Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi

Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi or Sharif al-Din Ali’ Yazdi (Persian: شرف الدین علی یزدی; died 1454), also known by his pen name Sharaf, was a 15th-century Persian scholar who authored several works in the arts and sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, enigma, literature such as poetry, and history. The Zafarnama, a life of Timur, is his most famous work. Quotes Zafarnama (1420s) The Alcoran says the highest dignity man can attain is that of making war in person against the enemies of his religion. Mahomet advises the same thing, according to the tradition of the Mussulman doctors: wherefore the great Temur always strove to exterminate the infidels, as much to acquire that glory, as to signalise himself by the greatness of his conquests. Bk. 4, ch. 2 (tr. J. Darby, 1723) The Koran emphasizes that the highest dignity to which man may attain is to wage war in person upon the enemies of the Faith. This is why the great Tamerlane was always concerned to exterminate the infidels, as much to acquire merit as from love of glory. In Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not a Muslim (1995) pp 234-35 God, who was pleased to purge the world, made use of a medicine which was both sweet and bitter, to wit the clemency and the wrath of the incomparable Temur; and to that effect inspired in him an ambition to conquer all Asia and to expel the several tyrants thereof. He established peace and security in this part of the world so that a single man might carry a silver basin filled with gold from the east of Asia to the west. But yet he could not accomplish this great affair without bringing in some measure upon the places he conquered destruction, captivity and plunder, which are the concomitants of victory. Bk. 6, ch. 26 (tr. J. Darby, 1723) That night they encamped in the valley. In the jungles there were many monkeys, and when night came on they entered the camp and carried off the things of the soldiers. "Raid into other parts of the Siwálik hills" (tr. H. M. Elliot and J. Dowson, 1871) External links J. Darby, The History of Timur-Bec, 2 vols. (1723) H. M. Elliot, edited by J. Dowson, The history of India: As Told by its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period, vol. 3 (London: Trübner & Co, 1871) Category:1450s deaths Category:Historians from Persia