HISTORIANS OF SIND.
in the 58th year of his age, and the 613th of the Hijrí (1216 A.D.), he withdrew his hand from all the concerns which had previously occupied his mind, and made a few delightful books his sole companions. He considered within himself that learned persons of every age had, by the assistance of their masters and patrons, compiled histories and books, and established a reputation for themselves by their literary attainments; that, for instance, the conquests of Khurásán, ’Irák, Persia, Rúm, and Shám had been celebrated at large in poetry and prose by authors of past ages; and that a victory had been achieved, and the country of Hindústán conquered, by Muhammad Kásim and other nobles of Arabia and Syria, and mosques and pulpits had been raised throughout the country, from the sea-shore to the boundaries of Kashmír and Kanauj, and Ráí Dáhir, son of Chach, the king of Alor, had been slain by the great noble, the best man of the State and Religion, Muhammad bin Kásim bin ’Akíl Sakifí, may God’s mercy be on him! and the Rai's territory with all its dependencies had been taken possession of by that conqueror. The translator, therefore, wished to be acquainted with an account of the country and its inhabitants, and also with the history of Dáhir’s defeat and death, in order that he might be able to compile a book upon that interesting subject.
In the endeavour to obtain this information, he left the sacred city of U′ch, and went to Alor and Bhakar, the Imáms of which places were the descendants of the Arab conquerors. On his arrival there, he met with the Maulana Kází, Isma’íl bin 'Alí bin Muhammad bin Músá bin Táí bin Ya’kúb bin Tai bin Músá bin Muhammad bin Shaibán bin ’Usmán Sakifí. He was a mine of learning and the soul of wisdom, and there was no one equal to him in science, piety, and eloquence. On being consulted on the subject of the Arabian conquest, he informed the translator that an account of it was written by one of his ancestors, in a book composed in the Arabic language, which had descended from one generation to the other, till it reached his hands by course of inheritance. But as it was dressed in the language of
