The Mulfuzāt Timūry = or, Autobiographical memoirs of the Moghul emperor Timūr
"The Mulfuzāt Timūry = or, Autobiographical memoirs of the Moghul emperor Timūr" by Timūr is a historical autobiographical memoir written in the early 15th century. Dictated in Jagtay Turki and later rendered into Persian (and then English), it blends personal narrative with political “Institutes,” maxims of rule, and religious reflection. It follows the rise of Timūr from Transoxiana, framing conquest through justice, discipline, Islamic piety, and the counsel of saints and omens.
Expect genealogy, campaigns, court craft, and guidance for successors. The opening of this chronicle presents the editor’s and translator’s prefaces (stressing sources and authenticity) and Abu Talib Husayni’s statement that he found a Turki original in Yemen and translated it into clear Persian for princes. Timūr’s voice then lays out twelve governing rules—strict justice, truthfulness, compassion, obedience to Islamic law, honoring the Prophet’s descendants, valuing scholars, keeping promises, and shunning greed—alongside the ideal of the just monarch as “Shadow of God” and the need for wise ministers. A sequence of dreams, omens, and saintly endorsements underscores his mandate: visions of the Prophet, the “white standard” of ‘Alī before Anatolia, counsel in dealings with Tughluk Timūr and the Jete, favorable horoscopes, battlefield portents, and episodes that justify both iconoclasm in India and acts of clemency (such as sparing Shiraz at a Syed’s plea). The narrative then turns to his beginnings—his name linked to a Qur’anic verse, early schooling and leadership games, his father’s pious counsel and genealogy, blessings from saints promising dominion, brushes with danger and illness, and training in horsemanship and the arts of war. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
The Mulfuzāt Timūry = or, Autobiographical memoirs of the Moghul emperor Timūr
Original Publication
London: Oriental translation committee, 1830.
Credits
Turgut Dincer, Tim Lindell, Gísli Valgeirsson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 38.8 (College-level). Difficult to read.
