Hostile anecdotes about dynastic founders are propaganda, not history.

Evidence

The story is dramatic and amusing, but is self-evidently false. Its purpose is to depict al-Mu izz as an adventurer—an unscrupulous upstart who had gained power by force and maintained it by corruption. But this is precisely what al- Mu izz was not, and nothing is less likely than that he would, in this brazen way, have declared himself an impostor. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 368 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The rise-of-the-middle-class narrative is a fabricated historical impression, not fact; Hostile narratives shaped later portraits of controversial rulers, not historical deeds. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 368; National identity is built on manufactured ancestral myth, not primordial history. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 74 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Hostile narratives shaped later portraits of controversial rulers, not historical deeds. #expands (0.95) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 368