[IO Islamic 705] Rashaḥât-i-'ain-alḥayât رشحات عين الحيات

Rashaḥât-i-’ain-alḥayât.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 705 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 633 here with notations and hyperlinks].

633

Rashaḥât-i-’ain-alḥayât (رشحات عين الحيات ) .

Another, better known, collection of biographies of great Naḳshbandî Shaikhs, principally of Shaikh ‘Ubaidallâh Aḥrâr, the spiritual guide of the author of this work, by ‘Alî bin al-Ḥusain al-Wâ’iż al-kâshifî, known as Ṣafi, who began to compile it A.H. 893 (A.D. 1488), and finished it after sixteen years’ labour , A.H. 909 (A.D. 1503, 1504) , see ff. 1b, last line; 2a, first line ; 3a, ll. 6 and 7, and the last lines of the last page of this copy . The title رشحات forms a chronogram.

Other copies are noticed in Bodleian Cat., No. 360; Rieu i.p. 353; W. Pertsch, p. 121 (where the contents are fully described) ; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 563 ; Cat. Des MSS. et Xylogr. p. 299; Ḥ. Khalfa iii. p. 461, etc. A somewhat later date than 909, viz. A.H. 912 (A.D. 1506, 1507), appears on fol. 150a, l. 7, in the chronogram: يكشنبه پنجم زشعبان . The author died A.H. 939 (A.D. 1532, 1533) . The Rashaḥât are divided into a maḳâlah (containing the biographies of the former great Naḳshbandî Shaikhs), three maḳṣads (giving an elaborate account of the ancestors, the life, sayings, deeds, and miracles of Shaikh ‘Ubaid-allâh, born in Ramaḍân , A.H. 806 = A.D. 1404, March, April, died the 29th of Rabî’-alawwal, A.H. 895, خمس و تسعين و ثمانمائه , A.D. 1490, February 20, see fol. 307b, ll. 7 and 8) , and a khâtimah (giving the story of the Shaikhs’ death). The full headings of the various chapters are as follows:

مقاله در ذكر طبقات خواجگان سلسلۀ نقشبنديّه قدّس الله تعالى ارواحهم العليّه من اوّلها الى آخرها هم بوجه , اجمال وهم بطريق تفصيل ‘ , on fol. 3b.

مقصد اوّل در ذكر آباء و اجداد و اقرباى حضرت ايشان و تأريخ ولادت آن حضرت و احوال ایّام صبا و شمّۀ از شمائل و , on fol. 180b .اخلاق و اطوار حضرت ايشان و ابتداى سفر و ديدن مشايخ زمان چه در ماوراء النهر و چه در خراسان ‘

مقصد دوم در ذكر بعضى از حقائق و معارف و دقائق و لطائف و حكايات و امثال كه در خلال احوال از حضرت ايشان بى واسطه استماع افتاده ‘ , on fol. 209b.

مقصد سيوم در ذكر بعضى از تصرّفات و امور غريبه كه بطريق خرق عادت از حضرت ايشان ظاهر شده است و نقل ثقات و عدول در آن بصحّت پيوسته ‘ , on fol. 242a.

خاتمه در ذكر تأريخ وفات حضرت ايشان و كيفيّت انتقال و ارتحال آنحضرت ازدار دنيا بدار آخرت , on fol. 307b.

Beginning of the preface, on fol. 1b : الحمد لمن رشّ رشحات الحقائق و الحكم على قلوب العارفين بفيضه الاقدس و الصلوة على المظهر الاتمّ الخ .

This copy is dated the 17th of Dhû-alḥijjah, A.H. 984 (A.D. 1577, March 7), by Muḥammad Ḥusain bin Maulânâ Abû-alḳâsim of Harât. Collated throughout. A Turkish translation of the work by Muḥammad Ma’rûf bin Muḥammad Sharîf al-’Abbâsî, made A.H. 993 (A.D.1585) , is described in Rieu, Turkish Cat., p. 74, printed Constantinople A.H. 1236, and Bûlâḳ A.H. 1256. A small portion of another Turkish translation of the same, by ‘Ârif Ćalabî, is noticed in W. Pertsch, Berlin Turkish Cat., p. 31.

No. 705, ff. 331, ll. 17; Nasta’lîḳ; illuminated frontispiece; size, 71/4 in. by 45/8 in.