Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Delhi Persian 1159 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Miscellaneous works on Sufism, 6 items (a-f)

Contents

Summary of Contents: Miscellaneous collection of works on Sufism, magic, and moral conduct, comprised of six heterogeneous items from separate sources. Volume not dated; items a and f dated, ranging Rabīʿ I 1110-12 Rabīʿ II 1115/September 1698-26 July 1703. Other items also belong to the early eighteenth century. Rough to good nastaʿlīq, shikastah āmīz, and naskh. Annotations and corrections in margins throughout. Stamped and Persian foliation. Lacking binding. Loose folded paper wrapper (ledger, probably from an Acquittance Roll, dated September-October 1840, [Calcutta]), upper and lower parts missing, watermarked (initials VEIC, E WISE, 1831); torn, stained, and incomplete. Folios unbound and occasionally disordered; cropped, wormholes, later repairs. Condition very fragile.
1. ff. 1r-28r

Item a.

Untitled Ṣūfī treatise collecting excerpts from the Rashaḥāt [ʿayn al-ḥayāt] of Fakhr al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī known as Ṣafī (d. 932/1532), consisting of anecdotes and biographical entries on the prophets, caliphs, saints, scholars, and so on, by the scribe (see below).

Dated colophon (f. 28r): completed by Fatḥ ʿAlī Ḥasanī in dār al-salṭanat[sic] Lāhawr (Lahore), Sunday evening, 12 Rabīʿ II 1115/26 July 1703.

Rough shikastah āmīz written obliquely in watery ink on pale pink paper.

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
2. ff. 29r-36v

Item b.

Untitled collection of Arabic prayers and instructions in Persian on their use by an unnamed compiler.

The rough shikastah āmīz hand is close to that of Fatḥ ʿAlī Ḥasanī, scribe to item a.

Not dated at end.

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
3. ff. 37v-51v

Item c.

Fragment of a treatise on divine magic (revelation) and the observable world by the theologian, Quṭb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, known as Valī Allāh Dihlavī (d. 1176/1762-3).

Defective at end.

Each point is introduced with the phrase ‘tajallī-'i aʿẓam’.

Not dated at end.

Careful minute Indian taʿlīq.

Language(s): Persian and Arabic
Title: سطعات
4. ff. 52r-68v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item d.

Untitled copy of an incomplete collection of selected excerpts of Persian and Arabic verse and refined prose, on religious and morally edifying subjects, by an unnamed compiler.

Original sources have been cited at the end of most entries, including Sayyid Zayn al-Dīn Khvāfī, Shaykh ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Simnānī’s Fatḥ al-mubīn, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Niẓāmī, Muḥammad Pārsā, and so on.

Defective at end.

Not dated at end.

Neat shikastah āmīz.

5. ff. 69r-84r
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item e.

Untitled treatise on Sufism based on the teachings of Kalīm Allāh Akbarābādī (d. circa 1141/1728), by an unnamed author claiming to be a disciple of the saint.

Not dated at end.

6. ff. 85r-122v
Language(s): Persian and Arabic

Item f.

Incomplete fragment of a Ṣūfī treatise on repentance or tawbah, by an unnamed author.

This copy is defective at the beginning, having lost at least the opening folio.

The work comprises four bāb.

Dated colophon (f. 122v): completed Rabīʿ I 1110/September 1698.

Rough nastaʿlīq tending toward naskh, with an angular naskh hand for Arabic passages.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 122 ff.
Dimensions (leaf): 180 × 110 mm.
Dimensions (written):

Hand(s)

History

Origin: Rabīʿ I 1110-12 Rabīʿ II 1115 (September 1698 - 26 July 1703) AH ; 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_f048r

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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