Introduction
From the accounts of Abu Rahim ibn Mahmud Adullah al-Mujtahid
In the name of God, the most Merciful
Praise be to God, lord of all things!
The most Merciful
Master of the Day of Judgement
To Thee alone we pray
And from thee alone we seek guidance
Guide us along the straight path,
The path of those whom Thou hast favored
Not that of those who have earned Thy anger
Or of those who have gone astray.
Amen.
Surat al-Fatiha
Few tales I can remember bring to memory such visions of faith and fortune, of soldiers and slaughter, of mail and men. Indeed, the tale of the men from the mountains of Ghur is one that may be traced back to the days of the great Eranshahr, if the legends are true. Nonetheless, the Shansabani were a blessing upon the land, if a curse on that beyond the Khyber pass. May God have mercy on them!