The Chachnāma (Fatḥnāma-yi Sind) 3: An apology.

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Although it is beyond my ability to dress myself in the clothes of learning and knowledge, and appear conspicuously before the Court, which is the fountain of excellence and the resort of the wise, still, when good luck called out my name, and universal generosity came to my assistance, and the sun of prosperity guided my way to this auspicious rising place, I prepared myself to bless and to praise that Chief, in whose eulogy the great and the learned men of the time have plied their tongues, and to bless whom the sages and the philosophers of the age have raised up their hands. This servant 'Ali Kúfi, in order to perform the duties of service incumbent on him, sincerely prays: “May the garden of prosperity of this seat of happiness and power be refreshed with the sweet and pure water of beneficence and benignity, and may it become green and fruitful with the moonlight of greatness and glory. The intrinsic truth and justice of the saying: ‘Verily God is to be found among His servants, and the best provision is to be found in the next world’ is applicable to the subject of which the writer has been speaking, and of which he cannot express the importance sufficiently, not even in the proportion of one to a thousand or a particle to a heap. He has ventured to offer what he has been able to secure, in the hope that his trifle will find admittance to his august presence, and be honoured with acceptance, (as thereby) this book on conquest will remain permanently on the pages of (monumental) records, as long as the world lasts, and God is the lord of grace.”