Naqliyat-e-Miyan Syed Alam RH (English) - Khalifatullah Mehdi

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Translator’s Note
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
Here is the English Translation of Naqliyat Miyan Syed Alam RH . Miyan Syed Alam RH was the great
grandson of Hazrat Mahdi Mau’ood AS . Therefore apart from the narrations of Hazrat Mahdi AS and his
companions, there are narrations of the next generation too. I have used the Urdu translation by Hazrat
Syed Dilawer alias Gorey Mian RH as the original.
A translation is always a challenging task not just because of one’s own limitations but also because of
the limitations of the language one is translating to. This problem manifests especially when we are
translating religious literature to English. There are many expressions and words in Arabic, Farsi and
Urdu which do not have a direct English equivalent. I have explained in the below paragraphs how I
have treated such words and expressions.
Where it is appropriate I have used the Urdu, Persian and Arabic word or words directly and have given
the English meanings in brackets e.g. Asr (late afternoon), Maghrib (post sunset). This is because the
word is better understood in its original form and there is no equivalent word in English. Where
appropriate I have translated the word into English but have given the Urdu word in brackets for clarity.
For e.g. Migrant-Companions (Muhajireen), Mother of Believers (Ummul Momineen).
The Urdu word ‘Hum’ has been translated as ‘We’ although it might refer to a single person. The
context makes it clear whether it is one person or more persons that are referred to.
All the narratives in the original start with the words ‘Naqal hai ke…’ It translates in English to ‘It is
narrated…’ I have omitted this phrase in the translation.
The term ‘Allah had sent…’ is a literal translation of ‘Allah ne bheja tha…’ It actually means that
someone had sent these things in the name of Allah.
In many places the word ‘brother’ is used. It does not refer to a sibling (or biological brother). It refers to
a brother in religion, a fellow inmate of a daira or a fellow faqir.
The word ‘banda’ has been translated as ‘this servant’. Very often Hazrat Mahdi AS has used ‘banda’ to
refer to himself. Rarely has he used the word ‘I’. So instead of ‘I say…’, the words used in the narrative
are ‘Banda says…’ which in English is translated as ‘This servant says…’. The companions of Hazrat
Mahdi and people of later periods too have also referred to themselves as ‘banda’.
In some places the word ‘banda’ has been used to refer to a third person. I have used the phrase ‘servant
of Allah’ in such instances.
I have used some terms directly without translating them to English. There is no equivalent word in
English. Therefore the words are explained below: