[IO Islamic 2542] شرح قصيدۀ تائيّۀ فارضيّه

Sharḥ-i-Ḳaṣîda-i-Tâ’iyya-i-Fâriḍiyyah

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1811 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 2542 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1811

Sharḥ-i-Ḳaṣîda-i-Tâ’iyya-i-Fâriḍiyyah (شرح قصيدۀ تائيّۀ فارضيّه).

The large Persian commentary on the Tâ’iyyah (or ḳaṣidah, rhyming in ت ), the famous mystic poem of ‘Umar Ibn-alfâriḍ (who died A.H. 632, the 2nd of Jumâdâ-alawwal=A.D. 1235, Jan. 23, see Safînat-alauliyâ, No. 332, cols. 307 and 308 in this Cat.; G. Flügel i. p. 461. ; edited by Hammer-Purgstall, Vienna, 1854 ; Ibn Fâriḍ’s whole dîwân, edited with two commentaries, Marseille, 1855 ; lithographed Bairût, A.H. 1267 ; another lithographed ed., A.H. 1280 ; with commentaries, Cairo, A.H. 1289, etc.), by Shaikh Sa’îd-aldîn al-Farghânî, who died about A.H. 700 (A.D. 1300, 1301), see Ḥ. Khalfa ii. 86, etc. He received the investiture (الخرقة) from Shaikh Najîb-aldîn ‘Alî bin Buzghush (died A.H. 678=A.D. 1279, 1280, in Shîrâz, see Safinat-alalauliyâ, No. 150), who himself had received it from Shaikh Shihâb-aldîn Suhrawardî (died A.H. 632, 1st of Muḥarram =A.D. 1234, Sept. 26, see Safinat-alauliyâ, No. 148). After Najîb-aldîn’s death he joined the Shaikh Ṣadr-aldîn Muḥammad bin Isḥaḳ bin Muḥammad al-Ḳûniyawî (who died A.H. 672=A.D. 1273, 1274, see Rieu ii. p. 594a). The last-named Shaikh is eulogized on fol. 4a, as being still alive, and consequently this commentary must have been written before A.H. 672. From the Nafaḥât-aluns (see No. 1361 in this Cat., fol. 263b sq.), from which also the above statements are taken, we learn further, that Sa’îd-aldîn Farghânî, the oldest interpreter of the Tâ’iyyah, wrote two commentaries on this subject, the first in Persian, the second in Arabic. The first is contained in our copy; the second is found in the India Office Library too (B. 133), see O. Loth, Arabic Cat. p. 236b, No. 814.

Beginning of this work, on fol. 1b:ربّنا عليك توكّلنا و اليك انَبْنَا و اليك المصير حمد و سپاس بى حدّ سزاى ذات خدائيست كه سلطان ذات وحدتش الخ.

The real commentary is preceded by an extensive Muḳaddimah or Ṣûfic Prolegomena in four aṣls (اصل), viz.:

1.On fol. 5a:در ذكر ذات و صفات و اعتبار علم و شهود و نور و وجود و حكم مبدايت و امر اوّليّت.

2.On fol. 11b:در بيان صدور و تعيّن عالم ارواح و ظهور و تحقّق عالم مثال كه خيال منفصلش خوانند.

3.On fol. 15b:در ترتيب عالم اجسام و مراتب او تا آفرينش آدم عليه السّلام.

4.On fol.22a:در شرح نشات انسان و اطوار و احوال او تا رسيدن بنهايت كمال الخ.

Beginning of the commentary itself, on fol. 38b, with the initial bait of the Tâ’iyyah:سقتنى حُميّا الحُبّ راحة مُقْلَتى الخ.

No date. Worm-eaten and greatly damaged through-out. An entry from A.H. 1018 (A.D. 1609, 1610) on fol. 320b.

No. 2542, ff. 320, ll. 19; Nasta’lîḳ (the Arabic verses of Ibn al-fâriḍ in Naskhî, written in red ink); size, 103/8 in. by 53/4 in.