MANAN Ahmed Asif’s thesis, A Book of Conquest, is a masterwork on history on ‘Muslim origins on South Asia’. His inexorable efforts to reach the original historical source material from the 8th to the 13th century have modified many misconceptions, especially with reference to Chachnama, a book first translated by Ali Kufi from Arabic to Persian in AD 1324. The writer has, however, made certain errors which need to be corrected in the next edition.

(Page 13): The distance from Uch to Karachi is not 70km, it is rather 805km. (p 51) Ala-u-din Muhammad-II Khawarzam Shah, who provoked Genghiz Khan into attacking was not pressed into Sindh, but after fleeing the Mongol marauders he sought refuge on a small island of the Caspian Sea near the port city of Abaskun, where he died of pleurisy.

It was his son, Jalaluddin Muhammad Khwarzam who, chased by Genghis Khan, crossed the river Indus at Attock and entered Sindh. The author has repeatedly referred to Baghdad as the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, which is incorrect. The metropolis of Baghdad was founded by Abbassi Caliph Ja’far al-Mansur (AD 714-775) in AD 762. The Umayyad capital remained Damascus till its last caliph.

(Page 156): It is stated: ‘In 1843 ..... the decisive battle was fought in Uch’; in fact, Uch was part of Punjab then under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The decisive battle for Sindh was fought in the Miani forest near Hyderabad.

(Page 172): The impression given in the book is that Maulana Shbili Nomani, studied under Prof Thomas W. Arnold in Aligarh University as a student. In fact, the Maulana was teaching Persian and Arabic at the university where he met the professor. As a colleague, he studied the French language under the professor and, in return, taught him Arabic.

For students of history, especially from Sindh, A Book of Conquest, undoubtedly a well-researched thesis based on original sources, is a must read.

Manzoor H. Kureshi

Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017