A critical survey of the redaction and gloss of the Arabic sayings in the Dorreh-ye Nādereh, edited by Sayyed Ja’far Shahidi

The Dorreh-ye Nādereh is the most complicated text ever written about the events during the Afsharid period. The author’s goal in writing such a book was primarily to show off his literary skills and to write difficult and stilted prose, actual historiography being his secondary aim. To demonstrate his artistic abilities while reporting the events, the author, Mirza Mahdi Astarābādi, has inserted numerous Arabic sayings. The examination of such expressions is important in identifying Astarābādi’s sources in writing his book, Dorreh-ye Nādereh, in which he has made use of some six hundred Arabic sayings. The book’s editor, Sayyed Ja’far Shahidi, has committed some errors in correcting and clarifying certain sayings. The present article is an attempt to critically examine the corrections and gloss of the Arabic sayings made in by Shahidi ‘s redaction of the Dorreh-ye Nādereh.