[IO Islamic 1523] ترجمۀ روضة الرياحين

• Tarjuma-i-Rauḍat-alriyâḥîn.
• This manuscript is now IO Islamic 642 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 1523 here with notations and hyperlinks].

642

Tarjuma-i-Rauḍat-alriyâḥîn ( ترجمۀ روضة الرياحين ) .

Biography of Saints and great Shaikhs, translated from the Arabic work (or more correctlyروض ) روضة الرياحين فى حكايات الصّالحين , by ‘Abdallâh bin As’ad alyâfi’î alyamanî, or with his fuller name : Abû-alsa’âdat or alsa’âdât (in the Cat. Codd. Or. Lugd. Bat. once: Abû-alsiyâdat) ‘Afîf-aldîn Abû Muḥammad ‘Abdallâh bin As’ad bin ‘Alî alyâfi’î alyamanî, who died A.H. 768, the 20th or 21st of Jumâdâ-alâkhar (A.D. 1367, February 21); compare O. Loth, Arabic MSS. of the India Office Library, p. 202 [ed note: IO Islamic 708]; Cat. Codd. Or. Lugd. Bat. ii. p. 299; Ḥ. Khalfa iii. p. 488; the Safînat-alauliyâ, No. 62, etc.

He was the author of many other similar works, all dealing more or less with the great Shaikh ‘Abd-alḳâdir Jîlânî and the Ḳâdirî Saints, viz. ارشاد و التطريز (Ḥ. Kh. i. p. 254); اسنى المفاخر , in praise of the Shaikh ‘Abd-alḳâdir ( Ḥ. Kh. i. p. 293); اطراف التواريخ (ib. i. p. 344); خلاصة المفاخر , also a history of that Shaikh (ib. iii. p. 167; comp. Bodleian Cat., No. 332) درر فى مدح سيّد البشر , a poem (ib. iii. p. 221); كفاية المعتقد (ib. v. p. 226); مرآة الجنان و عبرة اليقظان , a history from the Hijrah down to A.H. 750 (ib. v. p. 481; comp. O. Loth, Arabic MSS., p. 201 [ed note: IO Islamic 572], and G. Flügel ii. p. 43); مرهم العلل المعطّلة (ib. v. p. 501 ); مناقب الامام مايه , in praise of Imâm Mâyah of the Ash’ariyyah sect (ib . vi. p. 151) ; منهل المفهوم (ib . vi. p. 225) ; نشر الريحان (ib. vi. p. 342); نشر المحاسن العاليّة (ib . vi. p. 344) ; نفحات الازهار ( ib. vi. p. 366) ; نوادر المعانى (ib. vi. p. 387); نهاية المحيا , a poem with commentary in praise of famous Shaikhs (ib. vi. p. 404) ; المرهم فى الاصول الدينيّة and the epitome of the same, styled الشاش المُعْلَم شاووش كتاب المرهم الخ (Cat. Codd. Or. Lugd.Bat. ii. p. 315); فوائد جليلة عظيمة النفع جداًّ مجموعة من مواضع متفرّقة من كتاب الدّر النظيم (ib. iv. p. 341; comp. Ḥ. Khalfa iii . p. 197), etc. etc. The present work is also styled: نزهة العيون النواظر و تحفة القلوب الحواضر فى حكايات الصاحين و الاولياء الاكابر .

This prose-translation in Persian, which is contained in our copy, is not mentioned anywhere. It was made by Faḍl-Allâh bin Asad-allâh alḥusaini ala’râbî alsimnânî, with the takhalluṣ Jahânî (see fol. 3^b, last line but two), under Sulṭân Muḥammad Ḳuṭbshâh (who reigned A.H. 1020-1035 = A.D. 1612-1626); see fol. 5^b, l.1. It contains 500 ḥikâyât in two faṣls: 1. در شمّۀ از فضائل اولياء سالكين و فقراى صالحين , on fol. 8^a;

2. در اثبات كرامات اولياى عظام و اصفياى كرام و ظهور كرامات on fol.24^a . The first story begins on fol. 31^a with a legend of Abû-alfaiḍ Dhû-alnûn Miṣrî (who died in Sh’abân, A.H. 240= A.D. 855, January). The Persian translator has added to the original work a long appendix of his own, or khâtimah, treating especially of the life and miracles of the great Shaikh ‘Abd-alḳâdir Jîlânî, in three faṣls, viz.:

1. در شرح احوال بعضى مشايخ , on fol. 371^a.

2. در جواب شبهاتى كه بعضى از فقها مثل ابن جوزى و غيره در حكايات اين طائفۀ عليّه أورده اند, on fol. 410^b.

3.در بيان برخى از عقائد مشايخ و علماى ربّانين بطريق اختصار , on fol. 410^b.

Beginning of the preface:

حمد و ثنا مبدعى را كه از بدايت صباح وجود تا نهايت رواح عدم هرچه هست در حدّ پادشاهىء اوست الخ

A lacuna after fol. 7. Fol. 200 and several of the last leaves injured. The title جامع الحكايات , given to this book on fol. 1^a, is a mistake, probably caused by the initial words, which are identical with those of Muḥammad ‘Aufî’s well-known work of the same title; see Nos. 600-604 in this Catalogue.

Dated the 10th of Jumâdâ -alawwal, A.H. 1026 (A.D. 1617, May 16), which cannot be much later than the completion of the work itself.

No. 1523, ff. 412, ll. 19; Nasta’lîḳ; size, 12. By 7^1/8 in.