A Book of Conquest The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia

A FOUNDATION FOR HISTORY

pies of the bravery and courage of Arabs and Syrians were in-

scribed, and their stature and intelligence was evident. With every

fortification that they conquered, they ended the night of unbelief

and ignorance. In every region they entered, they glorified Islam and

erected mosques with minarets and filled them with pious and as-

cetic believers. And to this day, the light of Islam, honesty, hard

work, and knowledge continue to shine in those regions. And in each

epoch that a slave owned by the Prophet ascends to the throne, once

again, he strips the rust of ignorance away from the mirror of Islam.^30

61

'Ali Ku.fl. is marking two explicit motifs in his preface: the linkage
between the history of Uch and the history of Arabs, and the "renewal"
of central principles of Islam. He goes on:

When this fable of faith was taken from the veil of Taz'i [obscurity)

and the cover of Hijazi [Arabic) into the house of Persian [language)

and put in the strictures of narrative and the fabric of honesty and

translated into the clothes of prose, I dove into thoughts of the great

leader to whom this new and strange letter of conquest can be

dedicated.^31

Ku.fl. remarks that translating the text from one language to another
is an interpretative act-he can present the thoughts in the text to an.
appreciative audience. This immediate linking of translation to patron,
places Kufi's project among earlier "translation" projects I detailed
above. Kufi uses the metaphors of marriage to reflect the intimacy be-
tween languages. Kufi does not provide the name of the original Ar-
abic text he claims to be using. Nor does he provide any indications as
to its provenance; there is no convention requiring him to do so. Kufi
has to only assert such descent, not to demonstrate it. Kufi returns to
the claim of translation in his closing remarks:

Even though this [Arabic) book contained great wisdom, a wealth of

advice, and methods for the running of the affairs of government, )

'even though this book had a great standing in the language of Arabs

and in th'e diction of Arabia, and the notables of Arabia read it with

great fervor and were proud of it, yet, it was behind the veil of Arabic

and devoid of the decoration and beauty of the Persian and, for this

reason, did not circulate outside of Arabia. For the Persian speakers

no one adorned this bride, a book of conquest [fathnama), or dressed