Delhi Persian 1150 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Item a.

Untitled account of a debate purporting to have taken place between Kumayl ibn Ziyād ibn Nahīk al-Nakhaʿī (d. 82/701) and Imām and Caliph ʿAlī ibn Abū Ṭālib (d. 661) on the subject of ultimate reality, by an unnamed author.

Dated colophon (f. 6v): completed by Nūr Muḥammad al-Hindī al-Naqshbandī, 1036/1626-7.

Ornamental Persian naskh; rubrics in red tawqīʿ.

Item b.

Untitled anthology of ghazalīyāt, qiṭaʿāt, and other poetic compositions in Persian and Urdu collected from miscellaneous sources, attributed by Levy to Shāh Niʿmat Allāh "Valī" (d. 834/1431).

The Persian portion is written in three vertical columns with oblique text framed by transverse and horizontal text. The Urdu portion (beginning f. 13r) on aspects of Sufism is arranged in two columns.

Indian taʿlīq throughout.

Not dated at end. Refer to items c and d for dated colophons.

Folios possibly disordered.

Transcribed in various oblique directions.

Item c.

Fragment of the terminal portion of an unidentified work, possibly entitle Kitāb-i tanzīl, by an unnamed author.

Extensive dated colophon (f. 17r): completed by Phakardās/Bhīkūdās (?) Rājpūt at the request (ḥasb al-irshād) of the mystic, Shāh Aḥmad ṣāḥib, at Shāhjahānābād, on Friday, the ghurrah (1) Rajab in RY 6 of Emperor Farrukh [Siyar] Shāh, 1128/21 June 1716.

Indian taʿlīq throughout.

Item d.

Untitled Ṣūfī treatise on the unity of God examined through concepts of proximity and distance, attributed in the colophon to Khvājah Khvurd of the Naqshbandī Order.

Indian taʿlīq throughout.

Dated colophon (f. 23r): completed by Phakardās/Bhīkūdās (?) Rājpūt, possibly at the request of Mīr Muḥammad Hāshim ṣāḥib residing in Qannawj (Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, India) at the time of writing, 9 Shaʿbān in RY 6 of Emperor Farrukh [Siyar] Shāh, 1129/19 July 1717.

Item e.

Extract from the ʿIshqīyah attributed here to Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nāgawrī.

Not dated at end. Refer to items c and d for dated colophons.

Item f.

Untitled incomplete collection of correspondence, concerned with the duties of Ṣūfī novices, ascribed to Khvājah Khvurd of the Naqshbandī Order.

The collection begins midpoint in tenth letter, continuing through to the sixty-seventh.

Not dated at end.

Item g.

Untitled Ṣūfī treatise on the function and place of samāʿ or ritual audition and remembrance, ascribed to Khvājah Khvurd of the Naqshbandī Order by a later hand after the colophon.

Colophon (f. 87r): completed by the Naqshbandī, Muḥammad ʿUbayd Allah, on a Friday in Rajab. Mention of year omitted.

Not dated at end.

Neat nastaʿlīq.

Item h. Catalogued as no. 1373 by Storey, Arabic MSS in IOL, vol. ii (1930).

Arabic work on Islamic theology by Jalāl al-Dīn Davvānī (d. 908/1502).

Dated colophon (f. 94r): completed by ʿInāyat Allāh ibn Shaykh Ṭālib, in Madīnat al-Muʿaẓẓamah, on the afternoon of Thursday, 5 Shaʿbān 1097/27 June 1686.

Minute squat naskh.

Item i. Catalogued as no. 1385 by Storey, Arabic MSS in IOL, vol. ii (1930).

Arabic treatise on Islamic doctrine by Muḥammad Burhānpūrī (d. 1029/1620).

Dated colophon (f. 96r): completed by ʿInāyat Allāh ibn [Shaykh] Ṭālib, in Madīnat al-Munavvarah, before noon on Monday, 9 Shaʿbān 1097/1 July 1686.

Minute squat naskh.

Item j. Catalogued as no. 1363 by Storey, Arabic MSS in IOL, vol. ii (1930).

Arabic commentary on the Mirʾāt al-ḥaqāʾiq concerning the concept of the perfect man.

Dated colophon (f. 96r): completed by ʿInāyat Allāh ibn Shaykh Ṭālib, in Madīnat al-Munavvarah, Saturday, 20 Jumādá al-Ūlá 1097/14 April 1686.

Minute squat naskh.

Partially legibl seal impression (f. 100r).

Item k.

Treatise enquiring into points of difficulty in Sufism expressed as a series of questions posited by ʿAzīz Allāh Ḥusām al-Dīn Banārasī al-Kubravī with replies and illustrative anecdotes purportedly by the famous Timurid scholar and saint, Shāh Niʿmat Allāh "Valī" Kirmānī.

As the authorities cited are anachronously drawn from works as late as those of the Naqshbandī scholar and saint, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī, Levy is sceptical of the attribution to Valī and, therefore, believes the work to be of dubious origin.

The compiler is not named.

The text terminates abruptly, without formal conclusion or colophon.

Not dated at end.

Rough, though early, nastaʿlīq hand.

Item l.

Persian commentary entitled Jānib al-gharbī fī ḥall mushkilāt al-Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī by Abū al-Fatḥ Muḥammad ibn Muẓaffar al-Dīn, known as Shaykh al-Makkī and "Khākī" (d. 926/1519), based on the mystical works of Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī.

The work consists of two bāb and several subdivisions, with a final khātimah.

Not dated at end.

Irregular shikastah āmīz with Arabic in awkward naskh.

Note in a later hand (f. 1r) states the treatise was purchased for the delight of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Faqīh Allāh, at the mustaqarr al-khilāfah Akbarābād (Agra), by Muḥammad Salām ibn Sayyid Amjad Khān (late), despatched 1 Rajab 1182/11 November 1768.

Item m. Catalogued as no. 1377 by Storey, Arabic MSS in IOL, vol. ii (1930).

Arabic treatise, conventionally entitled Risālat fī īmān Firʿawn, on proofs for the beliefs of Pharaoh by Jalāl al-Dīn Davvānī (d. 908/1502).

Two partial seal impressions covered over (f. 212v).

Not dated at end.