Rauza-tus-Safa

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Rauza-tus-Safa fi Sirat-ul-Ambia wal Muluk wal Khulafa (The Gardens of Purity concerning the biography of the Prophets and Kings and Caliphs), (sometimes Rawdat al-Safa from the Arabic version) is a book about the origins of Islam, early Islamic history and Persian history by Muhammad ibn Khawand Shah ibn Mahmud, an historian also known as Khawand bin Badshah and simply Mirkhond. It was originally published in Persian in seven volumes, having been completed in the year 1497 C.E. (836 A.H.).[1] The work is very scholarly, ibn Khawand used nineteen major Arabic histories and twenty-two major Persian ones as well as others which he occasionally quotes.[2] His work was the basis for many subsequent histories including the works of Haji Khalfa.[2]

The Rauza-tus-Safa ought not to be confused with the Rauza-tul-Albabfi Ta-arikh-i-Akabir-wal Ansab (The Garden of the Learned in the History of Great Men and Genealogies) by Abu Suleman Daud bin Abul Fatal Muhammad Albenaketi which was published earlier, in 1317 C.E. (717 AH.).

[edit] In the West

About 1596 Pedro Teixeira prepared a Spanish translation of the Rauza-tus-Safa.[3] The book was partially translated into English in 1715[4], into Latin in 1782[5], and into French in 1793[6]. It was fully republished in Persian in 1852 AD, in Bombay. From 1891 to 1894, a translation of the first three volumes into English was prepared by Edward Rehatsek and edited by Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot for the Royal Asiatic Society.[7] Volume 2 (The life of Muhammad) was translated into English in 1983 by Mubarik Ali Shah Jilani Hashmi (Mubarak Ali Gilani).[8]

Of particular interest to Christian scholars is that in Rauza-tus-Safa, ibn Khawand tells the story of Jesus’s travels after a failed crucifixion.[9][10] The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community support some of their beliefs using the Rauza-tus-Safa.[11]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Sometimes the date is stated as 1417 owing to a transcription error; however, ibn Khawand wasn't born until 1433. Elliot, Henry Miers (1872) The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period (edited by John Dowson) Trübner and Co., London, p. 127-129 OCLC 3425271, available in full text from Google Books
  2. ^ a b Elliot, Henry Miers (1872) The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period (edited by John Dowson) Trübner and Co., London, p. 129 OCLC 3425271, available in full text from Google Books
  3. ^ "I Entries: Iran: Travel Writing" in Speake, Jennifer (ed.) (2003) Literature of Travel and Exploration: an encyclopedia Fitzroy Dearborn, New York, ISBN 1-57958-247-8
  4. ^ Khvānd, Muḥammad ibn Khāvandshāh (1715)History of Persia ... : to which is added an abridgment of the lives of kings of Harmuz, or Ormuz. (translated from the Spanish text of Pedro Teixeira by John Stevens), J. Brown, London, OCLC 82155967
  5. ^ Khvānd, Muḥammad ibn Khāvandshāh (1782) Historia priorum regum Persarum : post firmatum un regno Islamismum (translated with notes by Freiherr von Bernhard Jenisch), Typis Josephi Nobilis de Kurzbeck, Vienna, OCLC 46759841
  6. ^ de Sacy, Antoine-Isaac Silvestre (1793) Mémoires sur diverses antiquités de la Perse, et sur les médailles des rois de la dynastie des Sassanides; suivis de l'Histoire de cette dynastie, traduite du Persan de Mirkhond du Louvre, Paris OCLC 150200240, available in full text via Google Books in French
  7. ^ The Rauzat-us-safa, or, Garden of purity: containing the histories of prophets, kings, and khalifs by Muhammad bin Khāvenshāh bin Mahmūd, commonly called Mirkhond ; translated from the original Persian by E. Rehatsek ; edited by F.F. Arbuthnot Royal Asiatic Society, London, OCLC 1549524
  8. ^ Rauza-tus-safa. The life of Muhammad : messenger of Allah (originally written in Persian by Muhammad bin Khavendesh bin Mahmood ; edited and revised by Mubarik Ali Shah Jilani Hashmi), Zavia Books, for Quranic Open University, Lahore, Pakistan, and New York OCLC 11220401
  9. ^ Salahuddin, Abubakr Ben Ishmael (April 2002) "Evidence of Jesus in India" Review of Religions 97(4): pp. 48-68 http://www.alislam.org/ror/Apr2002.pdf
  10. ^ Ahmad, Khwaja Nazir (1952) Jesus in Heaven on Earth Working Muslim Mission & Literary Trust, Lahore, Pakistan, OCLC 18112423
  11. ^ Review of Religions by Almadiyya Muslim Community