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Part One TIMUR'S ACCOUNT of HIS INVASION of INDIA and SACK of DELHI (1398 - 1399 A.D.) About the year 800 A.H. ( 1398 A.D. ), there arose in my heart the desire to lead an expedition against the infidels and to become a Champion of the Faith, for it had reached my ears that the slayer of infidels is a Champion and that, if he is slain, he becomes a martyr ... In this matter I sought an omen from the Koran, and the verse to which I opened was this: 'O Prophet, make war upon infidels and unbelievers, and treat them with severity'. My officers told me that the inhabitants of Hindustan were infidels and unbelievers. In obedience to the mandate of Almighty God, I determined to make an expedition against them. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...  After spending fifteen days at Delhi, passing my time in pleasure and enjoyment, and in holding royal courts and giving great feasts, I reflected that I had come to Hindustan to war against infidels, a...

Timur-the-Lame Central Asia was the source of some of history's worst psychopathic gangsters. Atilla the Hun and Genghis Khan are bywords of the genre. To these mass-murderers must be added Timur the Lame (or Tambourlane as he was more commonly called after Christopher Marlowe's English play in the late sixteenth century). The Persian historian of the Timurids, Sharaf ad-Din 'Ali bYazdi, writes that "in the year of Mouse of Mongols on the 25th month Sha'ban, on Tuesday (the 8th of April in 1336) Tequina khatun and amir Taragai gave birth to Timur in the villyat of Kesh  (the modern town of Shahrisabz in Uzbekistan) ."  The Arab biographer of Timur, Ahmed Ibn 'Arabshah, presents various origin stories: Timur and his father were from the tribe of the shepherds, who had not belief and intelligence (Timur's father was a plain servant, Timur's father was a poor shoemaker) OR Timur's father was one of the pillars of Sultan Hussein's state (Timur...