Persian MS 235 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Summary of Contents: An incomplete copy of the Kīmiyā-yi Saʻādat (Alchemy of Happiness), a significant Persian orthodox Sufi treatise on religious obligations and moral duties . Author of about one hundred books and treatises, mainly in Arabic as well as several in Persian, including the present work, the author, 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, redacted, translated, and abridged this text from his much lengthier Arabic work Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (Revival of the Religious Sciences). Regrettably, a restorer misarranged many chapters and folios.
Author: Ghazzālī, 1058-1111 الغزالي
Title: Kīmiyā-yi saʻādat
Title: كيمياى سعادت
Language(s): Persian
Language(s): Persian
Folios 1b–99b
Title: Pillar 4: Refuges and Conclusion
Title: Rukn 4
Title: رکن ۴
1b
Title: Aṣl 1
Title: منجیات: در توبه
16b
Title: Aṣl 2
Title: در صبر و شکر
42b
Title: Aṣl 3
Title: ذر خوف و رجا
63b
Title: Aṣl 4
Title: در فقر وزهد
85b
Title: Aṣl 5
Title: درمراقبه و محاسبه
103b
Title: Aṣl 6
Title: در صدق و اخلاص] در محاسبه و مراقبه]
117a
Title: Aṣl 7
Title: در تفکر
133b
Title: Aṣl 8
Title: در توکل
158b
Title: Aṣl 9
Title: در محبت و شوق و رضا
186b
Title: Aṣl 10
Title: در یادمرگ (و احوال آخرت)
197b
Title: Conclusion
Title: خاتمۀ کتاب
Incipit: (beginning) این رکن منجیانست از کتاب کیمیای سعادت و این و ابن یزید مردی پیر بود وپس از آن
Explicit: نیز بر ده اصلست همیشه میگریستی تا فرمان یافت چشم تاریک شده ابن عنیه (کذا) میگوید برادر را بخواب دیدم گفتم خدایتعالی با تو چه کرد گفت رحمت کرد و هر گناه که استغفار
200a-207b
Title: Part of the second ‘Unvān (Address) from the Introduction

This corresponds to Persian MS 231 folios 19b, line 11, to 24b, line 15.

Incipit: (beginning) اثر اول کار در جمله تن از دل خیزد آنگاه بهمه... و صدیقان صحابه رضوان الله علیهم
Explicit: اعضا بپرا کند... السلام از صغایر حذر می کردند بلکه از بیمشبهتی از حلال میگریختند این احمق بچه دانست که در احوال شیطان نیست و درجه وی از درجه ایشان در گذشت و اگر گوید
208a-287b
Title: Pillar 1
Title: Rukn 1

Imperfect at the beginning, with Aṣl 1 and part of 2 missing, (corresponding to Persian MS 231 folios 47a, line 6 to the end of the volume on 93a):

Incipit: (beginning) 208a اثر اول کار در جمله تن ازاندران حکمتی بود که هست و بدین مغذور نباشد و هر گاه که حاجت بدان غالب بود و نادر نباشد مثلا کسی در حال حیض مباشرت حرام کند
Language(s): Persian
209b
Title: Aṣl 3
Title: در طهارت
221b
Title: Aṣl 4
Title: نماز
236b
Title: Aṣl 5
Title: زکوة
248a
Title: Aṣl 6
Title: روزه
254a
Title: Aṣl 7
Title: حج کردن
267a
Title: Aṣl 8
Title: خواندن قران
272b
Title: Aṣl 9
Title: در ذکر حق سبحانه و تعالی
281b
Title: Aṣl 10
Title: در تربیت اوراد
Folios 288b-452b
Title: Rukn 2
Title: معاملات
Incipit: (beginning) رکن دوم از ارکان مسلمانی معاملاتسن و این رکن ...ندانم که حقیقت ایمان در دل چگونه
Explicit: نیز بر ده اصلست... بود عاملی را که وی در سالی چندین هزار دینار حراو بستاند و بدیگری دهد در ضمان وی بود و در قیامت همه از وی طلب کنند و منفعت آن بدیگری رسد و این نهایة غفلت و نا مسلمانی باشد و الله اعلم بالصواب
Language(s): Persian
288v
Title: Aṣl 1 آداب طعام خوردن و دادن
299a
Title: Aṣl 2 آداب نکاح
313a
Title: Aṣl 3 آداب کسب و تجارت
339a
Title: Aṣl 4 طلب حلال
354r
Title: Aṣl 5 آداب صحبت با خلق
383a
Title: Aṣl 6 آداب عزلت
396b
Title: Aṣl 7 آداب سفر
406v
Title: Aṣl 8 آداب سماع و وجد
423a
Title: Aṣl 9 امر معروف
439b
Title: Aṣl 10 در رعیت داشتن و ولایت راندن

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 435 folios, 6 fly leaves (ff. iii + 435 + iii).
Dimensions (leaf): 234 × 137 mm.
Dimensions (written): 190 × 95 mm.
Foliation:

Folios pencilled in Latin, beginning as from folio 2 (text 1b-452b); folios 287b, 288a blank.

Collation

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

Condition

Hand text with caution. Insect damage and degraded historical repairs througout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a miṣtarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Black ink, rubrics in red; elegant and consistent mixture of black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures, with red subheaders and Arabic quotations.

Additions:
Table of Contents: Listed on the initial flyleaves.
Inscriptions: Folio 1a bears a prescription in Persian and ‘Nº 43’, which while unsigned comports with the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley.
Bookplates and Catalogue Entry:
  • Right pastedown: Pasted catalogue entry from :
    ‘169 Kimiai Saadat, the Alchemy of Prosperity, being a treatise on Morals and Ethics. Persian, a good legible hand, sm. fol. half -bd. neat, 41.4s. A learned and much esteemed work.- Ouseley’
  • Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 456’.

Binding

Strongly rebound; title in Latin on the spine.

History

Origin:

Provenance and Acquisition

Formerly owned by Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844), which while unsigned, the inscription on folio 1a comports with his hand on other volumes that he formerly owned.

Subsequently listed for sale by London firm of Howell and Stewart in their 1827–1828 catalogues.

Subsequently acquired 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

    A.J. Wensinck, "Muslim B al-Hadjdjadj" and Alfred Guillaume, '’Sahih" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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