knew, and that when he urged them to compose verses forthwith on that event, first Badruddin Hassan, son of lifur, said : " His sea has been stirred and has overflowed and utterly torn men up with its violence. " And his mortal sins are spread over both sides of the horizon. " Truly his iniquity has grown to the limit; now we rejoice while it wanes : " For when a tyrant comes to the end of his insolence, the adversities of fortune turn against him." Then Ruknuddin Hussein, son of Alasafar, one of the public readers, said : * A.D. 1396.

f Third son of Timur.

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" You are one of those, who when anything hard and grave befalls them " Entrust their affairs to God, and are content with that gain, " And when they have seen dangers, commit business to Allah the Almighty and after that, escape unharmed/' Third spoke Qazi Sadaruddin, son of Zahiruddin Hanifi of Samarkand: " He is long-lived, like the day at dawn, Whose glory does not grow beyond bounds ; And doubtless all increase has its decrease ; And the Mighty in power will deliver His servant/* Then fourth spoke Alauddin, son of Zainuddin Hasani, one of the public readers, in double rhythm : " Be not sad, for what Allah has decreed will be. " And a thing entrusted to the Divine command already comes to pass : " Between the twinkling of an eye and its ceasing " The present condition has ended and that matter goes forward." And he marvelled thereat, and ordered a gift of 5,000 drachmas to be counted out to him : but Allah knows.

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TIMUR RETURNS FROM DIAR-BAKR AND IRAK, AND TURNS TOWARDS THE DESERTS OF KIPCHAK,* WHOSE KINGS AND KINGDOMS ARE DESCRIBED, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF ITS PLAINS AND WAYS

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HEN he returned from Arabian and Persian Irak in which countries he had already firmly planted his footmark, and that after Sheikh Ibrahim had come over to him and handed to him the keys of his dominions, who placing on his neck the yoke of his servitude and transferring himself to his sway, put himself among his slaves, but was treated by him like a son; soon, however, we shall relate how he went to him and in what way he gained his favour. Then Timur made for the desert of Kipchak with great eagerness and haste. This great kingdom contains vast deserts, whose Sultan was Toqtamish, the same who was the leader of the Sultans who fought against Timur, indeed the first who showed hostility to him, and met him in the regions of Turkistan and came against him and joined battle and there Said Barka overcame him as was told before. The country is called Dasht Kipchak and Dasht Barka and " Dasht" in the Persian language is the word for desert and the special name of it Barka, f who was the first Sultan, who after embracing Islam unfolded its standards through that country; for they were worshippers of idols and given to polytheism, ignorant of Islam and the true faith and the most of them have remained idolaters to this day. He set out for these regions by way of Derbend, which was under the sway of Sheikh Ibrahim, Sultan of the Kingdom of Shirvan, whose family goes back to King Khosru Anushirvan; and he had a Qazi by name Abu Yazid, who of all the pillars of the state was in close touch with him and this Yazid was a minister of the kingdom and the first in the sultanate ; and when he consulted him about the matter of Timur and the action required of himself—whether he should submit to him or make preparations against him, whether he should take to flight or engage with him—Yazid replied: " In my opinion * The country of the Golden Horde.

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f Grandson of Jenghizkhan.

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it is best to fly, and I think the safest and finest plan is to fortify yourself in the highest mountains/' The Sultan, however, said : " This does not seem to me well advised, that I should escape, but desert my subjects in time of danger, and what should I reply to Allah on the day of resurrection when I have directed their affairs and destroyed my subjects ? Therefore I do not choose to attack him or engage with him, but as quickly as may be I shall hasten to him and make myself compliant to him, obeying his command, but if he restores me to my throne and confirms me in my kingdom, that is the very thing which I wish and the culmination of my prayers ; but if he treats me ill or removes me from my province or throws me into bondage or kills me, at least my subjects will be defended from the evil of slaughter and rapine and captivity, and he will then set over them and over the kingdom whom he wishes/' Then he ordered that supplies should be collected and gave leave to the soldiers, who scattered and withdrew, and ordered that the cities of his territories should be decorated and beautified and that their inhabitants should carry on their work secure by land and sea and devote themselves to it and that orators should recite his name from platforms and that gold and silver money should be marked with his name and sign. Then taking gifts and presents he started to meet him with good will and firm foot. And when he came near to him and stood in obeisance before him, he offered the gifts and presents and various rare and choice things. Now the custom of the Jagatais in offering gifts of homage was to give nine of whatever kind that in this way they might gain honours and higher dignity with the receiver; therefore Sheikh Ibrahim offered nine of every sort of various gifts, but of slaves eight; but when the men who received those gifts said to him " Where is the ninth slave ? " he replied, " I myself am the ninth," and Timur admired this saying, by which he won a place in his heart and said to him : " Nay, you shall be my son and my deputy in this country and the support on which I shall lean," and he clad him in a precious mantle and restored him to his kingdom glad that he had gained his wish. And the supplies were divided and the fruits and foods distributed, out of which parts like mountains were left over by that army, which was itself in number like gravel and sand. 74

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Then after dismissing Sheikh Ibrahim, Timur set out to the countries of the north and of the Tatars. But the other reason of invading that kingdom, though he needed it not, was Amir Idaku, who was one of the chief leaders of Toqtamish on the left wing, and one of the ministers employed to ward off disasters and a counsellor, whose tribe was called Qomkomat; for the Turks have different tribes and names—like the Arabs. But when Idaku saw that the mind of his master was altered, he feared for himself from him, since Toqtamish was a man of stern violence ; so being afraid that some day he might encounter it, he did not cease to be ware of him and to be ready to take to flight, when he saw that it was necessary for that reason, and he watched him constantly and acted prudently with him and accompanied him constantly and soothed him with flattery; but on a festive night, when the glasses like stars were revolving in the orbits of hilarity and wine was lording it over the captive judgment, Toqtamish began to say to Idaku (when the light of his prudence was being quenched and he was becoming heated) " A day will come for me and you, which will bring you to hunger and remove you from tables piled with food to a wandering life and the eye of your life will be filled with the sleep of death." But Idaku put him off and flattered him, saying : " Let not my Lord and Khakhan* foster wrath against a slave who has not done wrong and let him not destroy a sapling which he himself has planted or overthrow a foundation which he has laid ! " Then he took the guise of a suppliant, humility, obedience and submission and certain of what he had thought before, he exercised his mind to find a way of escape and used cleverness and cunning for that purpose, knowing that if he neglected his threats or allowed them time, it would not be long before the Sultan would attend to their performance : then he slipped out from amidst the attendants and guards, and went out suddenly as though to answer a natural call and came hurriedly but not without determination to the stable of Toqtamish and took a horse ready saddled, of the best breed and very swift, which stood ready for any emergency and said to one of his followers, who was a loyal sharer of his secret: " Whoever wishes to come to me, will find me with Timur ; * Emperor.

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but do not reveal this secret, until it is certain that I have crossed the deserts/' Then he left him and set off, no one observing him, unless when he had already gone a great way, and riding steadily he wove long threads in the web of his journey—and they could not follow his tracks or even reach the dust which he raised ; and he came to Timur and kissing his hands told his story and unfolded to him his misfortunes and said : " You are seeking places far distant and rough pathless places and for that reason you charge into dangers and cut the backbones of deserts and enter upon long journeys ; but this is an easy prize in front of your eyes, which you will gain—rich and fine —with the greatest convenience ; and why should there be delay, somnolence, hesitation and postponement ? Rise therefore with firm purpose and I give security that there will be no fort to repel you or fortification to check you or sword to restrain you or weapons to drive you back or soldier to attack you; for they are naught but a mixed and confused rabble of the lowest sort of men and resources collected at random and treasures as it were coming of themselves/' And he ceased not to urge him to it and entreat him and in every way make him pliant, just as Othman Qara Iluk did with him, when he came to Tabriz, with wicked instigation and incited him to invade Syria after killing Sultan Burhanuddin Ahmed and besieging Siwas, as will afterwards be related. Then Timur prepared with the greatest haste to win for himself Dasht Barka, which is the proper country of the Tatars, filled with cattle of different kinds and tribes of Turks ; fortified on the borders, it has well-tilled parts and wide tracts, healthy in water and air; its people nomads ; its soldiers expert archers, most eloquent of speech among the Turks, pure in disposition, of charming features and perfect in beauty; their women seem suns, their men full moons; the kings are heads, the great men like chests ; neither falsehood has place with them nor fraud, nor does cunning obtain among them nor sycophancy; it is the custom among them to move from place to place securely on wagons, where they are placed beyond fear ; their cities are few and their settlements far apart. Dasht is bounded on the south by the Caspian Sea, violent and dangerous, and the Black Sea, which turns thither from the countries of Rum, and these two seas almost touch each other, but that the Jirkas Mountains (Caucasus) 76

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put a space between them to prevent their joining. On the east it has for boundaries the Kingdoms of Khwarizm, Atrar and Sighnaq and other countries and tracts extending to Turkistan and the countries of the Jatas, going up to the borders of the Sin (Chinese), under the sway of the Moguls* and Khatas. On the north is Abir and Shabir (Siberia) and wastes, deserts and hills of sand like mountains; for how many deserts are there, where birds and beasts roam ! And it is, like the favour of the great, an end which cannot be reached and a limit which cannot be attained ; on the west it borders on Russia and Bulgaria and the country of the Christians, and its confines extend to the dominions of the son of Othman, Ruler of Rum. There used to advance convoys of travellers from Khwarizm making the journey in wagons, securely without terror or fear, as far as the Crimea—a journey of about three months; in width there is a sea of sand as broad as seven seas, through which the most skilful guide could not show the way nor the most crafty of experienced men make the journey and those convoys did not take supplies or fodder or join to themselves companions—this because of the multitude of the people, and the abundance of security, food and drink among the inhabitants, and did not set out except tribe by tribe or turn aside except to one who would receive his guest generously, so that they were well described by that verse : " All the people of Mecca go round the hill of Okaz And their sons shout: ' There comes a guest \' " But now through those places from Khwarizm to the Crimea of those peoples and their followers none moves or rests and nothing ranges there but antelopes and camels. The capital of Dasht is Serai, a city devoted to Islam and beautifully built, which I shall describe. It was founded by Sultan Barka (on whom be the mercy of Allah !) when he became a Muslim, and he made it his capital and chose it and drove in and invited the people of Dasht so that they might enter the protection of Islam, which faith having been received, the place became a resort of all good and happiness and was called Barka having before been named after Kipchak. Maulana, the venerable Khwaja Asamuddin, son of the blessed Maulana the venerable Khwaja Abdul Malik, who is of * or Mongols.

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the sons of the great Sheikh Burhanuddin Marghinani on whom be the mercy of Allah, when he had returned from the Hejaz in the year 814* and in our time, that is in the year 84o,f had come to the governorship of Samarkand, recited to me in Haji Turkhan,J one of the cities of Dasht, this verse: (and in the pass of Dasht he had endured various troubles) : " When I had lately heard that there was prosperity In the deserts, which are called after their Sultan Barka, I caused the camel of my migration to halt in that country, But saw no happiness§ there/' And the same man referring to Maulana the venerable and revered Hafizuddin Mahomed, son of Nasiruddin Mahomed Kurdi Bazazi, whom Allah Almighty protect with His mercy ! at the same time and place recited this also to me : " When the citizens committed their affairs into the hands of a Hafiz,^* Their Hafiz became their Sultan, and the Sultan was no longer a Hafiz/1 And when Barka Khan had been exalted by the royal garb of Islam and had raised the standards of the religion of Hanif a in the country of Dasht, he called learned men from every side and doctors, to teach the people the doctrines of their religion and show them the ways of their profession of the Unity of God and the truth of the Faith, and he paid great rewards to them and poured forth on those who assembled seas of generosity and brought reverence to the Faith and the teachers and magnified the laws of Allah Almighty and the institutes of the Prophet and he had with him at that time and afterwards Uzbeg and Janibeg Khan, Maulana Qutbuddin, the learned, of the city of Rei, and Sheikh Saduddin Taftazani and Said Jalal, Commentator ^of the Hajabia, and other doctors of the sects of Hanifis and Shafeites; afterwards these were followed by Maulana Hafizuddin Bazazi and Maulana Ahmed of Khajend on whom be the favour of Allah ! And thanks to these famous men Serai became a meetingplace of learning and a home of every sort of prosperity and in a short time there gathered there of learned men and doctors and * A.D. 1411. f A 3 1 1 Shah Rukhia, 47, 254, 255, 257, 275 Shaha Shujah, 27-30, 32-3, 36, 43, Shah Wali, 32-4 Shah Yahia, 30, 43, 48 Shams, Al, 175 Shamsuddin, 135, 202 Shamsuddin Fakhri, 2, 5 Shamsuddin Mahomrned Hanbai 143 Shamsuddin Mahomed, Sheikh, 312 Shamsuddin of Nablus, 160 Sharifuddin, xviii, 63, 64 Sharnak Khan, 95

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INDEX Shiraz, xvii, 27, 29, 30, 37, 42, 43, 51, 56, 245, 311, 313 Shirin, 31, 282 Shirjan, 43, 48, 51 Shirvan, 73 (Shirwan), 208, 307 Shhir Ghatmish, 13 Siberia (Sibir), xv (Shabir), 77 Sina, Ibn. See Avicenna Sind, 95, 118, 220, 309 Sinope, 190 Siram, 161, 213, 257 Siwas, 73, 88, 91, 100, 106, 107, 109, n o , 113, 114, 116, 117, 177, 180, 198, 301 Smyrna (Izmir), xv, xviii, 192 Sod, 215 Solomon, 102 Stambul (Constantinia), (Constantinople), 115, 116, 176, 185 Sudun, 132 Suliman, 2 Suliman, Amir, 115, 116, 184, 186, 187 Suliman Khan, 51, 52 Suliman Shah, 302 Sultania, xvii, 54, 55, 69, 70, 71, 88, 165, 285-6 Sumaqa, 150 Sur, 71, 165 Syria, xviii, 53, 58, 71, 88, 94, 100, 106, 115, 116, 117-19, 122, 123, 125, 126, 132, 135, 136, 138, 142 n., 150, 152, 153, 158, 160, 195, 201, 213, 220, 238, 281, 303, 312 Taabata Shara, 34 Tabaristan, 55 Tabat Shara, 206 Tabriz, xvii, 58, 71, 76, 100, 105, 160, 165, 207, 213 Taghani, 134 Tahan, 125 Tahan, Ibn, 152-4 Tahartan, 115, 176, 307 Tajuddin Salmani 150, 311 Tamardash, 121, 122, 124, 125, 136 Tamerlane. See Timur Tanam, 94 Tankari Birdi, 224 Talqan, 118 Tankari Wardi, 132 Taqiuddin, Chief Judge, 160 Taqiuddin Ibrahim, 143 Tarmaz, 17 Tarmid, 278, 280 Tashkend, 275 Teragai, xvi, 1, 4 Tiflis, 86 n., 105, 202 Tifur, 71 Tikrit, 65 Tuligh Timur, 86 Timur (Tamerlane), Place in History, xv Birth, xvi, 1-4

Timur (Tamerlane)— Enthroned at Samarkand, xvi Summary of career, xvii, xviii Tomb, xviii Marriages, 3, 18, 310, etc. Beginning of Exploits, 5 Murder of Sultan Hussein, 6 Wounded, 6 Capture of Shiraz, 42 Forts in Mogul Country, 47 Bagdad taken, 62 Invasion of Kipchak, 73 Defeat of Toqtamish, 82 Invasion of India, 95 ff Invasion of Syria, 117 Battle of Angora, 184 Plan to Invade Cathay, 225 Death at Otrar, 233 Appearance and Character, 295^ ff et passim Timur Abdul Malik, 161 Timur Khan, 86, 87 Toghluk Timur, xvi Toqat, 88 (Tokat), 109, i n Tokal, 40, 41 Toqtamish, 75, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87 Toqtamish Khan, 13, 171 Transoxiana, xvi, xvii, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, etc. Trebizond, 202 Tuba al Najashi, 101 Tukal Qarqara, 278 Tukriti, 161 Tuman, 254, 277, 310-311 Tunbagha, 152 Tunbagha Othmani, 125, 152 Turabulus (Tripoli), 120, 126, 132 (Turabalas), 136 Turan, 17, etc. Turkistan, 4, 13, 14, 48, 55, 77, 117, 213, 247, 253, 257, 287, 291, 293, 299, 307 Umar, 104, 125, 147, 148, 152, 154 Ulama Namanuddin Hanifi, 127 Uzbeg, 78 Ulugh Beg, xvi, 214, 293, 311 Vazir Al Shahid, 143 Valid, 135 Valiuddin, 143, 144. See also Waliuddin and Ibn Khaldun Vashamgir, i n Vastan, 71, 111 Waladah, 31 Waliuddin Abdur Rahman, son of Khaldun Al Maliki. See Ibn Khaldun, 84 Waliuddin Abdurrahman. See Ibn Khaldun Yakub, son of Ali Shah, 115, 171, 307 Yalbagha, 132, 137, 139

340

INDEX Yalbagha Almajnun, 161 Yalbagha Maj nun (Ahmed), 161, 213 Yamin, Sultan Mahmud, 113 n. Yanki Bilas, 161 Yanki Talas, 213 Yaqub, Amir, 190 Yazid, 129, 189 Yemen, 15 Yezd, 29, 30, 43, 51 Yusuf Sufi, 31 Zaghanian, 117

341

Zahiruddin Hanifi, 72 Zahir, Sultan, 58, 60, 62 Zain Abadin, 30, 36, 43 Zainuctdin, 136 Zainuddin Abdul Latif, 23 Zainuddin Abu Bakr, Sheikh, 22 Zainuddin Hasani, 72 Zakaria, Sheikh, 315 Zat Alsafa, 61 Zeidun, 293 Zeinuddin Khwafi, Sheikh, 5 Ziauddin, 69 Zulistan, 55