REVIEW

This book is the English translation of the Urdu book ‘Nizami Bansari’ published by Khwaja Hasan Nizami Dehalvi, who translated the original 700 year old Persian text of this book with the title ‘Chahal Roza’. The source for the English translation is the Pakistani Edition of the book published by Qoseen Publishers, Lahore in the 1996. In the translation, many of the comments made by Khwaja Hasan Nizami have been ommited for the sake of brevity and to retain the continuity of the author’s very absorbing narrative.

The author of the book, Rajkumar Hardev, who was a Prince of Deccan and had traveled to Delhi to meet Hazrat Nizamudin Auliya (ra), accepted Islam and became his diciple. He wrote down his memoirs which capture in vivid detail the influence and inspiration of Hazrat Nizamudin Auliya (ra) on all those who came in contact with him, from the kings of India to the very low. Rajkumar Hardev’s memoirs include eye-witness accounts of many important issues of that time and even of today, such as listening to sama, bowing in front of the Shaikh, relationship between the Sufis and the Kings, etc. Rajkumar’s narrative bears authenticity as he eventually rose to become the Prime Minister of India under Muhammad Shah Tughlaq whose daughter he married, but never for a moment lost his love and devotion for his Shaikh. Eventually he lost his life in the palace intrigues but left for history a memorable account of his life.

0.45" x 8.45" x 5.45", 190 pages. ISBN: 969-8574-02-6, US$ 6.00