Ṣûfism and Ethics [IO Bijapur 417]

• Ṣûfism and Ethics.
• This manuscript is now IO Bijapur 417 in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 660 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

660.

B 417. Size 9 in. by 5 in.; foll. 8. About twenty lines in a page.

A treatise on the duties of the novice (المُريد) , evidently by IBN ‘ARABÎ, and identical with the رسالة كنه ما لا بدّ منه , mentioned by Ḥ. Kh. iii. 435.

It begins:الحمد لله ... سألتَ ايها المريد المسترشد عن كنه ما لا بد للمريد منه فاجبتك فى هذه الاوراق على ما سالت والله ولى التوفيق اعلم ايها المريد ... ان القرب من الله تعالى لا يعلم الا بتعريفه ايّانا بذلك الخ.

This introduction is followed by a succession of rules, each introduced by و مما لا بدّ منه, and subsequently by فصل و عليك ﺑ .. .

Ill written, by ‘Abdallah b. ‘Alî b. Aḥmad b. ‘Alî b. ‘Abd al-raḥmân Bâ ‘Alawî. Dated 18th Sha’bân, 1046.

Inscribed اين رساله در بيان قرب النوافل وقرب الفرايض.