Persian MS 508 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Summary of Contents: An introduction to a commentary on an originally Arabic divan ascribed to ʻAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (ff. 2a and 4a), composed in the year 890, by Ḥusayn ibn Muʻīn Maybudī, (d. 911), whose name is given on f. 4a. The authenticity of the divan is doubtful even to the commentator as he states on f. 4a هر چند بیقین معلوم نیست .که این بحر از خاشاک شعر غیر صافی است اگر یک بیت شعر اوست مرا در دنیا و عقبی کافیست but he seems not to be concerned about the authenticity of the the commentary of the divan من خود چه کسم که در شماری باشم- یا در صف اهل دل سواری باشم- مقصود همین است که در شأن علی- گویم سخنی چند و بکاری باشم. The commentary is, however, wanting in the present MS. which only contains an extensive seven-part fatihah or preliminary discourse on Sufi doctrines and philosophical, astrological and mystical matters. The fatihah, according to Maibudi, j is useful to a better understanding of the commentary قبل از شروعدر شرح ابیات مطالب بلند و مارب ارجمند که در اثنای شرح مفید است و اکثر آن مشتمل بر فایده جدید است مسطور خامۀ تحریر و مزبورنامۀ تصویرخواهد شد در ضمن هفت فاتحه . the MS. comes to a conclusion with the end of the seventh fdtihah and the beginning of the commentary.