Ṣûfism and Ethics [IO Bijapur 80] خالصة الحقائق

Ṣûfism and Ethics.

This manuscript is now IO Bijapur 80 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 623 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

623.

B 80. Size 101/4 in. by 53/4 in.; foll. 288. Twenty three lines in a page.

A work on Morals, called خالصة الحقائق , 1 by Abu’l-Ḳâsim MAḤMÛD b. Aḥmad b. Abu’l-Ḥasan FÂRIYÂBÎ (d. A.H. 607). See Ḥ. Kh. iii. 128, who, however, calls the author always Fârâbî (‘Imâd al-dîn). Cf. Bibl. Sprenger. 829.

The author states that after two earlier compositions, viz. مصباح الجنان و مفتاح الجنان and خلاصة المقامات , he compiled the present work from more than seventy books, by order of a prince named Bur-hân al-dîn:

ملتقطا من نيف و سبعين صحيفة مما صنف فى اعلا معالم الدين ‘ واسنى مراسم اليقين ‘ و ذلك لخزانة كتب العالى مجلس مولانا و سيدنا صدر صدور العالم ‘ اكرم بنى آدم ‘ برهان الملة والدين ‘ سيف الاسلام و المسلمين ‘ ولد الملوك و السلاطين الخ

A list of the fifty chapters of the work is inserted after the preface. They treat of faith, religious duties, ethics and Ṣûfism, and also of death and the resurrection, of the Prophet, the Koran, and the Tradition, etc. As is stated at the end of this list, each section (فصل) of a chapter is arranged so as to contain: 1. Definitions (حدود); 2. Traditions (الاخبار و الآثار) ; 3. Sentences and anecdotes (مواعظ و نكات و اشارات و حكايات).

At the end (fol.287) the author gives an alphabetical list of the books which he used in compiling his work.

They are :2

1.الاحقاق, by Nâṣir al-dîn Abu’l-Ḳâsim b. Yûsuf;

2.Ghazzâlî’s احياء علوم الدين ; 3.الاستقامة , by Abu’l-Ḥasan b. ‘Alî Mu’addib ; 4.الاداب الروحانية , by al-Ḥusain b. al-Faḍl Sarakhsî; 5.القناع , by Ḳâḍi Abu’l-Faḍl Muḥammad .. Marwazî; 6.الانوار, by Abu Bakr … Samarḳandî; 7.ايجاز البيان , by Abu’l-Ḳâsim..Nîsâbûrî; 8.بساتين المذكرين, by Abu Naṣr.. Ḥaddâdî; 9. البستان, by Abu’l-Laith Samarḳandî;

10.بيت مال المذكرين , by Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusain b. ‘Anbasah (!) Bûzjânî; 11. Ḳushairî’s التخبير ; 12. تاج المذكرين , by Naṣrân b. Naṣr (!) ; 13.الثمار, by Abu Manṣûr al-Muẓaffar b. al-Ḥasan Fârisî ; 14. ثواقب الاخبار , by Rukn al-dîn .. Shahîdî (!); 15. Bukhârî’s الجامع الصحيح ; 16.جزاء الاعمال , by Ibrâhîm .. Harawî ; 17.جمل الغرائب , by Bayân al-ḥaḳḳ… Nîsâbûrî; 18. Nasafi’s الجمل الماثورة ; 19.جوامع الكلم, by Abu Bakr … Shâshî ; 20.الجواهر, by Abu Isḥâḳ Ibrâhîm b. Muḥammad Mauṣilî ; 21.الحدائق لاهل الحقائق , by al-Ḥasan .. Nîsâbûrî; 22.حسن الآمال(!) فى ثواب الاعمال, by Muḥammad b. Zaid Baghdâdî; 23.حلية الاولياء , by Abu Nu’aim Iṣfahânî ; 24.خلق الانسان , by Bayân al-ḥaḳḳ (see 17.) ; 25. The author’s own خلاصة المقامات (see above); 26.الدرّ, by Abu Aḥmad ‘Îsa b. al-Ḥusain Nasafî ; 27.درجات التائبين , by Ismâ’îl b. Ibrâhîm القهندزى ; 28.الدعوات , by Mustaghfirî Nasafî ; 29.دلائل النبوة , by the same ; 30.ذكر الصالحين , by Abu ‘Abd al-raḥmân..Bukhârî; 31.Zamakhsharî’s ربيع الابرار ; 32.روضة العلماء , by ‘Ali..الزندوستى ; 33. Ḳushairî’a الرسالة ; 34.الرقاق , by ‘Abdallah b. al-Mubârak Marwazî ; 35.رياضة الاخلاق , by Nâṣir al-dîn Samarḳandî; 36. زاد المتقين , by Muḥammad b. Abu Ḥafṣ Bukhârî ; 37.زاد الزهاد, by Yûsuf .. السنوى ; 38.كتاب السالكين , by Abu’l-‘Abbâs Ṣaghânî ; 39. سر السرور , by Mu’in al-dîn .. Nîsâbûrî; 40. The author’s own سلك الجواهر و نشر الزواجر ; 41. السنن , by Abu Dâ’ûd Sajastânî ; 42.السياقات , by الشيخ الالمعى الكاشغرى ; 43.شرف الفقر على الغنا , by Abu Isḥâḳ Kalâbâdî ; 44.شعار الصالحين , by ‘Abd al-malik b. Abu ‘Othmân ; 45. Tirmidhi’s شمائل النبوة ; 46. شهاب الاخبار , by Ḳuḍâ’î; 47.Jauharî’s الصحاح ; 48.ضياء القلوب , by al-Faḍl b. Salamah; 49.طبقات اهل التصوف , by Abu ‘Abd al-raḥmân Sulamî ; 50. عزة العزلة , by ‘Abd al-karîm Sam’ânî; 51. Ibn Ḳutaibah ’s الاخبار (r.عيون) عنوان ; 52.عيون المجالس , by Ṭâhir Ḥaddâdî ; 53.الغاية لاهل النهاية , by Sahl .. Tustarî; 54. غريب الحديث , by Ibn al-Sallâm ; 55.(r.الغريبين) كتاب القبرين , by Abu ‘Ubaid Harawî ; 56.فردوس الاخبار , by Shîrûyah b. Shahrdâr Hamadânî ; 57.فضائل الاوقات , by ‘Abd al-jabbâr Baihakî ; 58.القند, by Nasafî ; 59.الكشف و البيان , by Aḥmad Tha’âlibî (!) ; 60.اللطائف , by Ḳushairî ; 61.اللؤلؤيات , By Abu Muṭî’ Makḥûl Nasafî; 62.اللوامع, by Abu Sa’îd ‘Abd al-malik b. Abu ‘Othmân ; 63.مزالق العزلة , by Ḍiyâ al-dîn Bisṭâmî ; 64.المسند, by al-Haitham b. Kulaib Shâshî; 65. Baghawî’s المصابيح ; 66.معرفة الصحابة , by Ḥâfiẓ Iṣfahânî ; 67.مفاتيح الاقبال , by Muḥammad.. Farghânî; 68.مقامات الاولياء , by Abu ‘Abd al-raḥmân Sulamî ; 69.النتف, by Abu Bakr Wâsiṭî ; 70.النجاح فى شرح الصحاح , by Nasafî; 71.النور , by Abu Yazîd Bisṭâmî ; 72.الوسيط فى التفسير , by Wâḥidî ; 73.هداية الاصدقاء , by Muḥammad .. Farghânî; 74.اليوافيت , by Aḥmad .. Sarakhsî.

This list has been used by Ḥ. Kh., who occasionally also mentions the صاحب الخلاصة as his authority.

The author concludes with nine verses (rather incorrect in this MS.), in which he gives the date of his work, as mentioned by Ḥ. Kh., namely, A.H. 597.

They begin:

بحمد الله فى عقد العلائق * نظمنا عقد خالصة الحقائق بعام قد مضت صاد وزآء وثامن ظعن مختار الخلائق

In the following verses he praises a prince of Samarḳand, apparently the same whom he mentioned in the preface. His name was Ibrâhîm (سمىُّ خليل خلاّق البرايا.) .

There is added a general Ijâzah of the author for the present work.

Neatly written. Dated Sha’bân, 984 [=October, 1576]. An ornament at the beginning. Gold lines round several pages. Injured by insects.

Cat. 230, iii.

1 This MS. has خلاصة الحقائق.

2 Several errors of the MS., which are not mentioned here, have been corrected according to Ḥ. Kh. and the following MS.

[ed note: According to Carl Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition, 1: 411 he died 20 Jumāda I 607/10 November 1210. He gives his name as 'Imād al-Dīn Abu'l-Qāsim Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad b. Abi'-Ḥasan al-Fārābī (Faryābī) Abu'l Maḥāmil]