Or 16284 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

A treatise in Arabic on ethics and government, composed entirely without the use of the dotted letters of the alphabet. By Abū l-Fayz̤ Fayyāz̤ī (originally Fayz̤ī) ibn Shaykh Mubārak al-Mahdavī (954/1547 - 1004/1595).

For this scholar, physician, poet, and bibliophile, who was a courtier of the Mughal emperor Akbar and became Malik al-shu‘arā (poet laureate) during his reign, see A.S. Bazmee Ansari, ‘Fayḍī (later Fayyāḍī), Abū’l-Fayḍ b. Shaykh Mubārak al-Mahdawī’, EI2 II pp. 870-2; and references given there. See also Storey, PL I/1, p. 540; see also the references in the index to H. Ethé and E. Edwards, IOL, vol. 2, cols. 893-4.

In the present manuscript at least, the treatise itself is preceded on f. 1v-2r by poems (two muqaṭṭa‘āt) and five rubā‘īs) in Persian by the same author. Since all of them allude to the author, his literary predilections, and the characteristics of Mavārid al-kalam – especially his tour de force of undotted Arabic composition – it is possible that they are intended as an extra preface to the work, which also has its own introduction.

Muqaṭṭa‘āt begin: Tab‘-i mushkil-pasand-i man aksar * mushkilāt-i badī‘ multazim ast, silkha-yi balāghat al-kilkam * ba-asālīb-i khāṣṣ muntaẓim ast, Gar dalīlī badīn sukhan ṭalabī * dar kitāb-i Mavārid al-kalim ast

Rubā‘īs end: Īn fayẓ kih az ‘ālam-i lā rayb barīkht * Khaṭṭash hama durr-nuqṭa az jayb barīkht Tajallī-st az gulzār-i shahādat ki saḥar * yak junbish kard u mīva dar ghayb barīkht

Mavārid al-kalim begins: al-Ḥamd li-Mulḥim al-kalām al-ṣāʿid * wa Huwa l-Maḥmūd awwalan wa-l-Ḥāmid

Northern India. 1256/1840.

Nasta‘līq. 13 lines. Red headings, overlinings, text dividers, etc. Text frames in black, gold, red, and blue. Illuminated headpiece and colophon, the latter with seal impressions inside special illuminated panels. Thin, light beige paper, with slight worm damage in margins. 57 folios. 273 x 173 mm.; text area 176 x 102 mm. Dark maroon marocco binding with gilt border lines.

Purchased at Bonhams sale, 12 October 2006, Lot 53.