Persian MS 231 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: The first of four volumes of the Kīmiyā-yi Saʻādat (Alchemy of Happiness), together with Persian MS 232 (Vol. 2), 233 (Vol. 3), and 234 (Vol. 4). A significant Persian orthodox Sufi treatise on religious obligations and moral duties by Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī (ca. 1058–1111), renowned as Hujjat al-Islam (Proof of Islam) on account of his extensive knowledge of the Shafi‘ī school of Islamic law among other topics. Author of about one hundred books and treatises, mainly in Arabic as well as several in Persian, including the present work, which he redacted, translated, and abridged from his much lengthier Arabic work Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (Revival of the Religious Sciences). This volume opens with a general brief preface, followed by an introduction on cognition divided into four ‘Unvān (Addresses), then the first Rukn (Pillar) subtitled ‘Ibādāt (Devotions), divided into ten Aṣl (ِElements)

Author: al-Ghazzālī, 1058-1111
الغزالي

Scribe: Ḥusayn bin Ḥasan
حسين بن حسن

Title: Kīmiyā-yi Saʻādat

Title: كيمياى سعادت

Incipit: (beginning) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): شکر و سپاس فراوان بعدد ستارگان آسمان و قطره باران و برگ درختان و ریگ بیابان و ذره های زمین و آسمان مران خدایرا

Explicit: برگ ۹۳پ (folio 93b): اصل اول در اعتقاد اهل سنت است بدانکه هر که مسلمان شود اول واجب بر وی انست که کلمه های لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله را که زبان گفت بدل بداند و باور کند

Language(s): Persian

Title: Preface

Title: ‘Unvān I

Title: شناختن خویشتن

16a

Title: ‘Unvān II

Title: در شناختن حق تعالی

25b

Title: ‘Unvān III

Title: معرفت دنیا

29a

Title: ‘Unvān IV

Title: در معرفت آخرت

43a

Title: Aṣl 1

Title: در اعتقاد اهل سنت

45b

Title: Aṣl 2

Title: طلب علم

48a

Title: Aṣl 3

Title: در طهارت

55a

Title: Aṣl 4

Title: در نماز

64a

Title: Aṣl 5

Title: زکوة

70b

Title: Aṣl 6

Title: روزه

74a

Title: Aṣl 7

Title: حج

71b

Title: Aṣl 8

Title: قرآن خواندن

84b

Title: Aṣl 9

Title: اذکار و دعوات

89b

Title: Aṣl 10

Title: ترتیب اوراد

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 93 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 93 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 292 × 170 mm.

Dimensions (written): 145 × 105 mm.

Foliation:

Foliated with Arabic figures throughout the four volumes and folio numbers inserted in the table of contents.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords on the lower-right corners of the b sides throughout.

Condition

In fair condition, with decoloured and insect damaged areas and historical repairs.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a miṣtarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

somewhat hastily copied in black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by Ḥusayn bin Ḥasan.

Decoration

Illumination: Headpieces on...

Ruling: Double-ruled in gold outlined in black and blue.

Additions:
Table of Contents:

Binding

Repaired and uniformly rebound as a set with the other volumes in full brown calf.

Title and volume numbers titled in Latin on the spine.

History

Origin: Completed by Ḥusayn bin Ḥasan, probably in the Indian subcontinent; undated, but possibly 17th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

The acquisition of the manuscript in India and its arrival in Britain and division into four volumes remains unclear.

Subsequently acquired by Methodist minister Rev. Adam Clarke (1762–1832), after whose death his son Jospeh Butterworth Bulmer Clarke (d. 1855) inherited the volume and describes its present state in a catalogue published in 1835.

The next year on 20 June 1836, Clarke's son auctioned his father's collection through the London firm of Sotheby & Son where bookseller John George Cochrane (1780–1852) purchased the set for £3 19 shillings.

Probably from Cochrane by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead. After his death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866, and moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand.

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Bibliography

Persian MS 232 (Vol. 2).

Persian MS 233 (Vol. 3).

Persian MS 234 (Vol. 4).

J. B. B. Clarke, A Historical and Descriptive Catalogue of the European and Asiatic Manuscripts in the Library of the late Dr. Adam Clarke, F.S.A., M.R.I.A. (London: J. Murrary, 1835), p. 153, no. 77.

Sotheby and Son, Catalogue of the Highly Interesting and Valuable Collection of European and Asiatic Manuscripts of the late Dr. Adam Clarke, F.S.A., M.R.I.A. (London: [Printed by Compton and Richie], 1836), p. 56, no. 380.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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