Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi

Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi (Persian: محمدبن علی راوندی), was a Persian historian who wrote the Rahat al-sudur wa ayat al-surur during the fall of the Great Seljuk Empire and the subsequent invasion by the Kharwarzmian empire.^[1]

Rawandi was from a scholarly family and studied Hanafi fikh in Hamadhan from 1174 to 1184.^[2] As a calligrapher, Rawandi was brought to court to craft a Quran for Toghrul III and gained the sultan's favor.^[3] After Toghrul's incarceration, Rawandi gained the patronage of Shihab al-Din al-Kashani, who urged him to write the Rahat al-sudur. Rawandi had intended to dedicate his book to Süleymanshah II, but dedicated it to Kaykhusraw I, following the latter's accession as Sultan of Rum. Later the Rahat al-sudur was translated into Turkish during the reign of Murad II.^[4]

Modern era

In 1921, the Rahat al-sudur was published by Muhammad Iqbal.^[5] It was recognized by Iqbal, Edward G. Browne and Mirza Muhammad Qazwini as a source in other texts namely, Jaml al-tawarikh, Rawdat al-safa of Mir Kwand and Tarikh-i guzida of Hamd Allah al-Mustawfi.^[6]

References

1. ^ Encyclopaedic Historiography of the Muslim World, Ed. NK Singh, (Global Vision Publishing House, 2003), 826-827.
2. ^ Muhammad b. Ali Rawandi, Carole Hillenbrand, Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. VIII, Ed. C.E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs and G. Lecomte, (E.J.Brill, 1995), 460.
3. ^ Encyclopaedic Historiography of the Muslim World, 826-827.
4. ^ Encyclopaedic Historiography of the Muslim World, 827.
5. ^ The History of the Seljuq Turks: from the Jāmi al-Tawārīkh : an Ilkhanid Adaptation of the Saljuq nama, Transl. Kenneth Allin Luther, Ed. C.E. Bosworth, (Curzon Press, 2001), 15.
6. ^ The History of the Seljuq Turks: from the Jāmi al-Tawārīkh, 15.