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Turkey

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Istanbul

Institution

Nuruosmaniye Yazma Eser KÜtüphanesi

Shelfmark

2856

Contents

Mirṣād al-ʻibād (Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, -1256 or 1257)

Author

Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, -1256 or 1257

نجم الدين أبو بكر عبد الله بن محمد رازى

Show other names

Dāyah, Najm al-Dīn

Necmüddin Dâye

Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, -1256 or 1257 (authorised)

ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Dāyah, Najm al-Dīn, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Daye, Necmeddin, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Najm al-Dīn Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Najm al-Dīn Dāyah, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Najm Rāzī, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Necmeddin Daye, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Necmüddin Dâye, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Rāzī, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Najm al-Dīn, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

نجم الدين أبو بكر عبد الله بن محمد رازى, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

نجم الدين الرازي، عبد الله بن محمد, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

نجم الدين رازى، عبد الله بن محمد, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

نجم الدين رازى، عبدالله بن محمد, -1256 or 1257 (variant)

Biographical notes

Born in 573 AH [1177 CE] in the city of Ray (Iran), Najm al-Dīn Rāzī was a Sufi master belonging to the Kubrawiyya order that became highly influential in Iran, Anatolia and Central Asia from the 14th century [1300-1399 CE] onwards. According to Hamid Algar, he was a Sunni follower of the Ash'arite theology but advocating for the necessity of having a mentor (pīr, shaikh) and the proper regard for the rules and rites of Sufi hospices (khānqah). In 1202 [1202 CE], he left his hometown to travel in Egypt, Syria and Khurāsān (Iran), where he met Najm al-Din Kubrā, d. 1221, who in turn assigned him to one of his disciples Majd al-Dīn Baghdādī, d. 1204. He returned to western Iran a few years later before, apparently forced by the advance of the first Mongol Invasion of Khurāsān (Iran), travelling around 1221 [1221 CE] to Central Anatolia via Hamadān, Irbīl and Diyarbakır, to settled initially in the city of Kayseri. In Seljuq Anatolia he met some of the prominent Sufi scholars of the period. He had encounters with Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar Suhrawardī, Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī and Awḥad al-Dīn Kirmānī. While in Anatolia he sought patronage at the Seljuq court and composed the Mirṣād al-ʻibād, one recension of which he dedicated to Sultan Kayqubad I (see (Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. The path of God's bondsmen from origin to return = (Merṣād al-ʻebād men al-mabdāʼ elāʼl-maʻād): a Sufi compendium. Translated by Algar, Hamid. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1982., pp. pp. 12-13)). Despite the monetary gains and favour received from the Sultan, Najm al-Dīn Rāzī did not stay at the Seljuq court in Konya but resided a few years in Erzincan before leaving Anatolia for good in 1225 [1225 CE]. He spent some time in Tabriz, where he met the Jalāl al-Dīn, Shah of Khorezm, -1231 and then moved to Baghdad, where he lived until his death in 1256 [1256 CE].

Title

Mirṣād al-ʻibād

مرصاد العباد

Notes

This work is considered the author’s masterpiece. It is written “with a fluency, vigour and eloquence that qualify it for comparison with the best of classical Persian prose” ( (Algar, Hamid. "Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn Rāzī Dāya." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. , [n.d.].)). A highly influential work among other Kubrawi authors that achieved a widespread distribution, with numerous copies surviving in Central Asia, Turkey, Iran, India and Europe. The work is a treatise on Sufism, covering different aspects of Sufi beliefs and practices.

Dedicated to Sultan Kayqubad I

The work exists in two recensions, one composed in Kayseri in Ramadan, 619 [1221 CE], and one in Sivas in Rajab, 621 [1223 CE].

Main language of text

Persian

Bibliography

Editions

Okuyan, Mehmet. "NECMEDDÎN-i DÂYE." TDVIA. , [n.d.]: 495-6.

Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. Mirṣād al-ʻibād. Edited by Riyāḥī, Muḥammad Amīn. Tehran: Shirkāt-i Intishārāt-i ʻIlmī va Farhangī, 1986.

Translations

Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. The path of God's bondsmen from origin to return = (Merṣād al-ʻebād men al-mabdāʼ elāʼl-maʻād): a Sufi compendium. Translated by Algar, Hamid. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1982.

Studies

Algar, Hamid. "Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn Rāzī Dāya." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. , [n.d.].

Meier, Fritz. "Stambuler Handschriften dreier persischer Mystiker: ‘Ain al-Quḍāt al-Hamadānī, Nam ad-Dīn al-Kubrā, Nagm ad-dīn Dāya." Der Islam. 24 1937: 1-42.

Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. The path of God's bondsmen from origin to return = (Merṣād al-ʻebād men al-mabdāʼ elāʼl-maʻād): a Sufi compendium. Translated by Algar, Hamid. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1982, 1-24.

Show filiations

British Library Or. 258

National Library 333

Amasya Beyazıt İl Halk Kütüphanesi 1863

Fatih Millet Kütüphanesi 78

Çorum Hasan Paşa İl Halk Kütüphanesi 745

Fatih Millet Kütüphanesi 999

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2066

Nuruosmaniye Yazma Eser KÜtüphanesi 2586

Nuruosmaniye Kütüphanesi 2585

Atatürk Kitaplığı 315

Konya Bölge Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 1863

Kastamonu İl Halk Kütüphanesi 3661

Konya Bölge Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 3086

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 740

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 214

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 210

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 509

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 397

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 329

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1405

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2708

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1497

Fatih Millet Kütüphanesi 999

Fatih Millet Kütüphanesi 78

Manisa Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 1181

Manisa Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 1182

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2067

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2650

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2069

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1099

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2781

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2796

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1705

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2782

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2839

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2840

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2841

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2842

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 186

Nuruosmaniye Yazma Eser KÜtüphanesi 2585

Physical Description

Number of folios

197 ff.

Columns

1

Decoration

Foliation

1a f.

li-sharaf mutal'at al-Sultan al-A'zam zill allah fi l-'alimayn, al-sultan b. sultan Abu Nasr Bayazid Khan b. Muhammad Khan, kullidat sultanatuhu ma tajaddad al-zaman sanat 911

Seal

Waqf of Sultan Osman b. Mustafa

History

Date of copy

possibly 16th. century