Mirkhvand
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Muhammad ibn Khvandshah ibn Mahmud, more commonly known as Mirkhvand (, also transliterated as Mirkhwand; 1433/34 – 1498), was a
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
historian active during the reign of the Timurid ruler
Sultan Husayn Bayqara Sultan Husayn Bayqara Mirza ( ''Husayn Bāyqarā''; June/July 1438 – 4 May 1506) was the Timurid dynasty, Timurid ruler of Herat from 1469 until May 4, 1506, with a brief interruption in 1470. A skilled statesman, Sultan Husayn Bayqara was ...
(). He is principally known for his
universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...
, the ("The garden of purity"), which he wrote under the patronage of the high-ranking functionary
Ali-Shir Nava'i 'Ali-Shir Nava'i (9 February 1441 – 3 January 1501), also known as Nizām-al-Din ʿAli-Shir Herawī ( Chagatai: نظام الدین علی شیر نوایی, ) was a Timurid poet, writer, statesman, linguist, Hanafi Maturidi mystic and ...
(died 1501). According to the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
orientalist Bertold Spuler, the is the greatest universal history in Persian regarding the Islamic world.


Life

Born in in the city of
Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...
in Timurid-ruled
Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
, Mirkhvand belonged to a family of , descendants of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
. He was the son of Burhan al-Din Khvandshah (died 1466/7), who was a disciple of the
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
Baha al-Din Umar Jaghara'i (died 1453) in the city of
Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...
, where Mirkhvand's family had distinguished themselves. Mirkhvand's brother was the (head of religious fundings) of the Timurid crown prince Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (died 1514), the eldest son of the incumbent ruler
Sultan Husayn Bayqara Sultan Husayn Bayqara Mirza ( ''Husayn Bāyqarā''; June/July 1438 – 4 May 1506) was the Timurid dynasty, Timurid ruler of Herat from 1469 until May 4, 1506, with a brief interruption in 1470. A skilled statesman, Sultan Husayn Bayqara was ...
(). Mirkhvand wrote under the patronage of
Ali-Shir Nava'i 'Ali-Shir Nava'i (9 February 1441 – 3 January 1501), also known as Nizām-al-Din ʿAli-Shir Herawī ( Chagatai: نظام الدین علی شیر نوایی, ) was a Timurid poet, writer, statesman, linguist, Hanafi Maturidi mystic and ...
(died 1501), an important counselor of Husayn Bayqara and advocate of arts and literature. Mirkhvand enjoyed good relations with Nava'i, as indicated of Mirkhvand's description of the latter in his
universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...
("The garden of purity"), as well as the positive account of Mirkhvand in Nava'i's biographical dictionary ("The assemblies of rare talents"). Using the Timurid history book of
Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi Abd-al-Razzāq Samarqandī (, ''Kamal-ud-Din Abd-ur-Razzaq ibn Ishaq Samarqandi''; 7 November 1413 – August 1482) was a Persian Timurid chronicler and Islamic scholar. He was for a while the ambassador of Shah Rukh, the Timurid dynasty ruler o ...
(died 1482) as his cornerstone, Mirkhvand started writing his in 1474/5. Mirkhvand spent many years in the Ilkhlasiyya , a house for Sufis erected by Nava'i in 1483. Towards the end of his life, he lived for a year at the
shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...
of the prominent
Hanbali The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...
and Sufi scholar Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (died 1088), near Herat. Mirkhvand died in Herat on 22 June 1498, and was buried in the shrine of Baha al-Din Umar Jaghara'i, the same place as his father. Mirkhvand's daughter's son Khvandamir (died 1535/6), whom he had trained and handed over his patronage networks, wrote a concise version of his grandfathers work in 1500, the ("Summary reports on the affairs of those gone by").


Mirkhvand's only known work is the , a history of the world since creation from a Muslim point of view, divided into a preface, seven volumes, and an epilogue. The final volume and the epilogue were incomplete at the time of Mirkhvand's death, and were later completed by Khvandamir. A discussion on the advantages of studying history is included in the , a tradition that goes back to at least the 12th-century, when Ibn Funduq (died 1169) did the same in his (1168). Mirkhvand's discussion on the advantages of studying history was copied and modified by three other distinguished historians; Qasim Beg Hayati Tabrizi's (1554); Hossein Nishapuri Vuqu'i's (1591/2); and Sharaf Khan Bidlisi's (1596). Mirkhvand's work attracted much attention, as demonstrated by its numerous translations, such as the Ottoman dedicated by Mustafa ibn Hasanshah to the Ottoman

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
Rüstem Pasha (d. 1561) in 1550 and written by Mehmed Kemal Balatzade in 1555. The was one of the three works generally read by history students in
Mughal India The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...
. There exist hundreds of copies of , making it one of the most copied Persian history books. However, neither the current editions by Parviz (1959/60) and Kiyanfar (2001) nor the 19th-century
lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
are based on the oldest version of the books. For example, Kiyanfar's edition is based on the (written in 1854–6) of the 19th-century Iranian writer
Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat (; 8 June 1800 – 29 June 1871) was an Iranian literary historian, administrator, and poet in 19th-century Qajar Iran. Biography Hedayat was born in Tehran on 8 June 1800 to a renowned family which was descended from the ...
(died 1871), a continuation of the and based on a lithograph printed in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
in 1849/50. The was frequently used by western
orientalists In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...
from the 17th to the 19th-century to understand the history of Iran. As a result, there are numerous incomplete translations of it in
European languages There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three larges ...
. According to the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
orientalist Bertold Spuler, the is the greatest universal history in Persian regarding the Islamic world.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirkhvand 1430s births 1498 deaths 15th-century Iranian historians Historians from the Timurid Empire People from Bukhara