Reference: Pfander, Carl [Karl] Gottlieb(1805-1865), Miftah-ul-Asrar: The Key of Mysteries, Translated and thoroughly revised by W. St. Clair Tisdall, Christian
Literature Society for India, 1912, pp. 216.
In his book entitled, The Muhammadan Controversy, Sir William Muir wrote the following on
the works of Dr. Pfander.
We pass on to the consideration of Dr. Pfander's writings, which consist of three treatises:
first, Mizan-ul-Haqq, or "Balance of Truth"; second, Miftah-ul-Asrar,
or "Key of Mysteries"; and third, Tariq-ul-Hyat, or " Way of Salvation."
They were originally written in Persian, but have also been published in Urdoo, excepting the last
which is in progress of translation. From his residence and travels in Persia, Pfander possesses
advantages which fortunately qualify him in an unusual degree for the great controversy with our
Moslem population. He was attached for ten or twelve years to the German mission at Fort Shushy on
the confines of Georgia, from whence he made frequent and protracted visits to Persia, penetrating
as far as Bagdad, and returning by a circuitous tour through Isfahan and Teheran. In 1836, the
Russian Government, unable to tolerate the presence of foreign ecclesiastics, put a stop to the
mission, and thus proved the means of providing us with labourers who in the field of Persia had
acquired so valuable a knowledge of its language and so intimate an acquaintance with the religion
and tenets of the Mohammedans. Pfander joined the Indian mission of the C. M. S. in 1838.
Our author has not been backward in improving his peculiar privileges, or in
availing himself of the help which the previous controversy and such writings as those of Dr. Lee
afforded him. His first and most important work is the Mizan-ul-Haqq, or "Balance of
Truth," as between Christians and Moslems; and being of extraordinary value, we shall endeavour
to present our readers with a complete account of it. The original Persian edition was published at
Shushy in 1835, and the Urdoo translation was lithographed at Mirzapore in 1843 ....1
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Version Date: 06-12-2002
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