Delhi Persian 576 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Four works on sufism
Contents
An account of the saint Mīr Abū ’l-ʿUlā Naqshbandī Akbarābādī - whose full name is given on f. 5v as Amīr Abū ’l-ʿUlā ibn Amīr Abī ‘l-Vafāʾ ibn Amīr ʿAbd al-Salām, who was born in 990/1582 at Nārēlah near Delhi and who died on 9 Ṣafar 1061/1651 and was buried at Akbarābād (i.e. Āgrah). Completed in 1682 by an unnamed disciple and arranged in seven chapters (bāb) and a conclusion (khātimah).
Defective at the beginning with only the final six and a half lines of the preface preserved.
References
On ecstasy and music (vajd and samāʻ) and other basic mystical doctrines, most likely compiled from a work by the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khvājah Muḥammad Pārsā, 1338 or 9-1420.
References
A selection without title of notes and queries on Sufism by Abū al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Masʻūd from the writings of ‘Khvājah Pārsā’, most likely the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khvājah Muḥammad Pārsā.
References
Rules and guidance for members of the Naqshbandi branch of Sufism, compiled by an unnamed author.
Continued (ff. 42r-42v) by an unidentified text in the same hand.
References
Physical Description
India Office stamped foliation.
Collation
Catchwords.
Condition
Repaired with silk gauze before rebinding.
Layout
21 lines per page.
Hand(s)
Nastaʻlīq; copied in black ink with headings in red.
Decoration
Text block framed with red and black rulings.
Marginal notes.
Folios 1-2 and 43-44 include miscellaneous notes on letters and names, prayers and magic squares.
Binding
Half-leather India Office binding.
Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 44v).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859; administrative deposit India Office Library, 1876.
Acquired by the Government of India in 1876
Record Sources
Based on C.A. Storey and R. Levy's descriptions in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III as detailed above. Revised by Ursula Sims-Williams
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. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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