[IO Islamic 698] Rauḍt-alsâlikîn

Rauḍt-alsâlikîn.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 698 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 632 here with notations and hyperlinks].

632

Rauḍt-alsâlikîn ( روضة السالكين ).

Biographies of prominent Ṣûfic Shaikhs of the Naḳshbandî order, principally of the great Shaikh Maulânâ ‘Alâ-aldîn alâbizhî ( الآبژی , so distinctly on fol. 31b ,last line ,and fol. 170b , l.5 ; in the immediately following first copy of the Rashaḥât, No. 705, the word is spelt, on fol. 152b first line, الآبيزى alâbîzî, with the distinct marginal gloss: آبيز بالف ممدودة و كسرباء موحّده و ياء تحتانيّة و حرف زاى whereas in W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 563, it appears as آبسير Âbsîr ; in all the three different forms of spelling it is the name of a village in Ḳûhistân) alḳûhistânî, compiled by ‘Alî bin Maḥmûd alabîwardî alkûrânî ( الكورانى), and beginning :

آنجا كه كمال كبرياى تو بود

عالم نم از بحر عطاى تو بود

مارا چه حمد و ثناى تو بود

هم حمد و ثناى تو سزاى تو بود

قال الفقير الى رحمة الله الغنى على بن محمود الخ.

The ten introductory biographies, which precede that of the principal hero of this- hitherto unknown- work (no further copies of which are mentioned anywhere), and which are merely copied from the Nafaḥât-aluns, are:

1.Khwâjah ‘Abd-alkhâliḳ Ghujdawânî ( غجدوانى ), died A.H. 575 (A.D. 1179 , 1180), on fol. 2a.

2.Khwâjah Muḥammad Bâbâ-i-Samâsî ( سماسى ), one of the spiritual successors of the preceding Shaikh, on fol. 4a.

3. Sayyid amîr Kulâl, spiritual successor of the preceding Shaikh, died A.H.772 (A.D.1370), on fol.5b.

4.Khwâjah Bahâ-aldîn Naḳshband, with his real name : Muḥammad bin Muḥammad albukhârî, died the third of Rabî’-alawwal, A.H. 791 (A.D. 1389, March 2 )on fol. 6b.

5.Khwâjah ‘Alâ-aldîn ‘Aṭṭâr , friend and pupil of Bahâ-aldîn, died the 20th of Rajab, A.H.802 (A.D. 1400, March 17) , on fol. 10b.

6.Khawâjah Muḥammad Pârsâ, likewise friend and pupil of Bahâ-aldîn died end of A.H. 822 (A.D. 1420, January), on fol. 13a.

7.Maulânâ Niżâm-aldîn Khâmûsh, friend and pupil of ‘Alâ-aldîn (No.5) on fol. 17a.

8.Khawâjah ‘Abdallâh Imâmî Iṣfahânî, likewise a pupil of ‘Alâ-aldîn , on fol. 19b.

9. Maulânâ Sa’d-aldîn alkâshgharî, friend and pupil of Niżâm-aldîn (No.7), died the 7th of Jumâdâ-alâkhar, A.H. 860 (A.D. 1456, May 13), on fol. 20a.

10.Khawâjah ‘Ubaid-allâh , died A.H. 895 (1490), on fol. 29b (see his full biography in the immediately following work, the Rashaḥât).

On fol. 31b, the detailed history of the life and wonderful deeds of the principal subject of this work follows, Maulânâ ‘Alâ-aldîn alâbizhî alḳûhistânî, with his real name, Muḥammad bin Muḥammad bin Mu’min, who died A.H. 892, in the month Jumâdâ-alawwal (A.D. 1487, April-May); see fol. 170b. Ta’rîkh of his death : رفت پیر . He was the pupil of Sa’d-aldîn Kâshgharî (No.9).

A concluding chapter on the pre-eminence of the Naḳshbandî order over the other Ṭarîḳas and Silsilas ( در بيان فضيلت اين سلسلۀ شريفه بر سائر طرق و سلاسل ) begins on fol. 170b, but is incomplete at the end. It breaks off on fol. 174b. so that both date of completion and date of transcription are missing. Many pages injured. Numerous marginal additions. Fol. 52 Must be inserted between ff. 46 and 47.

No. 698, ff. 174, ll. 15; Nasta’lîḳ; size, 63/8 in. by 49/8 in.