Manuscript/Mixed Material Kitâb-i tezkiret ül-evliyâ Title on flyleaf: Menakib-i evliyâ-yi Şeyh-i Attâr
About this Item
Title
- Kitâb-i tezkiret ül-evliyâ
Other Title
- Title on flyleaf: Menakib-i evliyâ-yi Şeyh-i Attâr
Summary
- Biographies of Muslim saints and sufis.
- This 16th century manuscript in Ottoman Turkish is a translation from the original Persian. The author is the famous mystic Farid al-Din al-'Attar, best known for his Mantiq al-tayr (Conference of the birds), a mystical allegory written in verse. Shown here is Attar's only known prose work. Widely admired for its hagiological content and literary style, it contains the biographies of 70 saints in the Islamic mystical tradition. Although the work is technically a collection of biographies, it interweaves fact and legend and adds excursions into the realm of spiritual imagination in ways that make it less than trustworthy as a historical reference. 'Attar is identified as neither a Sunni nor a Shia, but he heads his list of holy men with Imam Jaʻfar al-Sadiq, the sixth Twelver Shia imam. 'Attar also covers the Sunni jurists al-Shafiʻi and Abu Hanifa. 'Attar's list contains one woman, the ascetic Rabiʻah al-ʻAdawiyah. The volume is bound in red morocco with gilt medallions and corner pieces and includes a traditional fore-edge flap. The text is in a careful naskh script and is fully vowelled. There are guide words, but no pagination. The translator is not identified. The manuscript was copied in 1528 by the scribe Muhammad Hirwi (or Hirawi). The place is not given. World Digital Library.
Names
- ʻAṭṭār, Farīd al-Dīn, -approximately 1230
- Harawī, Muḥammad, active 1528, scribe
Created / Published
- 2 Zilhicce 934 [18 August 1528]
Headings
- - Manuscripts, Turkish--Washington (D.C.)
- - Muslim saints--Biography
- - Sufis--Biography
Notes
- - Below colophon: Katabahu al-ʻabd al-mudhnib Muhammad al--Harawī.
- - Binding is contemporary dark-brown leather envelope binding with gold embossed center medallions front and back, four gold corner decorations; gold and corner decorations also on envelope flap, spine and edge of envelope have be repaired in dark, reddish leather.
- - Folios 1b-345a.
- - Library of Congress. Turkish manuscript, 3.
- - Manuscript.
- - Naskhī script; written in an elegant hand; completely vocalized; 13 lines in written area 17 x 10.5 cm.
- - Paper: tan colored paper interspersed with pages of pink colored laid paper; verical chain lines with no visible watermarks; black ink rubricated; text surrounded by gold border; pages [1b], 1a, and 345b have notes in a later hand; catchwords on rectos.
- - Title from unvan.
- - Written in Turkey?
- - TDV İslam ansikl. v. 4, p. 97-98
- - Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
- - Turkish Arabic script.
- - Near East scanned
Medium
- [1], 345 leaves (13 lines) : bound ; 25.3 x 17 cm
Call Number/Physical Location
- BP189.4 .A8165 1528
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2015421265
Online Format
- image