Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Delhi Persian 1108 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Maslak al-ʻārifīn by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Asʻad al-Bukhāri

Contents

Summary of Contents: A detailed account of Sufism by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Asʻad al-Bukhāri, based on the teachings of the Naqshbandi saint ʻAbd al-Khāliq Ghujdavānī (d.575/1179). The work is divided into 21 sections (bāb).
Title: مسلک العارفین
Incipit: (f. 4r): سپاس و ستایش مران خدای را که ظاهر مومنان را به آداب خدمت خود بیاراست و باطن نیازمندان را به اسباب معرفت خود مشرف و مزین گردانید.
Explicit: و فردای قیامت از شفاعت محبان خود ما را و جمله مومنان را بی نصیب مگردان یا اله العامین و یا خیر الناصرین و صلی الله علی خیر خلقه محمد و آله اجمعین الطیبین الطاهرین الخ.
Colophon: تمام شد کتابت کتاب مسلک العارفین... در ده نوجغانیان در سر مزار ... خواجه علاء الحق و الدین مشتهر به عطار... علی ید ضعیف السخیف خاک رویه این خاندان و این آستان قاسم بن محمد شهرصفاهی در آخر ربیع الاول سنه سته و خمسین و تسعمائه...
Colophon: Copied in the village of Nūjghānīyān, at the tomb of Khvājah ʻAlaʼ al-Ḥaqq va al-Dīn known as ʻAṭṭār by Qāsim ibn Muḥammad Shahrṣafāhī and dated the last day of Rabīʻ al-avval year 956 (7 May 1549).

Folios 1v-4r contain a list of ʻAbd al-Khāliq's precepts (vaṣāyā).

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: ff.ii+ii+135+i+ii
Dimensions (leaf): 246 × 133 mm.
Dimensions (written): 155 × 85 mm.
Foliation:

India Office stamped foliation. Persian foliation.

Collation

Catchwords.

Condition

Slightly worm-eaten and damp-stained. Rebound by India Office, 7 Nov 1951.

Layout

23 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq; copied in black ink, with headings and overlinings in red. Copied by Qāsim ibn Muḥammad Shahrṣafāhī

Additions:

Folio 1r contains various notes on amounts of money paid and transferred, scattered throughout the page; a deliberately erased ownership inscription, several verses and two hadith.

Folio 135r records a birth with a verse and ghazals by a poet Luṭfī. folio 135v has verses added, one by the same Luṭfī.

Folio 135v contains a text about the religious necessity of submitting to authorities.

Binding

Red half-leather India Office binding, dated 7 Nov 1951.

Seal(s):

Rectangular damaged illegible black seal dated 1206 (1791/2) (f. 1r).

Rectangular black seal possibly reading "Ṣalli ʻalā Muḥammad"? (f. 1r)

Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. ir, 1r, 135v, iv).

History

Origin: 29 Rabiʻ al-avval 956 AH (7 May 1549); Iran or India, Nūjghānīyān.

Provenance and Acquisition

Possibly belonged to a person with the pen name of Luṭfī.

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 A.J. Arberry's description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/2, ff. 37-8 and R. Levy's description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/13, ff. 50-1. Revised by Sheida Heydarishovir

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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