On creation in Islam and Islamic ethics. Ṭarab al-majālis (The delight of assemblies) is a book of moral advice written in the 13th century by Husayn ibn ʻAlim, also known as Mir Husayni Haravi (1272 or 1273-circa 1317), a well-known Sufi. Born in Ghor (in present-day Afghanistan), the author appears to have spent much of his adult life in nearby Herat, hence the appellation Haravi. The work is divided into five sections: creation; various classes of human beings; the superiority of humans to animals; ethical behavior; and vice. The edition presented here is a lithographic printing produced in Tashkent, Russian Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan) in 1914-15, during the waning years of the tsarist empire. It was published at the Yakovlev printing press, which was known for printing works in Persian and other non-European languages during the first decades of the 20th century. The book has sustained considerable damage to a number of its initial and final leaves and has been partially repaired. World Digital Library.
Began with sene. 1, numara 1 (1300 [1884]); ceased with numara 9 (1300 [1884]). Master Microform held by: DLC Inscriptions on front and back covers: [tughra] el-Müstenid bi-tevfikât ir-Rabbâniye, Melik üd-Devlet-il-aliyet-il-Osmaniye, es-Sultan ibn us-Sultan is-Sultan el-Gazi Abdülhamid / Han-i Sâni Hazretlerinin taraf-i eşref-i mülukânelerinden / Vaşingtonda Meclis-i Mebusân azasından Mösyö / Hewit hazretlerinin marifetile Muctema-yi Amerika Kütüphane-yi Milliye ihda buyurulmuştur 1302-1884 = Gift made by H.I. M. the Sultan / Abdul-Hamid II. / to the national library of the / United States of America / through the Honorable / A.S. Hewitt / member / of the House of Representatives / in Washington / A.H.1302-1884 A.D. = Don fait par S.M.I le Sultan / Abdul-Hamid II / à la Bibliothèque nationale / des États-Unis d'Amérique / par l'entremise de l'honorable / Mr. A.S. Hewitt / membre / de la Chambre des Représentants / a Washington / A.H. 1302-1884 A.D. Microfilm. Washington, D.C., United States Library of Congress, [19--]. 1 reel, 34 mm. Description based on: 1, numara 1 (1300 [1884]). Latest issue consulted: 9 (1300 [1884]). Original pagination: v. ;22 cm.
Master Microform held by: DLC Inscriptions on front and back covers: [tughra] el-Müstenid bi-tevfikât ir-Rabbâniye, Melik üd-Devlet-il-aliyet-il-Osmaniye, es-Sultan ibn us-Sultan is-Sultan el-Gazi Abdülhamid / Han-i Sâni Hazretlerinin taraf-i eşref-i mülukânelerinden / Vaşingtonda Meclis-i Mebusân azasından Mösyö / Hewit hazretlerinin marifetile Muctema-yi Amerika Kütüphane-yi Milliye ihda buyurulmuştur 1302-1884 = Gift made by H.I. M. the Sultan / Abdul-Hamid II. / to the national library of the / United States of America / through the Honorable / A.S. Hewitt / member / of the House of Representatives / in Washington / A.H.1302-1884 A.D. = Don fait par S.M.I le Sultan / Abdul-Hamid II / à la Bibliothèque nationale / des États-Unis d'Amérique / par l'entremise de l'honorable / Mr. A.S. Hewitt / membre / de la Chambre des Représentants / a Washington / A.H. 1302-1884 A.D. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Microfilm. Washington, D.C., United States Library of Congress, [19--]. 1 reel, 34 mm. Record based on source data supplied by New York University. Original pagination: 45 pages ;17 cm
Manuscript. Persian. Title from colophon. Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in India. Paper; cream-color laid paper of varying thickness, with no visible chain-lines or watermarks; black ink with rubrication; catchwords on versos. Nastaʻliq; 14-16 lines in written area approximately 18 x 9.5 cm. Folios 1a-200b Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M 62. Limp red leather binding; originally with embossed gold medallions in center and at four corners from which the gold has now been rubbed off. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Ẓafarnāmah (Book of victory) by ʻAli Yazdi (circa 1390-1454) is a biographical work dealing with the life of the central Asian conqueror Timur (reigned 1370-1405). Completed in around 1424, Yazdi's work is based in part on an earlier work, also entitled Ẓafarnāmah, by Nizam al-Din ʻAli Shami (who completed his work in 1404). A poet and scholar, Yazdi wrote works on numerology, astrolabes, and a variety of other topics, and he was renowned for his knowledge of ʻūlūm-i gharība (the esoteric sciences). He was summoned to the provincial capital of Shiraz around 1419 by Timur's grandson, Ibrahim Sultan (1394-1435), and asked to compile and codify the records related to the life of Timur. The present copy of the Ẓafarnāmah is the first volume of a two-volume edition, published under the aegis of the Asiatic Society at the Baptist Mission Press in Calcutta in 1887. The editor, Maulawi Muhammad Ilahdad, was a professor in the Arabic department at the Calcutta Madrasah. Ilahdad notes that the decision to publish this work in two volumes was made in order to avoid a bulky single volume. The first volume of this edition covers the events of Timur's life to 1397 and the conclusion of Timur's five-year campaign in the west that resulted in the conquest of Kurdistan, Southern Persia, and Georgia, and in the fall of Baghdad. World Digital Library.
Ẓuhūr al-amān (The advent of security) is a book on civics published during the reign of Ammanullah Khan (1919-29) as amir of Afghanistan. The book's title pays homage to the name of Ammanullah Khan himself. In its treatment of the duties of the members of Afghan society to the ruler and to each other, Ẓuhūr al-amān appears to highlight the challenges faced by Ammanullah Khan in his efforts to modernize Afghanistan. The book is divided into more than 30 short chapters describing the rights and responsibilities of the ruler, of persons living within a family unit, and of members of Afghan society as a whole. Some sections, such as one on the rights that are to be afforded to the king (ḥuquq-i lazima bar padishah), are further divided into subsections. The book begins with several chapters on religious matters, including those on tauhid (the unity of God), on ʻibada (worship), and on fahm-i sharīʻat-i rasūl ʻalayhi al-salām (the sharia). Ẓuhūr al-amān was published on October 11, 1923, by the then newly established Ministry of Education. The author of the work, a religious scholar by the name of ʻAbd al-Haqq, lists his father as ʻAbd al-ʻAziz from the village of Lower Arghanda in the township of Paghman, near Kabul. He highlights, as well, his tribal affiliation with the well-known Pushtun tribe of Suleimankhel. World Digital Library.