Ṣûfism and Ethics [IO Bijapur 128] Anthology of three fragmentary texts

• Ṣûfism and Ethics. 
• This manuscript is now IO Bijapur 128 in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 699 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

699.

B 128. Size 9^3/4 in. by 6^1/2 in.; foll. 172. Twenty-five lines in a page.

A defective MS., misplaced in binding. It contains:

I. Foll. 1-35. A Commentary on ‘Omar b. al-Fâriḍ’s (d. A.H. 632) التائية ; preceded by an introduction, which begins: الحمد لله الذى نظم عقود اجمال جماله ‘ فى منثورات درر تفاصيل جلاله.

The author is not named, but it is stated at the end that he wrote this commentary in the course of A.H. 814.

Transcribed by Ḥâjjî Ḥasan b. Muẓaffar b. Ḥâjjî Ḥasan. Dated 2nd Muḥarram, 871.

On the margin of this and the following text is written a Persian commentary on the Tâ’îyah ; imperfect at the beginning.

II. Foll. 36-38, 39-54, 81. The beginning and two other fragments of a Commentary on a treatise (رسالة) on Mystic Theology (التوحيد) , by Abu Ḥâmid Muḥammad. This commentary was written by a grandson of his, whose name is not mentioned. It is entitled

كتاب التمهيد فى شرح قواعد التوحيد 

In the preface the author polemizes against the philosophers. It begins:

الحمدلله الذى جعل مكامن ظلال جلاله ‘ مجالى انوار جماله ‘ .... امّا بعد فان مسئلة التوحيد حسب ما حققه المشاهدون الخ

This is a commentary by قال... اقول .

III. Foll. 67v.-79, 90-172. A rather obscure theosophic treatise founded upon the allegorical meaning of the letters and numbers. The author, who is not named, completed it at the beginning of Sha’bân, 823.

He relates (fol.68) that, in pursuit of mystic knowledge, he and his friend Sharaf al-dîn ‘Alî Yazdî (d. A.H. 850) repaired to مصر الولاية و الهداية اعنى السدّة السنية السيّدية , etc.

It is divided into a succession of paragraphs, termed فحص ; hence the inscription كتاب المفاحص , which is added by another hand on the first page. Each of these paragraphs has a special attribute, as فحص احصائىّ , ﻓ حكمىّ , ﻓ ذوقىّ , etc.

Begins:

الحمدلله الذى اعدّ عديد عباده ‘ لفهم كمال مراده ‘ بانزال اعداد بيّنات الكتاب الخ

Dated Ramaḍân, 870.

This piece is preceded (foll. 80, 82-89, 55-67r.), and accompanied on the margin, by fragments of several Persian treatise on similar subjects, and also the beginning of a Persian commentary on Ibn al-Fâriḍ’s التائية , probably the same as that mentioned under no. I.

Neatly written but injured by damp, and frequently mutilated on the margin.

Inscribed اين كتاب شرح قصيده تاييه و شرح محفوظات در علم معانى و بيان 

Cf. Catal. 237, xii. xiii. (?).