Peshawar Nights
Peshawar Nights is a written firsthand account by Sultan al-Wa'izin Shirazi, recalling ten days of dialogues between two Sunni scholars and a Shia author about major topics relating to Shia Islam, which took place in Peshawar beginning on 27 January 1927. The book was originally written in Persian and published in Tehran and has subsequently been translated into several languages, the first English edition was published in 1977 in Pakistan.
Background
It recounts a public debate between Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims, that took place in the city of Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province of British India for ten nights beginning on 27 January 1927. The two principal participants from the Sunni side were Hafiz Muhammad Rashid and Sheikh Abdus Salam from Kabul. The discussions were attended by approximately 200 people and were recorded by four reporters published following morning in the local newspapers.According to the preface:
English editions
The title of the book is a translation of the original Persian title, Shabhaye-Peshawar. Since its first translation, printing & publishing in English, it been re-translated, re-printed & re-published across the world several times. A few of the major English publications available are:- A digest by Peermahomed Ebrahim Trust, Pakistan from the 1970s
- A translation by Hamid Quinlan and Charles Ali Campbell, published by Ansariyan Publications, Iran, from the 1990s
- From the UK in the 2000s
- Multiple times in the 2010s:
- * In 2013, two parts; Part 1 & Part 2
- * In February 2014
- * In September 2014, two parts; Part 1 & Part 2
- * In July 2015, two parts; Part 1 & Part 2
- * In November 2015, two parts; Part 1 & Part 2
- * In 2017, two parts; Part 1 & Part 2
- * In 2018
Translations in other languages
Apart from English, the book has been translated into several other languages from original Persian. It is available in:- Persian
- English
- Urdu
- Arabic
- Azerbaijani )
- French
- Spanish
- Indonesian. In Indonesian, it was initially translated as Mazhab Syia and was reprinted in 2009 under the title Mazhab Pecinta Keluarga Nabi: Kajian al-Quran dan Sunnah.
Book's coverage
The book is notable, it has not only been reprinted several times in English by different publishers across the world but also has been translated to several languages and has not only been cited by books but is also used as teaching/reference material in academia and suggested as reading material by others.Listings
- listed in "Accessions List, Pakistan, Volume 18, 1979"
- listed in "Forthcoming Books, Volume 35, Issue 5"
Academia
The book has not only been catalogued by university libraries cited by books but also is used as teaching/reference material in academia and suggested as reading material,- it is catalogued in 'The Online Books Page' of the library of University of Pennsylvania.
- it is mentioned as one of the 'contemporary material' suggested for use as teaching/reference material by University at Albany in its The Journal for Multi Media History.
- it is catalogued under 'The Shi'ite Tradition' in the 'Internet Islamic History Sourcebook' of the Fordham University