Tabari 174
Dinawari 177
Ibn al Athir 179
Masudi 182
Shahrastani 187
Ibn Hazm 192
Ibn Haukal 195

APPENDIX VIII.

Ibn Khallikan 199
Mustawfi 203
Muqadasi 204
Thaalibi 205




PREFACE

The facile notion is still prevalent even among Musalmans of learning
that the past of Iran is beyond recall, that the period of its history
preceding the extinction of the House of Sasan cannot be adequately
investigated and that the still anterior dynasties which ruled vaster
areas have left no traces in stone or parchment in sufficient quantity
for a tolerable record reflecting the story of Iran from the Iranian's
standpoint. This fallacy is particularly hugged by the Parsis among whom
it was originally lent by fanaticism to indolent ignorance. It has been
credited with uncritical alacrity, congenial to self-complacency, that
the Arabs so utterly and ruthlessly annihilated the civilization of Iran