Rauza-tus-Safa

"Rauza-tus-Safa fi Sirat-ul-Ambia wal Muluk wal Khulafa" ("The Gardens of Purity concerning the biography of the Prophets and Kings and Caliphs"), (sometimes "Rawdat al-Safa" from the Arabic version) is a book about the origins of Islam, early Islamic history and Persian history by Muhammad ibn Khawand Shah ibn Mahmud, an historian also known as Khawand bin Badshah and simply Mirkhond. It was originally published in Persian in seven volumes, having been completed in the year 1497 C.E. (836 A.H.). [Sometimes the date is stated as 1417 owing to a transcription error; however, ibn Khawand wasn't born until 1433. Elliot, Henry Miers (1872) "The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period" (edited by John Dowson) Trübner and Co., London, p. 127-129 [http://worldcat.org/oclc/3425271 OCLC 3425271] , available in full text from [http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=atgNAAAAIAAJ Google Books] ] The work is very scholarly, ibn Khawand used nineteen major Arabic histories and twenty-two major Persian ones as well as others which he occasionally quotes.Elliot, Henry Miers (1872) "The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period" (edited by John Dowson) Trübner and Co., London, p. 129 [http://worldcat.org/oclc/3425271 OCLC 3425271] , available in full text from [http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=atgNAAAAIAAJ Google Books] ] His work was the basis for many subsequent histories including the works of Haji Khalfa.

The "Rauza-tus-Safa" ought not to be confused with the "Rauza-tul-Albabfi Ta-arikh-i-Akabir-wal Ansab" ("The Garden of the Learned in the History of Great Men and Genealogies") by Abu Suleman Daud bin Abul Fatal Muhammad Albenaketi which was published earlier, in 1317 C.E. (717 AH.).

In the West

About 1596 Pedro Teixeira prepared a Spanish translation of the Rauza-tus-Safa. [ [http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/travellit/azentriesi2.html "I Entries: Iran: Travel Writing" in Speake, Jennifer (ed.) (2003) "Literature of Travel and Exploration: an encyclopedia" Fitzroy Dearborn, New York] , ISBN 1-57958-247-8] The book was partially translated into English in 1715 [Khvānd, Muḥammad ibn Khāvandshāh (1715)"History of Persia ... : to which is added an abridgment of the lives of kings of Harmuz, or Ormuz." (translated from the Spanish text of Pedro Teixeira by John Stevens), J. Brown, London, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/82155967 OCLC 82155967] ] , into Latin in 1782 [Khvānd, Muḥammad ibn Khāvandshāh (1782) "Historia priorum regum Persarum : post firmatum un regno Islamismum" (translated with notes by Freiherr von Bernhard Jenisch), Typis Josephi Nobilis de Kurzbeck, Vienna, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/46759841 OCLC 46759841] ] , and into French in 1793 [de Sacy, Antoine-Isaac Silvestre (1793) "Mémoires sur diverses antiquités de la Perse, et sur les médailles des rois de la dynastie des Sassanides; suivis de l'Histoire de cette dynastie, traduite du Persan de Mirkhond" du Louvre, Paris [http://worldcat.org/oclc/150200240 OCLC 150200240] , available in full text via [http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=cEkGAAAAQAAJ Google Books] in French] . It was fully republished in Persian in 1852 AD, in Bombay. From 1891 to 1894, a translation of the first three volumes into English was prepared by Edward Rehatsek and edited by Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot for the Royal Asiatic Society. ["The Rauzat-us-safa, or, Garden of purity: containing the histories of prophets, kings, and khalifs" by Muhammad bin Khāvenshāh bin Mahmūd, commonly called Mirkhond ; translated from the original Persian by E. Rehatsek ; edited by F.F. Arbuthnot" Royal Asiatic Society, London, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/1549524 OCLC 1549524] ] Volume 2 ("The life of Muhammad") was translated into English in 1983 by Mubarik Ali Shah Jilani Hashmi (Mubarak Ali Gilani). [ "Rauza-tus-safa. The life of Muhammad : messenger of Allah" (originally written in Persian by Muhammad bin Khavendesh bin Mahmood ; edited and revised by Mubarik Ali Shah Jilani Hashmi), Zavia Books, for Quranic Open University, Lahore, Pakistan, and New York [http://worldcat.org/oclc/11220401 OCLC 11220401] ]

Of particular interest to Christian scholars is that in "Rauza-tus-Safa", ibn Khawand tells the story of Jesus’s travels after a failed crucifixion. [Salahuddin, Abubakr Ben Ishmael (April 2002) "Evidence of Jesus in India" "Review of Religions" 97(4): pp. 48-68 http://www.alislam.org/ror/Apr2002.pdf ] [Ahmad, Khwaja Nazir (1952) "Jesus in Heaven on Earth" Working Muslim Mission & Literary Trust, Lahore, Pakistan, [http://worldcat.org/oclc/18112423 OCLC 18112423] ] The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community support some of their beliefs using the "Rauza-tus-Safa". [ [http://www.google.com/books?id=3ngv4Hb4quMC&q=Rauza-tus-Safa&dq=Rauza-tus-Safa&pgis=1 "Review of Religions" by Almadiyya Muslim Community] ]

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