Khafi khan biography of williams

Civil servant and historian of Mughal India

Muhammad Hashim (c. –), better known by his title Khafi Khan, was an Indo-Persian historian of Mughal India.

Khafi khan biography of williams

His career began about – as a clerk in Bombay. He served predominantly in Gujarat and the Deccan regions, including the final decade of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.^[1] He authored the controversial and in part "patently fictitious" Muntakhab-al Lubab – a Persian language book about the history of India during the Mughal period, completed in ^[2] It has been a much studied, contested source of information about the Mughal history, particularly Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.^{[1][2][note 1]}

Biography

Muhammad Hashim was given the title Khafi Khan (or Khwafi Khan) by emperor Muhammad Shah, because his ancestors came from Khaf (or Khwaf) in present-day Iran.

The exact date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was most probably born in India. The Muntakhab-al Lubab s