A gift for Sultan Muhammad Ibn Tughluq of India

M.carter · 17th May 2005, 07:06 PM

Yes Aqtai, these are the swords I was talking about. Thanks for posting the Scans. As noted in the Furussiya manual and Al-Kindi's letters, only three swords were considered of excellent grade, while the rest not that good. The 'ateeqa' (ancient, by that he means excellent) swords were those made in Yemen, India and the Qil'i. The swords in between were first the Damascene, then the Egyptian, then the Persian. The swords that were considered bad in Dar-Al-Islam were the Baghdadian and those made in Basra. All the swords are listed from best to worst Yemeni-Qal'i-Indian-Damascene-Egyptian-Persian-Baghdadi-Basri. Dr.Uncal Yuncel writes that swords made in the maghreb were also of excellent quality, something not listed in either furussiya manual or by AL-Kindi.

As you can see, according to primary sources Egyptian swords were in between, not excellent, but not bad either, just good.

17th May 2005, 07:06 PM	#13
M.carter Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 176	Yes Aqtai, these are the swords I was talking about. Thanks for posting the Scans. As noted in the Furussiya manual and Al-Kindi's letters, only three swords were considered of excellent grade, while the rest not that good. The 'ateeqa' (ancient, by that he means excellent) swords were those made in Yemen, India and the Qil'i. The swords in between were first the Damascene, then the Egyptian, then the Persian. The swords that were considered bad in Dar-Al-Islam were the Baghdadian and those made in Basra. All the swords are listed from best to worst Yemeni-Qal'i-Indian-Damascene-Egyptian-Persian-Baghdadi-Basri. Dr.Uncal Yuncel writes that swords made in the maghreb were also of excellent quality, something not listed in either furussiya manual or by AL-Kindi. As you can see, according to primary sources Egyptian swords were in between, not excellent, but not bad either, just good.