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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎240r] (486/722)

The record is made up of 1 volume (384 folios). It was created in 1886-1895. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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inhabitant?: united in proclaiming themselves of this sect, and who vowed
eternal hatred and war against those who professed the Sunni doctrine.
More than three centuries has elapsed since the Shiah faith has become the
adopted religion of that country ; and during the whole of that period a
regard for its tenets has either been the cause or the pretext of almost
every war in which it has been engaged. Surrounded by nations who pro
fess the Sunni doctrine, whether the Persian has been called upon to invade
the territories of the Turks, the Afghans, or the Tartars, or to repel the
attacks of these nations, he has been always summoned by the same watch
word ; and the belief that the Shiah faith was in danger has never failed to
rouse him to action. Nadir Shah, when at the summit of his power,
attempted to destroy a feeling of which he had proved the efficacy for the
purpose of defence, because it was likely (as it excited hatred in other
nations) to obstruct his ambitious plans of extended conquest; but the
attempt failed, and the attachment of the Persians to their faith continues
as decided as ever. It appears, therefore, of importance to understand the
character of those feelings which have had, and continue to have, so power
ful an influence upon a nation’s conduct; and we cannot obtain this
knowledge, except^ by a careful study of the tenets and dogmas which are
peculiar to the Shiah sect of Muhammadans.
The great and radical difference between the Sunni and Shiah doctrine
arises from the latter maintaining the divine and indefeasible right of AH
to have succeeded to the khildfot at the death of the Prophet. His claims
they assert, rested on his being the first convert, and consequently the eldest
in the faith,—on his nearness of kindred to Muhammad, of whom he was a
cousin, and on his having married Fatimah, the only offspring of that Pro
phet. They also affirm that he was expressly declared his successor; and that
those by whose intrigues he was deprived of his inheritance acted in direct
contradiction to the will of God as signified through the Prophet. The same
great temporal and spiritual power, which the adherents of AH conceive
should have immediately descended to him, ought, in their opinion, to have
been transmitted to his lineal descendants; and they consequently deem not
only the three first khalifahs,—Abubakr, Umar, and Usman,—but all the
khalffahs who took the title of “ Lord of the Faithful/'’ as illegal usurpers
of power. This belief is hostile to the whole fabric of the establishment of the
Sunnat, or traditions of the Sunni sect, as those who profess it deny all that
part of their traditions which rests upon the authority of the three first khali-
fahs, wdiose very names are abhorrent to them («.<?., the Shiahs). The Shiahs,
however, admit the legality of the Sunnat, or traditions, except where the
source from whence these are derived is contaminated by crime or dis
obedience of God. Their leading principle throughout is an adherence to the
relations and descendants of Muhammad, whom they deem to have partaken,
though in a lesser degree, of his sacred nature; and the title that Shiahs love
to be distinguished by, which is that of “the friends of the familv,”
strongly marks this feeling.
The Shiahs both disbelieve and condemn the dogmas of the four oreat
Imams, or saints, who may be termed the founders of the Sunni doctrine.
These learned doctors have, they affirm, propagated many erroneous and
impious doctrines, both in matters of faith and of practice; and they con
tend that the worldly policy, winch has led to the monstrous compound of
their contradictory tenets into one faith, must involve all those who adopt it
as a general belief in inexplicable difficulties. They argue in support of this
55

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Content

This volume is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1886 edition). It was compiled for political and military reference by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Metcalfe MacGregor, Assistant Quarter Master General, in 1871, and brought up to 31 July 1885 by the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department in India. It was printed by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, India in 1886.

The areas of Persia [Iran] covered are Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustan, Khurasan [Khorāsān], and Sistan. The boundaries of the areas covered by Volume I are as follows: the Afghan border from the River Helmand to Sarakhs in the east; and from there a line north-west to Askhabad, due west to the Atrak, which it follows to the Caspian Sea; then along the sea coast to Ashurada Island; then in a straight line to Shahrud; and from the latter south-east to Tabas hill, Sihkuha, and the Helmand, from where the river first meets the south-east border of Sistan.

The gazetteer includes entries on human settlements and buildings (forts, hamlets, villages, towns, provinces, and districts); communications (passes, roads, bridges, canals, and halting places); tribes and religious sects; and physical features (rivers, streams, springs, wells, fords, valleys, mountains, hills, plains, and bays). Entries include information on history, geography, buildings, population, ethnography, resources, trade, agriculture, and climate.

Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.

The volume includes the following illustrations: ‘VIEW OF AK-DARBAND.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 12v]; ‘PLAN OF AK-KALA.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 14]; ‘ROUGH SKETCH OF ASTARÁBÁD, FROM AN EYE-SKETCH BY LT.-COL. BERESFORD LOVETT, R. E., 1881.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 24]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BASHRÚGAH’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 40v]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BÚJNÚRD’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 48]; and ‘BUJNURD, FROM THE S. W.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 49v].

It also includes the following inserted papers (folios 51 to 60): a memorandum from the Office of the Quartermaster General in India, Intelligence Branch to Lord Curzon, dated 6 December 1895, forwarding for his information ‘Corrections to Volume I of the Gazetteer of Persia’, consisting of articles on the Nishapur district of the province of Khorasan, and the Shelag river.

Extent and format
1 volume (384 folios)
Arrangement

The volume is arranged as follows from the front to the rear: title page; preface; list of authorities consulted; and entries listed in alphabetical order.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 388, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎240r] (486/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x000057> [accessed 24 February 2025]

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