Asās al-Quz̤āt (The basis for judges) is a lithographic book on Islamic jurisprudence, published in the late 19th century by the royal publishing house in Kabul. It was intended as a source for judges charged with applying the law on the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. The fine quality of the book and the binding reflect the importance given to law books in Afghanistan and other Islamic countries. Lithographic printing was invented in Europe in the late 18th century and spread widely on the Indian subcontinent from the early 19th century onward, its popularity stemming from the relative ease with which it could be used to reproduce different scripts not based on the Latin alphabet. By the 1860s, lithographic printing had spread to Afghanistan, including Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. World Digital Library.
Poems. Manuscript. In Persian. Title from fol. 1a. Date from cover. Written by Ghulām Ismāʻīl. Written in Afghanistan. Paper; modern cream color paper; black ink; some sections written diagonally; no catchwords. Nastaʻliq; 15 lines, with some pages of fewer lines written diagonally. Binding is marbled paper over cardboard; light tan leather spine; text block separated from binding.
Dawlat-i mustaqilah-ʼi Afghānistān va vaẓāyif-i millat-i Afghān (The independent government of Afghanistan and the duties of its citizens) is an early 20th century work on the rights and duties of citizenship for the peoples of Afghanistan. The author, Ghulam Muhyi al-Din, begins with a discussion on the role of society in the conduct of citizens and proceeds to an enumeration of the duties of citizens to the state. The book provides descriptions of the different parts of the state apparatus, including governmental ministries and courthouses. It also has sections on the equality of citizens before the law and on the importance of loyalty to the state. A section on the proper usage of parks and public spaces includes an imaginary dialogue between students, which suggests that Ghulam intended his work to be accessible for a young audience. The book likely would have been a useful instructional tool for the teaching of civics to citizens of different ages and backgrounds in a rapidly modernizing Afghanistan. The book was posthumously published in year 1307 of the Jalali (solar) calendar (i.e., 1928-29). This coincides with the abdication from the throne of the Afghan ruler Amanullah Khan (reigned 1919-29). In a section of the book on the importance of patriotism, Amanullah Khan's name has been blotted out, suggesting that the work remained in use even after his abdication. World Digital Library. On proper governance with special reference to Afghan government in early 20th century.
Complete poems of Ghulām Muḥammad Ṭarzī. Divan-i Ṭarzī (Poetic collection of Tarzi) contains verses by Ghulām Muḥammad Ṭarzī (1830-1900), mostly concerning piety, ethics, politics, and society in 19th century Afghanistan. Tarzi came from a distinguished background; he belonged to the Mohammadzai sub-lineage of the Durranis, one of two main Afghan Pashtun lineages, the other being Ghilzai. Because of their connections to Muḥammad Yaʻqūb Khān, Tarzi and his family were exiled from Afghanistan in 1882-83 by Abd al-Raḥmān Khān, a kinsman of Yaʻqūb Khān and a rival to the Afghan throne. The feeling of desolation occasioned by Tarzi's exile pervades many of the poems. Each poem is specific in theme, meaning, and place. One poem, for example, extols the verse of Mirza ʻAbd al-Qādir Bīdil, the famous Persian poet and Sufi who was instrumental in the development of "Indian-style" Persian poetry in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In another poem, Tarzi praises the wedding of Muḥammad Yaʻqūb Khān, who in 1879 was briefly amir of Afghanistan, after he signed the Treaty of Gandamak recognizing British control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs. Each poem has a rubricated title that indicates where it was written and its purpose. On page 336, for example, it is stated that "this ghazal is written in Kandahar in response to Neamat Khan." A few poems are not titled, but each is distinguished by its conclusion with the author's pen name tarzi (stylist). The volume itself is not titled. The names and personal library stamps of several owners and readers, including that of Abdul Rauf Khan Tarzi, a descendant of the author, appear on the cover and last pages. The book is in two sections: the main one is of ghazal (lyric) verses, while the last 50 pages are in rubai (quatrain) form. The script includes several versions of Persian nastaliq, such as clear nastaliq, broken nastaliq, and uneasy nastaliq. The paper is of different qualities and colors; most text appears on plain cream paper laid down on a marbled backing. Pages have penciled Persian-Arabic numerals inserted by a reader. The marginal notes may be the author's own or by anonymous readers. The final text is a prose piece, in which Tarzi emphasizes his virtue, sorrow, and loyalty. World Digital Library.
Collected works of a classical Afghan poet, first published during the reign of Ḥabīb Allah Khān, Amir of Afghanistan, during late 19th century. Divan-i Mullah Rahmat Badakhshani (The collected works of Mullah Rahmat Badakhshani) is a divan of Khwaja Rahmat Ullah Badakhshani, a late-19th-century poet from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. The book's main section includes several forms of ghazal (lyric) poetry. They include ghazal-e char dar char (ghazals in four by four), ghazal-e ka tama-e huruf ash hech nuqta nadara (ghazal poems where the words have no diacritical marks), and ghazal-e laf-o nashr-e muratab (a form in which the subject of the poem appears in the first lines and is then described in detail in the rest of the poem). Some other forms appear in the supplementary section, pages 103-11, such as musalas ghazals (with three-line rhythms), mutazad ghazal (where the verses can take opposite meanings), and rubai (quatrain) poems. The author's pen name, Rahmat, often appears at the end of each stanza. The section also includes some prose, in which the author talks about an imaginary garden, gardening, and different flowers that "look like paradise." Rahmat explains that this special garden does not exist in known places. The last few pages contain information about the poet and his family. His father Mirza Ismail appears to have been a state official and the family was khwaja'zada (descended from Muhammad). Rahmat seems to have been a literary servant or courtier of the local rulers in Qaţaghan, the political center of northeast Afghanistan, but the biographical section is incomplete; the last two pages are missing from this copy. These pages would have clarified for readers that Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, had ordered Crown Prince Sardar Habibullah Khan to collect and publish the works of Rahmat. Matba-e dar al-Sultanah-e Kabul, the Royal Printing Press of Kabul, published the book by lithography in 1894. The pages are numbered, and on page 112 a red-colored hand-written verse by an anonymous author reads: "I provide/write this book for three reasons; do not politicize, misuse, or hide it." World Digital Library.
Collected works of a noted Afghan poetess during the reign of ʻAbdurraḥmān K̲h̲ān, Amīr of Afghanistan, d. 1901. This work is a lithographic print, published in Kabul, of the collected poems of 'Āyisha Durrānī, an Afghan poetess from the Durrani family, who was active in the second half of the 19th century. The poems include qasidas (a lyric form) and ghazals (a metrical form expressing the pain of loss and the beauty of love), and are arranged alphabetically according to qāfiya (the effect of rhyme). The collection was compiled during the reign of 'Abd al-Raḥmān Khān, emīr of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901. The Durrani family led a Pashtun tribal empire in Afghanistan from 1747 to 1842. 'Āyisha Durrānī was the daughter of Yaʻqūb Ali Khān Barakzai and the wife of Tīmūr Shāh Durrānī (1742 or 1743-93), the second ruler of the dynasty. She was well educated in Arabic and Persian literature and in the Islamic canon. She is also credited with opening the first school for girls in Afghanistan. The manuscript that was the source of the lithograph print is in one hand, by an unidentified scribe writing in Nastaʻlīq script. The date of completion given in the manuscript is 1299 AH (1881-82). Lithographic printing was invented in Europe in the late 18th century and spread widely on the Indian subcontinent from the early 19th century onward, its popularity stemming from the relative ease with which it could be used to reproduce different scripts not based on the Latin alphabet. By the 1860s, lithographic printing had spread to Afghanistan, including Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. World Digital Library.