[IO Islamic 2236] مرصاد العباد من المبداء الى المعاد

Mirṣâd-al’ibâd min almabdâ ’ilâ-alma’âd

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1804 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 2236 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1804

Mirṣâd-al’ibâd min almabdâ ’ilâ-alma’âd(مرصاد العباد من المبداء الى المعاد).

A large work on Ṣûfism, treating of the soul’s سلوك or pilgrimage from the present to the future life, by Shaikh Abû Bakr ‘Abdallâh bin Muḥammad bin Shâhâwar (شاهاور, or Shâhawar, شاهور, as in the following copy, and those of the British Mus. ; or Shâhâdur, شاهادر, as in the Bodleian and Vienna copies and in Ḥ. Khalfa ; or even Shâmûr, شامور, as in G. Flügel iii. p. 453) alasadî alrâzî (see fol. 291b, l. 11), commonly known as Najm-aldîn Dâya, who was a disciple both of Najm-aldîn Kubrâ (died A.H. 618, the 10th of Jumâdâ-alawwal=A.D. 1221, July 2) and of Majd-aldîn Baghdâdî (died A.H. 607 or 616=A.D. 1210, 1211, or 1219, 1220, see Safînat-alauliyâ, Nos. 124 and 125), and died A.H. 654 (A.D. 1256). This work was completed the 1st of Rajab, A.H. 620 (A.D. 1223, July 31), see fol. 291b, ll. 12 and 13, under the auspices (بتوفيق و تأييد ) of Sulṭân Kaiḳubâd of Rûm (who reigned from A.H. 610 or 616 =A.D. 1213 or 1219, to A.H. 634 or 636=A.D. 1236, 1237, or 1238, 1239), at Sîwâs (سيواس, see in the same page, l. 13), and begins:

حمد بى حدّ و ثناى بى عدّ پادشاهى را كه وجود هر موجودى نتيجۀ جود اوست الخ.

It is divided into five bâbṣ and forty faṣls, see Bodleian Cat., No. 1248; Rieu i.p. 38, and Supplement, p. 10; G. Flügel iii. pp. 417 and 453, where details of the another’s life and works are given, comps. Also Safînat-alauliyâ, No. 128 (col. 288 in this Cat.); Haft Iḳlim, No. 1052 (ib., col. 455); Ḥ. Khalfa v. p. 495, No. 11, 805, and Notices et Extraits, xii. p. 416, col. 2.

Bâb I. در ديباچۀ كتاب , in three faṣls, on fol. 5a.

Bâb II.در بيان مبداء موجودات, in five faṣls, on fol. 15b.

Bâb III.در بيان معاش خلق, in twenty faṣlṣ, on fol. 50a.

Bâb IV.در بيان معاد نفوس سعدا و اشقيا, in four faṣls, on fol. 177a.

Bâb V. در بيان سلوك طوائف مختلف, in eight faṣls, on fol.214b.

Najm-aldîn Dâya wrote besides this work several others, for instance, بحر الحقائق و المعانى or تفسير بحر الحقائق (in the Safînat-alauliyâ, loc. cit., wrongly styled تفسير بحر الدّقائق) , a mystic commentary on the first Sûrah of the Ḳurân (see Ḥ. Khalfa ii. p. 17, No. 1656); سراج القلوب, thirty-three questions addressed to Muḥammad and answered by Him (G. Flügel iii.p. 453) ;

سلوك ارباب النّعم و اصحاب اموال ; حسرت الملوك ; تحفة الحبيب ; and تحفة الملوك (see ib.). A Turkish translation of the present مرصاد العباد, entitled ارشاد المريدين الى المراد , was made by Ḳâsim bin Maḥmûd of Ḳarâ Ḥiṣâr, under Ṣulṭân Murâd II (A.H. 824-855=A.D. 1421-1451).

This copy is dated the 12th of Rabî’-althânî, A.H. 906 (A.D. 1500, Nov. 5), by Majd-aldîn ‘Alî. Entries of former owners on fol. 1a, one from A.H. 1074, the 28th of Ṣafar=A.D. 1663, Oct. 1 (Isḥaḳ Ḥusainî), another from A.H. 1144. The 25th of Rajab=A.D. 1732, Jan. 23 (Muḥammad Riḍâ ibn Maulânâ Ghulâm Muḥammad ‘Alî); older one, viz. from A.H. 933 and 938 (A.D. 1527 and 1531, 1532), on the fly-leaf at the end.

College of Fort William, 1825.

No. 2336, ff. 293, ll. 14; Nasta’lîḳ; the Arabic quotations in Naskhî; size, 6½ in. by 4½ in.