The History of Afghanistan: Fayz Muhammad Katib Hazarah's Siraj Al-tawarikh (Vol.1)
by Fayz Muhammad Katib Hazarah's
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Books
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General Stacks | Non-fiction | 958.1 F282H 2013 (Browse shelf) | Available | 43630 |
Browsing Garrison Public Library Multan Shelves , Shelving location: General Stacks , Collection code: Non-fiction Close shelf browser
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Siraj
al-Tavarikh (literally, Histories of light) is a work on the modern
history of Afghanistan by Faiz Muhammad Katib Hazarah (1862 or
1863−1931), one of the earliest historians in Afghanistan. The book was
commissioned by Emir Habibullah Khan, ruler of Afghanistan in the early
20th century. Siraj al-Tavarikh is generally agreed to be a four-volume
text covering the period between 1747, when Afghanistan under Ahmad Shah
Durrani, the founder of the modern state, emerged as an independent
polity in Khorasan, and 1919, when Amanullah Khan, Habibullah Khan’s
son, came to power. It is also claimed, however, that there is also a
fifth volume, covering 1919−29. This copy contains only volumes one and
two, published as a single tome by the royal printing press of Matba-e
Hurufi Dar al-Saltana-e Kabul in 1912−13. In this copy, volume one has a
detailed preface on pages 1−2; the maps on pages 3−4 show the
topography and “ancient geography of Afghanistan,” known as Bakhtar,
Kabulistan, and Zabulistan. (When this region converted to Islam in the
seventh and eight centuries, it was divided into the eastern part, from
Qandahar and Kabul to Sindh, and the western part, which included
Khorasan.) Pages 4−9 cover famous cities of Afghanistan and eastern
Persia, including Kabul, Qandahar, Herat, Ghaznin, and Balkh. The main
content of volume one, on pages 10−194, covers the reigns of the
18th-century dynasties of Ahmad Shah Durrani and his Sadozai Pashton
(Pashtun) lineage, who ruled modern Afghanistan and parts of
northwestern India until the early 19th century, when Emir Dost Muhammad
Khan and the Afghan Barakzai lineage replaced the Sadozais as the
dominant political line. Volume two of the original work, pages 195−377
in this edition, discusses the reigns of Dost Muhammad Khan and other
Barakzai rulers until 1880, when Emir ʻAbd al-Rahman Khan, also a
Barakzai, came to power. Page 196 has a half-page preface in which the
author writes of finishing volume one and its approval by Emir
Habibullah Khan. On page 197 is a family tree of the Barkazais. A short
epilogue appears on page 377. Subheadings appear throughout, in both the
main text and at the tops of pages. The pages are numbered with
Indo-Arabic numerals.
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