Introduction

The period between circa 1260 and the early 1300s has been described as a historiographical desert with the dearth of historical chronicles and absence of historical accounts having been caused by the Iranian Muslim world’s apprehension at a prolonged period of infidel rule, a fatrat, ¹ or interregnum, which ended with the production of the remarkable compendium of histories by the researchers of the Rab’-Rashīdī, Rashīd al-Dīn’s academy in Tabriz. ² Their collective hard work under the guidance of the polymath and exceptionally talented Rashīd al-Dīn produced the world’s first universal history, the Jāma ^c al-tavārīkh, to which the present work donated a sprinkling of information and words.