Some reflection on the Tazkert al-tavarikh

The Tazkerat al-tavarikh, by ‘Abd Allah of Kabul, covers the history of prophets, biographies of Sufi saints, life stories of poets and some historiographical material, most of which have been drawn from known and existing sources. But a very striking point about this book is that its author has provided the exact date of death, and sometimes birth date (day, month and year) of every single person in their respective biographies, something rarely seen in Persian books of poets and even in general biographies. In this article attempts have been made to establish the truth or falsity of such dates. With reliable sources consulted, it has been demonstrated that these dates are totally fabricated and that the Tazkerat al-Tavarikh is brimming with the author’s forgeries and that the book is not trustworthy by any means.