In the name of God, the Most Exalted, the Holiest
It would be hard to imagine that anyone who has studied the history and or the religion in the Middle East, does not know or has not heard of Comte de Gobineau the French diplomat who is well known for his writings.
Gobineau travelled to Iran twice during the early years of the Naser-al Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty. He first travelled to Iran in 1855 and left in 1858. His second visit occurred in 1861 and stayed in Iran til 1863.
Gobineau studied social and religious aspects of Iranian society during his stay in Iran and wrote several books among which are:
- Three Years in Iran
- The story of Qanbar Ali (the founder of Qanbar Ali Khan school in Iran)
In this present book, the author has tried to introduce the people in Asia and Iranians in particular to the Europeans. In his introductory chapter, he writes: “We Europeans who wish to bring nations in the East under our protection must learn about their social, psychological, and thinking aspects before anything else.
Lord Curzon the renowned English politician has said “
None of the books written by the European scholars have written on the subject of Central Asia compares to Gobineau’s ‘Religions & Philosophies in Central Asia".
In the introduction to the 8th edition of this book, comes: “
Gobineau was the first individual who has travelled to Central Asia, has studied their thinking and social aspects and has written about his findings.”
In his introductory chapter to Nuqtatul-Kaf, Professor Edward Browne writes:
".. I was occupied with the study of Sufism and searched everywhere for information on this subject. It was during my search at the library of the Cambridge university where I noticed a book entitled 'Religions and Philosophies in Central Asia" by the late Comte de Gobineau who was a Consul at the French embassy in Tehran during 1855 and 1858. Hopping that I could find some useful material concerning Soufism, I took this book home. After a brief perusal of one of the chapters concerning Soufism in which the author had somewhat criticized that sect, I did not find anything significant on this subject. After studying the remaining chapters, I found a detailed chapter (which constituted 299 pages out of the 543 pages of the book) concerning the history of the Babi movement and its promulgation which covered it until the year 1853. In this chapter, the author had truly manifested magnificent literary skills. This chapter was so attractive and enjoyable to read, so precise and magic, and so much fresh and full of spirituality that it would be scarce to find someone who reads this chapter once and is not deeply impacted by it. In my opinion no one will be able to write as good or even close to it on this subject. "
I read this book in the year 1946 and since I had some spare time, I decided to translate it. Recently a friend of mine who has been always a pioneer in the good cause and had read the translation suggested that the translation to be published. I responded by saying that the book is not yet ready for publication and there are perhaps flaws in the translation that need improvement and correction. My eye-sight is poor and unable to initiate a revision.
He responded to me by saying that the intention is to inform the public on the substance of the material and it would be productive if it were published as it was.
Therefore, I would like to ask readers to be forgiving and suggest corrections and improvements where needed.
Muhammad Farahvashi
Please click here to view Gobineau's 'Religions & Philosophies in Central Aisa'
Please see here for a biography of Comte de Gobineau in an external site.