Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Delhi Persian 1180 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Miscellaneous works on Sufism, 17 works (a-q)

Contents

Summary of Contents: Collection of miscellaneous works on Sufism. Volume not dated, though items b, d, and f are dated by different scribes to Muḥarram 1119/April 1707, with item b written in Gavālyār (Gwalior). Written in fine naskh and rough to fine nastaʿlīq in parts by multiple hands. Incomplete summary of contents added at beginning (f. 1r and preceding flyleaf). Original text frames cut and remounted with new gutter margins. Folios subsequently rebound in IOL red half leather binding, stamp dated 18 Feb 1936; folios damaged heavily by wormholes; net overlay throughout; ink smudged and bleeding in parts. Beginning flyleaf bears, along with copious selections of verse, an owner’s valuation note on in raqm/siyāq for 2 [rūpyah], and a large circular seal impression: Kāmyāb Khān fidavī-yi Muḥammad Shāh Pādshāh Ghāzī [RY] sanah 2, 1132/1720. Labels from the earlier loose paper wrapper (text on nineteenth-century legislation) remounted on the flyleaf before the first folio. One of these labels records the name Sayyid Qudrat Allāh. Another larger label expands the summary of contents.
1. ff. 1v-17v

Item a.

Theosophical treatise on conceptions of tawḥīd or divine unity and its implications for space and time, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Neat, miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq, with Arabic quotations in naskh. Blurring of text on subsequent folios. Damage by wormholes.

Recto of folio 1 states a partially erased note on custody: Muḥammad Sharīf, Ramaz̤ān RY 25 of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh (1155/November 1742).

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
2. ff. 18v-51v

Item b.

Untitled collection of the dicta or fiqarāt ascribed to the Ṣūfī saint, Khvājah ʿUbayd Allāh Aḥrār (d. circa 895/1490).

Dated colophon (f. 51v): completed after ẓuhr, 28 Z̲ī Ḥijjah (year left blank, 1118?/2 April 1707), in the city of Gavālyār (Gwalior).

Miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq, with Arabic quotations in red ink. Blurring of text on subsequent folios. Damage by wormholes.

Annotations in margins.

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
3. ff. 52r-52v

Item c.

Brief notes translating traditions of the Prophet Muḥammad.

Not dated at end.

Scribal nastaʿlīq.

Language(s): Persian
4. ff. 53r-64v
Language(s): Persian

Item d.

Treatise in defence of the Ṣūfī practice of samāʿ or audition (in z̲ikr) based on several Naqshbandī authorities in prose and verse, by Aḥmad ibn Jalāl al-Dīn Kāshānī Khiljī (d. 949/1542), whose practices had been characterised by the ʿulamāʾ as contrary to the Sunnah.

Dated colophon (f. 64v): completed by Valī Muḥammad on Monday, 14 Muḥarram 1119/17 April 1707.

Marginal annotations.

Miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq. Blurring of text on subsequent folios.

Damage by wormholes.

5. f. 65r
Language(s): Persian

Item e.

Untitled note on faqr or poverty by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq. Blurring of text. Damage by wormholes.

6. ff. 65r-75r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item f.

Commentary on a ḥadīs̲ or tradition regarding two states of reality by an author whose identity remains unclear.

Dated colophon (f. 75r): completed 22 Muḥarram 1119/25 April 1707.

Miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq, Arabic quotations overlined in red. Blurring of text on subsequent folios. Damage by wormholes.

7. ff. 76r-94r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item g.

Untitled Ṣūfī treatise on man’s relationship with God and creation by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Miniscule scribal nastaʿlīq, coarsening after folio 79 probably by a different hand. Blurring of text on subsequent folios. Damage by wormholes.

8. ff. 95v-103r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item h.

Untitled Ṣūfī commentary on a formula relating to creation based on early authorities, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

9. ff. 104r-114r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item i.

Ṣūfī commentary on a verse from the Qurʾān (2:33), supplemented with traditions of the Prophet Muḥammad, by an unnamed author.

The present title appears in an endorsement at the beginning and the concluding subscription.

Not dated at end.

10. ff. 115v-120v

Item j.

Untitled treatise on the conformity of Ṣūfī principles with the Sunnah by an unnamed author.

Colophon (f. 120v): completed by ʿAbd al-Ghanī Mawdūdī al-Ḥasanī (?) al-Ḥusaynī (?).

Not dated at end.

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
11. ff. 121v-125r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item k.

Ṣūfī treatise commenting on the Islamic creed as recorded in the prayer Āmantu bi-Allāh, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

12. ff. 126r-126v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item l.

Brief untitled Ṣūfī account of traditions relating to Shaykh ʿĪsá Sindhī by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

13. ff. 127r-131r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item m.

Untitled speculative disquisition positing an alternative account on the origins of the universe, the prophets, first four caliphs, and saints, ending with a supplementary notice on Abū Ḥanīfah, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

14. f. 131v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item n.

Untitled note instructing on the recitation of particular prayers ascribed to Aḥmad Sāvajī, pupil of Mawlānā Aḥmad Ardabīlī.

Not dated at end.

Fine nastaʿlīq and naskh in the style of Aḥmad Nayrīzī (d. 1722).

15. ff. 132r-137v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item o.

Untitled Arabic prayer in praise of the Prophet Muḥammad and all twelve of the Is̲nāʾ ʿAsharī Imams.

Copied in calligraphic naskh in the style of Aḥmad Nayrīzī (d. 1722).

Not dated at end.

Annotations in margins.

16. ff. 138r-140v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item p.

Untitled commentary on selected verses from the Mas̲navī-yi maʿnavī of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, with substantial quotations, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Fine nastaʿlīq and naskh in the style of Aḥmad Nayrīzī (d. 1722). Verses arranged into four columns.

17. ff. 140v-142v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item q.

Guidance for novices of Sufism, with particular reference to the Naqshbandī ṭarīqah, by the famous saint Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492).

Not dated at end.

Calligraphic nastaʿlīq-i khafī.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 142 ff.
Dimensions (leaf): 260 × 165 mm.
Dimensions (written):

Hand(s)

History

Origin: Muḥarram 1119 (2 April 1707 - 25 April 1707) AH ; Gwalior ; India

Record Sources

Based on unpublished description in Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. 3. Available on British Library Digitised Manuscripts, manuscript number: MSS Eur E207/3_f060r

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.

Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing

BL


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