1916.] A unique History of Herat 177 



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His love of truth and his correctness of information are 

 apparent on every page, and he is scrupulously honest in quoting 

 the sources from which he derives his statements. It is also 

 remarkable that the author does not blindly follow his prede- 

 cessors, but makes a critical use of them. Indeed he exposes 

 and refutes the opinions of some of the best authorities whose 

 credit and high reputation remain unquestioned even to the 

 present day. For instance, in narrating the events of so early 

 a period as A.H. 618 = a. d. 1221 with which he opens the 

 history, he more than once contradicts the statements of the 

 celebrated Minhaj-i-Siraj , the author of the well-known histori- 

 cal work Tabqat-i-Nasiri (c. a.h. 658 = a. d. 1259) whom as an 

 almost contemporary chronicler of the said events, we might 

 have looked upon as an indisputable authority : 



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