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The Glory of the Shia World, by P. M. Sykes and Khan Bahadur Ahmad din Khan, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

p. xi

FROM AN OLD IVORY DAGGER-HILT
Click to enlarge
FROM AN OLD IVORY DAGGER-HILT

(Persian text)
Click to enlarge
(Persian text)

p. xii

FROM A COPPER LANTERN

PROLOGUE

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Boundless praise and countless expressions of gratitude are due and befitting to that Lord of the Universe, in the understanding of the substance of whose nature the intelligence of the Wise and the deep thoughts of the Philosophers are confounded and stupefied.

If dried grass can reach the bottom of the Sea:
Then human intelligence can comprehend the substance of His nature.

.        .        .        .        .        .

Salutations and praise be a sacrifice to the feet of the Presence of the noblest of the Universe and the Epitome of all that exists: the Sovereign who wears the ring, by which he is ordained to be the last Prophet, 1 and who bears the Seal of Prophecy on his back.

p. xiii

Thou wert created before all the Mighty Sovereigns:
Although Thou hast appeared the last,
O the last of the prophets, I know thy nearness to Allah:
Thou hast come late, because thou hast come from a great distance.

.        .        .        .        .        .

Boundless praise and peace be on his innocent descendants and his crowned Vice-regents, who are the Kings of all the world, and of what it contains: especially on His Cousin, Son-in-law, Vice-regent and incomparable Vizier, the Chief of the Mohamedans, the Leader of the Pious, the Victorious Lion of Allah, Ali, son of Abu Talib, on him be Peace! He whose birth place was the House of Allah 1 and whose resting-place was the shoulders of the Prophet. 2

The "Lion of Allah" has been born,
Whatever there was behind the curtain has appeared.

[paragraph continues] And thousands of praises be on the eleven descendants, who are the Signs of the Zodiac in the heaven of the Imamate; and more especially upon Ali Ibn Musa, Al-Rita, who is the eighth Imam 3 and the seventh Kibla or point of adoration. 4

.        .        .        .        .        .

p. xiv

Nurullah Khan, son of Mohamed Husein Khan, of Isfahan by descent, has written these few lines, describing his life and his pilgrimage to the Glory of the Shia World, the Shrine of the holy Imam Riza, on Him be Peace, for the information of the inhabitants of the Seven Climates.

In short this is composed
That our memory may remain.

From my readers, I beseech their prayers and beg that, if they perceive any error or mistake, they will cover it with the eye of forgiveness and overlook it because,

No human being is free from error.

 

 

 

FROM A COPPER LANTERN

 

 

Footnotes

xii:1 This refers to Mohamed.

xiii:1 This refers to the fact that Ali was actually born inside the haram at Mecca.

xiii:2 The Prophet wished to destroy the idols at Mecca; and, to reach them, Ali mounted on his shoulders.

xiii:3 According to Shia tenets, the Imams were spiritual and temporal successors of the Prophet by divine right.

xiii:4 Mecca, Medina, Najaf, Kerbela, Samira, and Kazimain are the other six Kibla.

Next: Chapter I. My Parentage And Birth