Sharafnāmeh: Tārīkh-e mofassal-e Kordestān Persiska (Farsi) 1998

Sharafnama, or The History of Kurdistan, commonly known as Sharafnama-yi Bidlisi, is the work of Amir Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, written in Persian in 1005 AH (1596–1597 CE). It is regarded as the most authoritative and important classical source on the history of the Kurds and the Kurdish emirates. Its Russian editor, Vladimir Veliaminov-Zernov, states in his introduction that the exceptional value of the Sharafnama lies in its recording of rare and unique details—including customs and traditions, oral historical accounts, and events personally witnessed by the author—since apart from this work, information on Kurdish history is largely scattered and incomplete.

Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, himself the ruler of Bitlis, drew upon Persian, Arabic, and Turkish sources, as well as his own observations and experiences, thereby filling a major gap in the history of the peoples of the region. In addition to political history, the book contains valuable geographical and ethnographic material, which further enhances its scholarly and literary significance.

The Sharafnama is generally organized into four parts: independent Kurdish dynasties, semi-independent emirates, local ruling families and princes, and the history of the Bidlisi family. The work also offers a clear picture of Safavid–Ottoman relations, local power structures, and the position of the Kurds within the Islamic world.

The critical edition prepared by Veliaminov-Zernov, based on reliable manuscripts and accompanied by a scholarly introduction and annotations, introduced the Sharafnama to the European academic community as a primary source and laid the foundation for many subsequent studies on Kurdistan. Today, the Sharafnama remains a central reference for the study of Kurdish history in the late medieval period and a key work in Iranian and Middle Eastern studies.