Thursday, September 11, 2014

Historical Notes by Munshi Mohammad Azim-1

Munshi (Scribe) Mohammad Azim’s Historical Notes

Preface

Mohammad Azim was a munshi or scribe at the court of several Afghan sovereigns in the nineteenth century, hence the appellation Munshi Mohammad Azim. Unusual for his time and place, he kept a diary, or rather notes, of his life and times which –though short– provide a unique historical glimpse of his world and include information on the political and social affairs of Afghanistan, particularly Herat, and neighbouring countries during the latter half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.
Mohammad Azim the Scribe, son of the Munshibashi (Chief Scribe) Mohammad Ismail, was born circa lunar anno hegirae 1252 (1836-1837 CE), probably in Herat, northeast Afghanistan. This date is a deduction, as he makes no mention of his date of birth, but in his notes he writes that he went to Mecca in anno hegirae 1322 (1904 CE) at the age of 70. Munshibashi Mohammad Ismail was a pupil of Munshibashi Safi Khan Qarai, whose letter to his protégé, Mohammad Ismail, written in beautiful script, evinces amicable and kindly relations between them. I had seen the letter in my childhood among the papers of Munshi Mohammad Azim.
Since youth, Mohammad Azim constantly accompanied his father at work, at home and on his travels abroad. It seems that he picked up his father’s skills and experiences as a scribe and a courtier. From accounts of his expeditions, we know that as a young man, he travelled with his father to Tehran in the company of Sultan Ahmad Khan[1] Sarkar, Governor of Herat, when the latter visited Naseruddin Shah, King of Iran. On his third expedition, again accompanying his father, Mohammad Azim wrote of the war in Farah, a province to the south of Herat. From an account of his fourth expedition, we learn that after the death of Sultan Ahmad Khan and conquest of the province by Dost Mohammad Khan[2] which preceded the latter’s death, father and son continued their career at the royal court of Herat in the service of Amir Shir Ali Khan, son of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, and Shir Ali Khan’s son, Amir Mohammad Yaqoob Khan. From an account of his ninth trip, it seems that his father had passed away at the time of the government of Amir Mohammad Ayub Khan, son of Shir Ali Khan. Mohammad Azim writes that at this juncture he went to Kabul to follow up on the disbursement of his salary.
Munshi Mohammad Azim’s account of the Battle of Maiwand[3], albeit brief, is very important because of his presence at the battle. He had also been present at the demarcation of the northern border of Afghanistan with Russia, regarding which he wrote a detailed account.
 According to an account of his sixteenth trip, in 1322 AH (1904-1905 CE), Mohammad Azim went to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage at the age of 70.  He traveled through Ashkhabad, now in Turkmenistan, and Russian ports. He then went to Islambul (now Istanbul), where he stayed for 41 days. He wrote about the many novelties and wonders he encountered during those days, such as what he calls the ‘fire trains’ and ‘fire ships’ ((steam-powered railroads and ships) and the baleet (ticket, taken from the French billet). Many years ago I saw a confirmation-of-life certificate drawn in Munshi Mohammad Azim’s name bearing the date 1332 AH (1914-1915 CE), issued for the payment of his annual pension. Thus, he should have had lived to his eighties.
It is not known if Munshi Mohammad Azim had a brother or brothers, but he does mention accompanying his sister on a trip to Mashhad. His sister’s descendants now live in Herat, Mashhad and other cities.
I have been able to ascertain the existence of four of Munshi Mohammad Azim’s sons:
1.      Mohammad Rahim, who worked as a scribe beside his father at the royal court of Herat. Mohammad Rahim was imprisoned due a court conspiracy and after his release refused to work any further at the royal court or in government service. He was my maternal grandfather and I remember him from my childhood, when he kindly gave me my first lessons in calligraphy. He penned a beautiful script known as shakasta-nasta’liq (broken Nasta’liq ).
2.      Scribe Mohammad Reza, who passed away en route to Kabul, where, along with other governmental officers, he was summoned by Amir Abdurrahman Khan.
3.      Gholam Haidar, who lived and died in Mashhad. His descendants, some of whom go by the family name Monshizada (or Munshizadeh; descendants of the Scribe) still live in Mashhad, Iran.
4.      Mohammad Na’im, whom I had seen in my childhood.
No one in the family evinced any interest in the Scribe’s papers. Chancing upon his diary –or rather, notebook– of which he had been so fond that he had noted on the top of the first page that he had taken it with him to Mecca and had kept it for sixty years, I realised its importance and decided to publish the Munshi’s historical notes. My teacher and dear friend, Dr. Ravan Farhadi[4] also encouraged me to edit and publish these notes. Professor May Schinazi, author and researcher of the Serajia[5] period (the period in which these notes were written), and to whom I sent photocopies of the notes, found them extremely important and recommended that  I should not only publish them in the original Farsi (Persian), but that I should also translate them into English.
Prior to reading these notes carefully, I had imagined Scribe Mohammad Azim to be a character like his son, my maternal grandfather whom I remembered as a solitary, conservative and quiet man. After studying his notes, I realised that Munshi Mohammad Azim was quite different. He had undertaken many journeys, most of them on military expeditions. Some of these journeys lasted for nearly two years. He had been present at one of the most famous battles of those wars, the Battle of Maiwand, and had written a brief account of the struggle.
These historical notes also include precious information on many social and political issues in Afghanistan and Iran which unfolded during the lifetime of the Scribe. He imparts information about government tax at the time, the price of provisions and foodstuff, festivals, the population of cities, details of many transportation routes, geographical information on Herat and other places, even about the speed of delivery of the postal system. In the notes we also read about mutual relations with Iran, about the Iranian government and its issues, and about Britain.
When writing about a subject, the Scribe sometimes expresses his personal opinions. For example, in the account of the Battle of Maiwand, he writes that when the British authorities reached an agreement with Amir Abdurrahman Khan in Kabul, they were reassured of their safety there and could afford to withdraw their armies from Kabul to reinforce their forces in the Maiwand battlefield in Kandahar. Thus, initially facing complete defeat, they were able to emerge victorious from the battle thanks to the timely reinforcement that arrived from Kabul. In another account about the revolt in Kabul[6], Munshi Mohammad Azim writes that the reason for the uprising of the people of Kabul was the capitulation of Amir Yaqoob  Khan to the demands made by Cavagnari, the British political envoy in Kabul.  It is also worth mentioning, that in all his notes –with the exception of the accounts of his journeys– the Munshi never makes any mention of himself or of his sons who also served as scribes at the royal court, one of whom died while still serving and the others resigned after imprisonment due to royal displeasure.

I hope that the notes penned by Scribe Mohammad Azim will be useful for researchers and historiographers of the region covering the 19th century and first decades of 20th century.

Asef Fekrat Ottawa,
June 11, 2013
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[All interpolations in square brackets and footnotes by Asef Fekrat]

1

Historical Notes by Munshi Mohammad Azim
This book has been taken on the voyage to Holy Mecca and brought back

Trips and expeditions
Details of the expeditions of this humble faqir[7], Haji[8] Mohammad Azim Khan, Munshi [Scribe], during the years of my career:
First expedition:
When Hessam-us-Saltana, governor of the land of Khorasan and uncle of Naseruddin Shah King of Iran, seized Herat, I went to the Holy Land[9] with my mother, my wife, my sister, and three servants and stayed for nine months. [According to other notes penned by the Munshi, this trip must have taken place in 1272 AH (1855 CE)]
Second expedition:
I accompanied my sire on an expedition to Tehran, along with Sardar[10] Sultan Ahmad Khan, Governor of Herat. The trip lasted six months [1274 AH (1857-1858 CE)].
Third expedition:
Together with my sire and Sardar Sultan Ahmad Khan, we went to capture Farah [perhaps in 1274 AH (1857-1858 CE), or a little later. Farah was under the control of Dost Mohammad Khan].
Fourth expedition:
During the governorship of Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob  Khan son of Amir Shir Ali Khan, we went to Turkistan[11] together with Sardar Abdullah Khan. The Amir [Shir Ali Khan] had sent an army from the capital Kabul against his brother Sardar Mohammad Afzal Khan.  The Amir himself accompanied the army, but his son, Sardar Mohammad Ali Khan, was in the vanguard and in commanded of the army. This campaign is known as the campaign of Bajgah of Turkistan and lasted for seven months. The army of Herat had been summoned to arrive through Maimana and four provinces of Balkh[12]. We took the Mirs (potentates) of the four-provinces of Balkh to an audience with Amir Shir Ali Khan at Tashqorghan [Amir Yaqoob  Khan was Governor of Herat on his father’s orders in 1280 AH (1863 CE)].
Fifth expedition:
I accompanied Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan to Holy Mashhad, for three months, to pay homage to Naseruddin Shah, King of Iran, who was visiting the city [1280 AH (1863 CE)].
Sixth, seventh and eighth expeditions:
These expeditions were from Herat for the purpose of recapturing Kandahar and Kabul which had fallen into the hands of Amir Mohammad Azam Khan, brother of Amir Shir Ali Khan. Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan made up the vanguard of the expedition which recaptured the provinces of Afghanistan. The expedition lasted two years [probably between 1280-1287 AH (1863-1870 CE)]. 
Ninth expedition:
A three-month journey to Kabul for the recovery of my salary, after my sire passed away, during the governorship of Sardar Mohammad Ayub Khan. [Circa 1291 AH (1874 CE)].
Tenth expedition:
At the time of the governorship of Sardar Mohammad Ayub Khan, I went to Kandahar at a time when the governor sent Sardar Abdullah Khan [his brother] and Omar jan[13] Sahebzada[14] to Kandahar and the British officer St. John[15] was there too, with the British army. The expedition lasted 3 months [circa 1302 AH (1884 CE)].
Eleventh expedition:
During the reign of Zia-ul-mellat-e-wad-din[16] Amir Abdurrahman Khan, King of Afghanistan, at the time when the border between Herat and the Rus[17] was being demarcated and the British and Russian missions had been deployed to the area, I went with Nayeb[18] Mohammad Sarwar Khan, Governor of Herat, [to the northern border of Afghanistan] to delineate the border. This work was accomplished within two years [This mission should also have been undertaken in 1302 AH (1884 CE)].
Twelfth expedition:
I went with Sardar Mohammad Ayub Khan to the campaign against the British army commanded by St. John. The battle took place around Keshk-e-Nakhod, at Maiwand. The battle continued for nine months and the British were decimated. [On the basis of chronological sequencing, this expedition should have taken place in 1297 AH (1880 CE), and prior to the eleventh expedition.]
Thirteenth expedition:
I went to Balamorghab with Amir Shahnawaz Khan and Sardar Sekandar Khan, sons of Sultan Ahmad Khan, Governor of Herat, to suppress the Jamshidi tribe. The expedition lasted three months. [This should have been before the fourth trip and prior to the death of Sultan Ahmad Khan in 1279 AH (1863 CE).]
Fourteenth expedition:
During the reign of Zia-ul-mellat-e-wad-din Amir Abdurrahman Khan, King of Afghanistan, we went to Maimana in the company of Nayeb-al-Hokuma[19] Sa’ddudin Khan, Governor of Herat, where we arrested Mohammad Sharif Khan, Governor of Maimana, who had gone over to the Russian State at Panjdeh. We brought him to Herat from where he and his family were sent to the capital, Kabul. Eight months. [According to Munshi’s notes, this mission should have taken place in 1310 AH (1893 CE).]
Fifteenth journey:
At the time of the governorship of Nayeb-al-Hokuma Sa’duddin Khan, during the reign of His Majesty Seraj-ul-millat-e-wad-din Amir Habibullah Khan, King of Afghanistan, in the year of Tushqanyel[20] [Year of the Rabbit, 1321 AH (1904 CE)], along with His Eminence the Mir of Kazergah[21], on the new moon of the month of Shaban [circa 10 October 1904], we wound our way through the Holy Land [Mashhad], Ashkhabad and other provinces and ports of Russia, and going by way of Badkuba [Baku] and Islambul [Istanbul] we arrived at Mecca. After visiting the Illuminated Medina on pilgrimage, we parted from Mir Sahib in Jidda and embarked by sea, arriving in Noble Baghdad after 26 days where we paid our respects to the holy shrines of the children of the Prophet. Then, by way of Tehran, I came back to Herat on the tenth month, that being Jomadi-al-awal of the year 1322  = 1904 [sic; circa July 1904]. All praise and gratitude to Allah
And the days of the circumambulation of the Kaaba during the Hajj of that year was in the month of Pisces [February 10 – March 20], the last month of the winter, and Eid was on the Saturday, which therefore made it the Greater Hajj[22].
This was noted down in the year anno hegirae one thousand three hundred and twenty two, Turkish Louiyel [Year of the Dragon]: For nine months and five days, by the route going through Basra and Baghdad, at seventy years of age, the Almighty Most High granted this humble inconsequent the wherewithal and endurance to go on pilgrimage to the Noble House of Allah, otherwise what power and endurance could this humble inconsequent have?
In the said Tushqanyel and Louiyel years, the ambassador of Iran at Islambul was Mirza Reza Khan, and Mirza Sadeq Khan Kandahari was also there. We stayed forty one days in Islambul. 
Some paragraphs and sentences about Hajj, however in different places of the notebook, are as followed:
Our courier on the way from Yanbooq (Yanboo’) to Medina, was Nasser ibne Shaker.
Distance between Jidda  and Great Mecca is ten farsang (each farsang or parasang= 6.24 km). From Medina to Mecca, on land route, there are ten marches. Also when you go from Medina to Yanbooq, there are five marches. From Yanbooq to Jidda, on the sea, takes 24 hours.  From Jidda to Mecca also takes one day and night, approximately  10 farsang. (to be continued)
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Gratitude
I am thankful to Dr. Hamid Simab for his kind editing of the  translation of the preface and first part of the notes.
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[1] The word Khan is not an integral part of a male name, but was constantly used to denote respect and status among the Muslim populations of Iran, Afghanistan, central Asia and the subcontinent, thus becoming part of the name. It can be compared to the English word ‘Esquire’. The word Khan in such usage has fallen into disuse, but unlike the English ‘Esquire’ has not yet become obsolete.  
[2] Dost Mohammad Khan was the first Amir (sovereign) of the Mohammadzai dynasty which lasted until the abolition of the monarchy in the 1970s.
[3] A famous battle fought between Afghan and British forces in Maiwand, Kandahar province, at the end of what is known at the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
[4] Dr. Ravan Farhadi, prominent Afghan linguist, scholar and politician, who for many years represented Afghanistan at the United Nations.
[5] The Serajia period is so named after the adopted royal title of the sovereign, Amir Habibullah Seraj-ul-millat-e-wad-din (Light of the Nation and of the Religion), whose reign it encompasses (1901-1919).
[6] This revolt against the occupying British garrison in Kabul took place in September 1879.
[7] Although not a faqir (or fakir, a Muslim religious ascetic), it was de rigueur that one should always deprecate oneself to show modesty and humility, considered a very commendable character trait.
[8] Haji is an honorary title of a Muslim who has been on pilgrimage to Mecca.
[9] The reference is to the city of Mashhad in Iran, considered by Shi’ite Muslims as a holy city, and revered by Sunni Muslims too.
[10] Sardar is an appellation used by the Afghan aristocracy, meaning “Prince” or “Lord”.
[11] The now-obsolete name of the northern provinces of Afghanistan which have a predominantly Turkic population.
[12] Balkh and neighbouring  Provinces.
[13] “Jan”, like the title “Khan” is not part of a name but is used as a diminutive form of Khan, mostly for more junior members of a family. Sometimes the addition “jan” remains attached to the name even after the individual is advanced in age. In such cases, it is a reflection of the affection with which the individual was regarded in earlier years.  
[14] Sahebzada one of Heratis courtiers.
[15] The reference is to……
[16] The officially adopted royal title of Amir Habibullah Khan’s father, Amir Abdurrahman Khan, meaning “Light of the Nation and of the Religion”. He reigned from 1880 to 1901.
[17] The usual form of reference to Czarist Russia and later to the Soviet Union in general.
[18] Nayeb: deputy.
[19] Governor General
[20] According to the Chinese  calendar.
[21] Superintendent of the Shrine of Khaja Abdullah Ansari in Kazergah.
22According to Islamic belief, if the last day of the Hajj pilgrimage falls on a Friday, the Hajj of that year is called a Greater Hajj and is considered especially blessed. The Eid of the Sacrifice is the day following the end of the Hajj pilgrimage.

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