Delhi Persian 1172 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Item a.

Ṣūfī apologia in defence of Ibn al-ʿArabī by Abū al-Fatḥ Muḥammad ibn Muẓaffar al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamīd al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh, known as al-Shaykh al-Makkī (d. 926/1519).

The work is dedicated to the ʿUs̲mānlī or Ottoman ruler, Sulṭān Salīm Khān ibn Bāyazīd Khān ibn Muḥammad Khān (d. 926/1520).

The work consists of two bāb and concludes with a khātimah.

Dated colophon (f. 97v): completed on the eve of Saturday, 17 Z̲ī Ḥijjah 1088/10 February 1678.

Neat and careful scribal nastaʿlīq hand throughout.

Occasional corrections and annotations in margins.

Folio 1 excessively cropped along left edge (probably due to aggressive worm damage) and remounted onto backing paper.

Item b.

Untitled excerpt from a biographical history of scientists from the early Greek period to mediaeval Islamic.

The author remains unidentified.

Not dated at end.

Item c.

Untitled excerpt from a collection of important private letters by various courtiers and functionaries at the courts of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century Timurid or Mughal rulers.

The collector remains unidentified.

Not dated at end.

Item d.

Untitled excerpt from a collection of selected excerpts on geography, especially in relation to the Asian subcontinent, continuing onto mention the peculiarities of certain natural phenomena, as well as marine, land, and airborne animals.

The collector remains unidentified.

Not dated at end.

Item e.

Untitled excerpt from a collection of anecdotes on the moral conduct of ancient and modern religious dignitaries, scholars, scientists, physicians, astrologers, dream interpreters, poets, Ṣūfīs, historical kings and queens.

The compiler remains unidentified.

The excerpt begins by mentioning a link with the twelfth bāb from a Bahār-i Dānish, but this is unlikely to be an excerpt from the famous seventeenth-century tale of the same title.

Defective at end.

Not dated at end.