The Rashīdī History 11.3

11.3

Consequently I, the least of God's servants, Muhammad Haidar, son of Muhammad Husain Kurkán — known familiarly as Mirza Haidar — notwithstanding my ignorance and want of skill, felt it my duty to undertake this difficult task. For much time has already passed since the Khákáns of the Moghuls were driven from the towns of the civilised world, and have had to content themselves with dwellings in the desert. On this account they have written no history of themselves, but base their ancestral records upon oral tradition. At this present date— 951 [1544 A.D.] — there remains not one among them who knows these traditions, and my boldness in attempting this difficult work is due to the consideration that, did I not make the venture, the story of the Moghul Khákáns would be obliterated from the pages of the world's history. The more I considered the matter, the more conscious I became of my inability to write an elegant and ornate preface. [Verses.] . . . For this reason, and in order to give my book an auspicious opening, I transcribed the Prolegomena to the Zafar-Náma of Sharaf-ud-Din Ali Yazdi, as far as the "Amma bad." This Zafar-Náma contains a history of the Moghuls and their Khákáns, from Chingiz Khán to Tughluk Timur Khán, but of the successors of this latter no mention is made, except where the context required it.