Kitāb Minhāj al-ʻābidīn, [17th or 18th century].

Fine of copy of Minhāj al-ʻābidīn, a work of Ṣūfī thought, attributed to al-Ghazālī. Description provided by Maxim Romanov.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 515Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; paper suggests 17th or 18th century.Accompanying materials: Acquisitions slip from Yahuda.Former shelfmark: From spine label and inscription on interior of upper cover, "IL 342 " (likely supplied by Yahuda, see Acquisitions slip) ; "٤٦٧" on tail of textblock.Binding: Pasteboards covered in red leather ; Type III binding (without flap) ; board linings in yellow paper ; upper and lower covers bear blind-stamped mandorla with vegetal composition (vertical and horizontal symmetry, at center eight-petalled flower) and tooled border consisting of a series of s-shaped stamps ; sewn in white thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in yellow and brown ; in fair condition with some abrasion and staining.Support: European laid paper with 10 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 25-27 mm. apart, three crescents watermark and a variety of countermarks with 'F' and 'M' (or 'W') ; thick and well-burnished.Decoration: Section headings and keywords marking subsections (such as قصل) rubricated ; subheadings overlined in red.Script: Naskh ; clear Turkish [or possibly Iraqi?] hand ; mainly serifless but occasional (inconsistent) right-sloping headserifs appear on initial and medial lām, alif, etc. ; effect of tilt to the left ; many closed counters ; pointing in curved lines (for two and three dots) ; point of final nūn often assimilated with bowl ; rightward descenders tapered ; alif maqṣūrah often mardūdah ; occasionally vocalized.Layout: Written in 21 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: 9 V(90), V-4+2 (98), i ; almost entirely regular quinions ; front flyleaf affixed to opening leaf ; catchwords present ; pagination in Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes insert and back flyleaf)."Scribal [?]," "triangular," reads: "تم كتاب منهاج العابدين الى الجنة ... تصنيف الامام السعيد حجة الاسلام ابى حامد محمد بن محمد الغزالي برد الله مضجعه ولله الحمد والمنة امين يا معين"Explicit: "دعتنا الى تصنع وتزين مما سطرناه او كلام نظمناه او علم افدناه ونسأله ان يجعلنا واياكم معشر الاخوان بما علمناه عاملين ولوجهه مريدين وان لا يجعله وبالا علينا ويضعه في ميزان الصالحات اذا ردت اعمالنا اليه انه جواد كريم وهذا ما اوردنا ان نذكره في شرح كيفية سلوك طريق الاخرة وقد وفى بالمقصود والحمد لله الذي بنعمته تتم الصالحات وصلى الله على خير مولد دعا الى افضل معبود محمد النبي واله وسلم تسليما الى يوم الدين"Incipit: "املى علينا الشيخ الامام السعيد حجة الاسلام ابو حامد محمد بن محمد الغزالي رحمة الله عليه هذا المختصر وهو اخر كتاب صنفه ولم يستمله الا خواص اصحابه واوله الحمد لله الملك الحليم الجواد الكريم العزيز الرحيم الذي فطر السموات والارض بقدرته ..."Title from heading at opening on p.4.Ms. codex.Brockelmann, C. GAL,Fine of copy of Minhāj al-ʻābidīn, a work of Ṣūfī thought, attributed to al-Ghazālī. Description provided by Maxim Romanov.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in 1926 from the bookseller Isaac Benjamin S.E. Yahuda via purchase transacted on his behalf by Abraham Shalom Yahuda (1877-1951), his younger brother.On front flyleaf (now affixed to opening leaf, p.3), ownership statement in the name of one ʻAbd al-Majīd who served in the turbah of al-Aʻẓamīyah, reads "تملكه افقر البرية عبد المجيد خادم تربة الاعظمية ووكيل الخطابة فيها" ; at close, surrounding colophon, ownership statement in name of one ʻAbd al-Ghanī dated 1218 [1803 or 4], reads: "قد تملك هذا الكتاب افقر العباد واحوجهم الى غفران الملك التواب الفقير الحقير والملك لله الواحد الاله الحاج عبد الغني العبد... [؟] عفى الله عنه بفضله وكرمه وذلك حرر ... [؟] في سنة ۱۲۱۸"

al-Maqṣad al-asná, [746, i.e. 1345 or 1346].

Treatise on the divine attributes, or ninety-nine names of God, and whether men may imitate them. Description provided by Noah Gardiner.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, Isl. Ms. 536Origin: According to colophon on fol.40a, copied ("katabtuhu") in Shīrāz by al-ʻArshī, 746 [1345 or 1346].Accompanying materials: a. Inventory cataloguing slip in hand of Winifred Smeaton Thomas. -- b. Acquisitions slip from YahudaBinding: Covered in blue cloth without boards; Type III (without flap); modern, certainly not original.Support: non-European laid paper; laid lines sometimes run vertically, sometimes horizontally; no chain lines visible; 20 laid lines in 17mm; watermarked European laid paper is used for the substituted leaf at fol.28 as well as for the repairs at the top of fol.40; chain lines spaced roughly 21 mm. apart and running horizontally; watermark may be pot with grapes.Decoration: Text of fol.12a is rubricated.Script: Mainly naskh with elements of taʻlīq; medium Persian hand with words descending onto the baseline, partially pointed and with rare vocalization, somewhat difficult to read; fol.21 and fol.28 are in a small, neat Persian naskh.Layout: Written in 21 lines per page except for the inserted folia (fol. 21 and fol. 28) which range from 23-26 lines per page.Collation: iv, 4 V (40) ; chiefly quinions; catchwords present; pagination added later in pencil, Western numerals.Colophon: "Scribal," rectangular, reads: "كتبته بشيراز سنة 746 العرشي غفر الله له"Explicit: "والفطنة والذكاء يشعر [كذا] بسرعة الادراك [؟] لما غاب عن المدرك والمعرفة قد [كذا] سبق نكرة فلا يمنع عن اطلاق شيء منه الا شيء مما ذكرناه فان حقق لفظ لا يوهم اصلا بين المتفاهمين ولم يرد الشرع بالمنع منه فانا نجوز اطلاقه قطعا والله اعلم بالصواب"Incipit: "قال الشيخ الامام حجة الاسلام ابو حامد محمد بن محمد بن محمد الغزالي نعمة الله ورضوانه عليه فالحمد لله المتفرد بكبريائه وعظمته المتوحد بتعاليه وصمديته الذي قصر اجنحة العقول ... بعد فقد سألني اخ في الله يعين [؟] في الدين اجابته شرح معاني اسماء الله الحسنى ..."Title from recto of first flyleaf.Ms. codex.Hajji Khalifah. Kashf al-ẓunūn,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Treatise on the divine attributes, or ninety-nine names of God, and whether men may imitate them. Description provided by Noah Gardiner.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in 1926 from the bookseller Isaac Benjamin S.E. Yahuda via purchase transacted on his behalf by Abraham Shalom Yahuda (1877-1951), his younger brother.Numerous notes on fol.1a and fol.40b; the former may be prayers; the latter contains what might be described as a hand-drawn seal, as well as a series of numbers and calculations the purpose of which is not at all clear; collation mark "بلغ" on fol.6b; marginal correction fol.35b "فهذا الكتاب لا يحتمله صح"; pages have been trimmed with loss of some marginalia

Kitāb Mishkāt al-anwār fī al-tawḥīd wa-qism al-mukāshafah min qismay ʻulūm al-ṣūfīyah, [193-?].

Careful though incomplete copy of al-Ghazālī's (d.1111) celebrated work on Ṣūfistic theory, arranged in six sections.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 911Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; likely copied in Egypt in the late 1930s and bound for James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974).Accompanying materials: Slip of yellow tissue weight paper with note in purple pencil "مشكاة الانوار للغزالي ٦" (paginated pp.1-2).Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 60Binding: Boards covered in dark green cloth with dark green leather over spine (quarter binding) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in wove paper printed with a floral vegetal pattern in green ; spine gold-stamped with title and decorative accents over raised bands "مشكاة الانوار للغزالى | J.H.D." ; sewing difficult to examine ; stuck-on endbands (blue and white stripe) ; overall in fairly good condition with minor abrasion.Support: Wove paper of two main types (unlined) and machine laid paper (lined).Decoration: Entire text in red ink ; most 'title page' inscriptions in pencil.Script: Ruqʻah ; quick, compact hand in a medium line ; serifless and freely ligatured with mainly closed counters, slight effect of words descending to baseline and inclination to the left, pointing somewhat careless and in strokes rather than distinct dots, final yāʼ usually unpointed.Layout: Written in 16-26 lines per page ; not frame-ruled ; where paper is unlined, lines typically slant upward.Collation: Leaves between sections left fully blank or partially blank (serving as 'title pages' for the various sections, see pp.3, 11, 19, 27, 39, 47) ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes insert).Explicit: "وانما الذي يمكنني الآن ان اعرفك هذه الاقسام وبعض اصناف كل قسم فاقول"Incipit: "الحمد لله مفيض الانوار وفاتح الابصار وكاشف الاسرار ورافع الاستار ... اما بعد فقد سألتني ايها الاخ الكريم فيضك الله لطلب السعادة الكبرى ...."Title from inscription on 'title page' p.3.Ms. codex.Brockelmann, C. GAL,Careful though incomplete copy of al-Ghazālī's (d.1111) celebrated work on Ṣūfistic theory, arranged in six sections.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in the Fall of 1950.On upper pastedown label with ex libris of James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974), stamped with inventory number, "Ex Libris | J. Heyworth-Dunne | D. Lit. (London) | No 7953" ; UM Library inscription on 'title page' (p.3) "Dunning | Heyworth-Dunne | 6-13-51 | 71955" ; possible former inventory mark in pencil on verso of final leaf p.54 "231 / 53" ; occasional marginal glosses

Qawāʻid ṣūfīyah, [193-?].

Careful copy of excerpts from Rawḍat al-ṭālibīn wa-ʻumdat al-sālikīn, a treatise on the principles of Ṣūfism attributed to the renowned al-Ghazālī (d.1111), attributed in an inscription penciled on the opening leaf (p.1) to Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad Zarrūq al-Burnusī al-Fāsī (d.1493).Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 984Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; likely copied in Egypt in the late 1930s and bound for James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974).Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. 133Binding: Boards covered in black textured cloth ; pastedowns and flyleaves in wove paper printed with a geometric pattern (resembling a scale pattern) in olive green or dull gold ; cover gold-stamped with "قواعد موفية [كذا]" ; sewn in white thread over two recessed cords ; overall in fairly good condition.Support: Mainly lined / ruled wove paper, ledger style with a final gathering in machine laid paper with watermark of "GOUVERNEMENT EGYPTIEN" with star and crescent at center and other smaller crescents with three stars (see p.101 to close and compare Walz, "The Paper trade of Egypt and the Sudan," p.91).Script: Naskh with influence of ruqʻah ; compact, modern hand in a thin to medium line ; partially but irregularly seriffed with right-sloping head-serif on occasional lām, slight effect of tilt to the left, curvilinear descenders, open and closed counters, pointing somewhat in strokes rather than distinct dots, final yāʼ usually unpointed ; some passages in ruqʻah.Layout: Written mainly in 16 lines per page.Collation: i, 3 IV(24), III (30), 2 IV(46), 2 II(54), i ; chiefly quaternions ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization.Explicit: "النفس وزين بالتقوى وايد بالهدى وهذب بالورع وغذي بالذكر والله تعالى اعلم"Incipit: "فصل اعلم ان الوقوف مع الخلق والنفس حجاب عن الحق ورؤية الافعال شرك لان افعال العباد مضافة الى الله تعالى خلقا وايجادا والى العبد كسبا ليثاب على الطعاة ويعاقب على المعصية ..."Title from inscription on 'title page' (p.1).Ms. codex.Walz, Terence. "The Paper trade of Egypt and the Sudan in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its re-export to the Bilad as-Sudan." In The Trans-Saharan book trade: manuscript culture, Arabic literacy, and intellectual history in Muslim Africa. Graziano Krätli and Ghislaine Lydon, Eds. (Leiden : Brill, 2011):Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī. Kitāb Rawḍat al-ṭālibīn wa-ʻumdat al-sālikīn. Edited by Muḥammad Bakhīt. Bayrūt : Dār al-Nahḍah al-Ḥadīthah, [1966].Brockelmann, C. GAL,Careful copy of excerpts from Rawḍat al-ṭālibīn wa-ʻumdat al-sālikīn, a treatise on the principles of Ṣūfism attributed to the renowned al-Ghazālī (d.1111), attributed in an inscription penciled on the opening leaf (p.1) to Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad Zarrūq al-Burnusī al-Fāsī (d.1493).Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in the Fall of 1950.On upper pastedown, label with ex libris of James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974), stamped with inventory number, "Ex Libris | J. Heyworth-Dunne | D. Lit. (London) | No. 7928" ; UM Library inscription on p.3 "Dunning | Heyworth-Dunne | 6-13-51 | 71955" ; rare marginal glosses

Mukhtaṣar Minhāj al-qāṣidīn, [14th or 15th century].

Clear though incomplete copy of Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī's abridgment of Ibn al-Jawzī's Minhāj al-qāṣidīn, itself based on al-Ghazzālī's Iḥyāʼ ʻulūm al-dīn ; acephalous and ending abruptly with end wanting. Description provided by Maxim Romanov.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 514Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; paper and hand suggest 14th or 15th century.Accompanying materials: a. Inventory cataloguing slip in hand of Winifred Smeaton Thomas. -- b. Acquisitions slip from Yahuda (paginated pp.1-4).Former shelfmark: From spine label and inscription on interior of upper cover, "IL 326" (likely supplied by Yahuda, see acquisitions slip).Binding: Pasteboards covered in combed marbled paper (salmon, orange, blue, etc.) with brown leather over spine and edges/turn-ins ; Type II binding (once with flap, though now lost) ; board linings in laid European paper ; sewn in olive thread, two stations ; in poor condition with upper cover completely detached at spine, spine leather and lower cover completely detached from textblock, flap lost, some abrasion, delamination of boards, etc. ; housed in box for protection.Support: non-European (Arab) laid paper with 7 laid lines per cm. (vertical) and chain lines grouped in threes with chains spaced roughly 12 mm. apart and 42 mm. between groups.Decoration: Keywords introducing sections are set apart via elongation of horizontal strokes ; occasional overlining and accents (for section headings) in brick-red ink ; textual dividers (paragraph marks) in the form of circle or isolated hāʼ with dot at center.Script: Naskh ; clear Syrian hand ; serifless, inconsistently pointed (though in distinct dots), and with a very slight tilt to the left ; occasional vocalization.Layout: Written in 22-26 lines per page.Collation: V-2 (8), 8 V(88), V-1 (97), 5 V(147), V-1 (156) ; chiefly quinions ; at least two leaves are mossing from the opening quire, possibly more ; quire numbering in the form of full words, most often lost to trimming ; catchwords present at the end of each quire ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes inserts).Explicit: "قيل كان ابو الدردا رضي الله عنه يقعد الى القبور فقيل له في ذلك فقال اجلس الى قوم تذكروني معادي وان قمت لم يغتابوني ميمون بن مهران خرجت مع عمر بن عبد العزيز الى المقبرة فلما نظر"Incipit: " قراه او سمعه او نظر فيه وان يجعله خالصا لوجهه وان يختم لنا بخير ويوفقنا لما يرضيه من القول والعمل والنية وان يسامحنا في تقصيرنا وتفريطنا ولا يكلنا الى انفسنا طرفة عين ولا الى اجد من خلفه فانه حسبنا ونعم الوكيل"Title supplied by cataloguer.Ms. codex.Hājjī Khalīfah. Kashf al-ẓunūn,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Clear though incomplete copy of Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī's abridgment of Ibn al-Jawzī's Minhāj al-qāṣidīn, itself based on al-Ghazzālī's Iḥyāʼ ʻulūm al-dīn ; acephalous and ending abruptly with end wanting. Description provided by Maxim Romanov.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired in 1926 from the bookseller Isaac Benjamin S.E. Yahuda via purchase transacted on his behalf by Abraham Shalom Yahuda (1877-1951), his younger brother.Kabīkaj invocation at head of opening leaf recto (p.5) ; a few glosses and marginal corrections

[al-Risālah al-qudsīyah fī al-ʻaqāʼid ... etc., 17th or 18th century].

Fine copy of al-Ghazālī's (d.1111) work on the articles of faith taken from his Iḥyāʼ ʻulūm al-dīn, preceded by a work on the unity of God (also attributed to him), a work on ʻilm al-nafs of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Asʻad al-Dawānī (d.1502 or 3) and an anonymous work on fiqh.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 1032Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; paper, etc. would suggest mid to late 17th or 18th century. Dated ownership statement on back flyleaf (p.103) provides a terminus ante quem of 1778.Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 181Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark red brown leather ; Type III binding (without flap) ; board linings in yellow-tinted laid paper ; lower cover carries tooled border and central rule ; sewn in heavy cream thread, two stations ; paper label on spine describes contents "كتاب في التصوف لحجة الاسلام ... والرسالة القدسية في العققايد [اي العقايد]" ; overall in quite poor condition with upper cover entirely lost, abrasion, staining, etc. ; repairs to spine in small pieces of striped textile at head and tail ; housed in carboard portfolio case for protection.Support: European laid paper mainly with 8 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 25 mm. apart (horizontal), and watermarks of three stylized hats (tre cappelli, see p.32-33, 93-95, etc.) and "VG" (see p.36, 76-77, 84, etc.), dense and sturdy though not especially thick, crisp and transluscent, well-burnished, some leaves tinted light brown or buff ; flyleaves and openingDecoration: Keywords and section headings rubricated (mainly opening work).Script: Naskh ; neat, carefully executed Ottoman hand in a medium line ; mainly serifless with effect of tilt to the left, rounded with curvilinear descenders, pointing (for two and three dots) in strokes rather than distinct dots, open and closed counters, some sweeping descenders, final yāʼ usually unpointed.Layout: Written in 21 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: i, 2 V(20), V+2 (32), V (42), IV (50), i ; almost exclusively quinions ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes flyleaves).Incipit: [Risālah fī taḥqīq kalimat al-tawḥīd] "الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد واله اجمعين رب تمم بالخير قال الشيخ جمال الاسلام احمد بن محمد بن محمد الغزالي رضي الله عنه جاء في الحديث الصحيح والنقل الصريح الوارد عن سيد البشر محمد المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلامه انه قال اخبارا عن الله تعالى كلمة التوحيد لا اله الا الله حصني فمن دخل حصني امن من عذابي ..." ; [Risālah fī ʻilm al-nafs] "الحمد لله الذي لا يخيب من بابه امل ولا يحرم عن جنابه عامل ... اما بعد فهذه رسالة حرر في علم النفس وجعلتها ثلاثة فصول ..." ; [al-Tadhkirah] "الحمد لله رب العالمين والعاقبة للمتقين والصلوة على نبيه محمد واله اجمعين اما بعد فهذا مختصر رتبته على قسمين احدهما في اصول الكلام على طريق اهل السنة والجماعة وهم اصحاب امامنا العلامة ابي الحسن الاشعري رحمه الله وثانيها في علم الاصول الفقه وسميته بالتذكرة مستعينا بالله باتمامه ..." ; [al-Risālah al-qudsīyah fī al-ʻaqāʼid] "الحمد لله الذي ميز عصابة السنة بانوار اليقين وآثر رهط الحق بالهداية الى دعائم الدين ..."Title supplied by cataloguer from 'title page' for final work on p.73 and spine label.Ms. codex.4. p.73-p.101 : al-Risālah al-qudsīyah fī al-ʻaqāʼid / al-Ghazālī.3. p.62-p.73 : al-Tadhkirah.2. p.49-p.61 : [Risālah fī ʻilm al-nafs] / Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Asʻad al-Dawwānī.1. p.4-p.48 : [Risālah fī taḥqīq kalimat al-tawḥīd] / al-Ghazālī.Āghā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī. al-Dharīʻah ilá taṣānīf al-Shīʻah,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Fine copy of al-Ghazālī's (d.1111) work on the articles of faith taken from his Iḥyāʼ ʻulūm al-dīn, preceded by a work on the unity of God (also attributed to him), a work on ʻilm al-nafs of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Asʻad al-Dawānī (d.1502 or 3) and an anonymous work on fiqh.Mode of access: Internet.Purchased in Egypt by Mr. Sulaiman ;Statements on front flyleaf (p.1) dated 1 Jumādá I 1200 [ca. 2 March 1786] dated 1 Rabīʻ I 1205 [November 1790], notes and excerpts including list of commentaries on front flyleaf (pp.1-2) and 'title page' (p.3) ; ownership statement on back flyleaf (p.103) in name of Muḥammad Amīn ibn Munlā Walī al-Ḥanafī al-Māturīdī al-Qādirī (محمد امين بن منلا ولى الحنفى الماتريدى القادرى / Mehmet Emin bin Munla Veli) dated 1192 [1778] accompanied by partially effaced oval seal impression ; on back flyleaf (p.104) death notice dated 27 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1200 [October 1786] for a son Muḥammad (Mehmet / محمد ) aged 14 months ; occasional marginal corrections and collation marks (بلغ) ; UM Library inscription "Spec. Coll. Lib. 690713-156 Sulaiman 1968" on back flyleaf (p.104)