The Rashīdī History 113.4

113.4

Those were the last days of the life and reign of Mirzá Sultán Husain, who was a grandson of Mirzá Jahángir, son of Amir Timur. None of his ancestors, as far back as Amir Timur, had attained to sovereignty. Mirzá Sultán Husain, however, had, after many years of struggles and hardships, won Khorásán at the point of the sword, and during forty-eight years, while firmly established on the throne of Herat, he governed the four quarters of Khorásán. He encouraged all the arts and crafts of the world to such a degree that in every separate profession he produced an unsurpassed master. Having reached this point, I meditated and felt that I ought to write something concerning these lords of revelation and masters of manifestation, who lived at this time. And though I did not, with my lack of capacity, seem fit for the task, yet strange to say, I could not see my way to omit recording one or two circumstances in relation to these men. In any case I will make a beginning, in the hope that, with the aid of existing memoirs [tazkira] which shall supplement the deficiencies of my humble reed, it may prove worthy of the perusal of the clear-sighted. As it does not lie in my power to write a separate book in memory of these men, I have in this Epitome only devoted a few lines to some of them, in order to satisfy my mind and to calm my inner man. [Quatrain]. . . .