Delhi Persian 1374* (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

The well-known compendium on Sufism in refined prose and verse by Rukn al-Dīn Ḥusayn ibn ʿĀlim ibn Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ḥusaynī al-Ghūrī known as Mīr Fakhr al-Sādāt al-Ḥusaynī (d. circa 720/1320).

The work was completed in 711/1311-2, when the author was aged 40. The treatise is divided into twenty-eight chapters termed faṣl.

Dated colophon (f. 119r): completed by Mawlānā Yūnus resident of the mawz̤aʿ Pindī Shaykh Sulaymān Bhattī (?), at midday prayers, Wednesday, […] Muḥarram 1038/September 1628, written for the salvation of faith. Dense annotations throughout with a dated note at the end (f. 119v): notes based on the commentary or sharḥ by ʿAbd al-Vāḥid Ibrāhīm al-Ḥusaynī [Bilgrāmī] completed 985/1577, corrected from beginning to end by (erased text) [Ḥusām al-Dīn], 25 Shaʿbān in RY 2 [of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh], equating to 1132/2 July 1720.

Intermittent foliation in pencil.

Lacking original binding.

Later binding damaged (front board only of deep brown leather) and paper dust wrapper (BEIC legal publication on Regulation XVIII for 1817); torn and stained.

This copy is in very poor condition: unbound folios of brittle paper scarred by stains, cropped, wormholes and later repairs with paper patches.