The Six-Century Journey of the “Temur’s Code”

The life path, state governance, and achievements of the great statesman Amir Temur are vividly reflected in a number of historical works, including his book Temur’s Code.

Did Sahibkiran write a book?

This renowned masterpiece has captured the attention of the global community for over six centuries. Today, its various manuscript versions and translations are preserved in prestigious libraries, museums, and private collections around the world. Many prominent scholars have conducted research on Temur’s Code.

Over time, some have speculated that the work was not authored by Amir Temur himself, but rather compiled long after his death. However, the language and style of the text, the alignment of its moral teachings with Amir Temur’s character, the deep insight, sharp intellect, and wisdom reflected in the writing as well as the correspondence of its events with numerous reliable historical sources (such as Nizam al-Din Shami’s Zafarnama, Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi’s Zafarnama, and Ibn Arabshah’s Aja'ib al-Maqdur fi Akhbar Taymur) all support the conclusion that the work was indeed authored by Amir Temur himself.

According to historical evidence, the book was originally written in Amir Temur’s native tongue—Old Uzbek. Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi also mentions in his aforementioned work that during Temur’s reign, there were Turkish and Persian texts covering important events of his life.

Over the centuries, this book served as a guiding manual for many rulers. It is possible that it even inspired works such as Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur’s Baburnama and Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Khan’s Shajara-i Turk. Unfortunately, the original Turkish-language manuscript has yet to be discovered.

“The Tuzuks” Found in Yemen

The surviving manuscripts of this work differ in size, composition, and style. The oldest known manuscript dates back to the 17th century and was copied in India during the reign of the Mughal Empire. According to the book’s preface, Abu Talib al-Husayni al-‘Orizi al-Turbati, a poet and translator who served in the Mughal court in Agra, encountered a rare Turkish manuscript in the library of the Yemeni ruler Ja‘far Pasha while returning from performing the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. According to his account, this work recounts the life experiences of Sahibkiran Amir Temur from the age of seven to seventy, including his methods of governance, instructions to his ministers, commanders, and children, as well as his guidance on rulership.

Al-Turbati brought this invaluable manuscript with him and gradually began translating it into Persian. He completed the full translation in 1637 and presented it as a gift to Mughal ruler Shah Jahan (1628–1659). After reviewing the work, Shah Jahan ordered the faujdar of the Deccan province, Muhammad Afzal Bukhari, to compare the events in the text with those in Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi’s Zafarnama. He instructed the scribes and historians to remove any extraneous additions inserted by copyists.

All existing manuscript and lithograph editions of this work are based on Abu Talib al-Husayni al-Turbati’s Persian translation. During the era of the Central Asian khanates, this work continued to attract significant interest. As a result, the Persian manuscript was copied several times. Since the original text was written in Uzbek, there arose a need by force of circumstance to retranslate it back into this language. Over the past two centuries, Temur’s Code has been translated into Uzbek several times. In 1836, under the order of Kokand Khan Muhammad Ali Khan (1822–1841), Khujand qadi Nabijon Mahdum Hotif carried out a partial translation of the work.

In 1856–1857, within the Khiva Khanate, Muhammad Yusuf Rojiy translated the work into Uzbek in an abridged form. A year later, another translator in Khiva, Pahlavon Niyoz Devon also known as Komil Khorazmiy created a new work based on the original text, under the recommendation of Muhammad Rizo Ogahi. Today, the manuscripts of these works are preserved at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1967, the renowned scholar Alikhontura Soguniy (1885–1976) translated the work from a Persian manuscript housed in the library of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Portions of his translation were published in the Guliston magazine.

The Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan plans to feature Temur’s Code in its exhibition and to develop interactive projects based on its manuscripts.