Tauhid (the belief in the unity of God) is a central tenet of Islam that also serves as one of the main inspirations of the Masnavi (The spiritual couplets) of Maulana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-73). This principle also appears in the title of Ibrahim Shahidi Dadah's book Gulshan-i Tauḥīd (Garden of Unitarianism), a work that was inspired by Rumi's well-loved Masnavi. Shahidi Dadah (died 1550 or 1551) was born in Mughlah (Muğla, present-day Turkey) and was a Sufi of the MaulawI, or Mevlevi, order. In Gulshan-i Tauḥīd, Dadah chose from the 25,000 verses of the Masnavi 600 verses and appended to each of them five of his own verses, inspired by and amplifying the original. He completed this work in 937 AH (1530-31). The work has had at least one modern printing (Istanbul, 1881). The manuscript copy presented here was completed in 1233 AH (1817-18), probably in Afghanistan. Each Rumi original verse appears in red ink, followed by the Shahidi Dadah verses in black. The copyist has signed his name as Mir ʻAzim ibn Mulla Muhammad Rajab Balkhi. The manuscript is written in a nastaʻliq script on a light-cream paper. World Digital Library. Versified criticism and interpretation of the classical Mas̲navī of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from colophon. Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in India. Paper: thick cream color Indian paper; no borders; black ink with rubrication; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʻliq; 13 lines in written area 17.5 x 7 cm. Folios 1b-169a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M80. Previous owner's name on flyleaf: Robt. Atkinson, Scholar, 14 Trinity College. Nineteenth century half-leather binding in brown leather with tan marbled boards. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Manuscript. Persian. Caption title on fol. 1a. Written by ʻAbbāsʻalī [illegible]. Gift of Amir Jafar and Parvindokt Hasheminejad, donated by their son, Mehdi Hasheminejad, item belonged to Amir Jafar Hasheminejad's collection and originated from Qajar era minister, Mehdi Lahooti, Badaye Negar's holdings. May 31, 2019. Written in Iran. Paper; coarse, unpolished, light greyish tan color commercial paper; black ink; catchwords. Nastaʻlīq; 10 lines in written area 13.5 x 6 cm. Fol. 1b-51a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding; thin brown leather over cardboard; leather lacking on spine. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from fol. 1a. Ghulām Nabī walad Miyān ʻAbd al-Ghafūr. Copied in Pir Ramzan Ghazi neighborhood, Multan, Pakistan. Paper: glossy laid paper of varying thickness with no visible chain-lines or watermarks; small unwan in red, green, gold and black ink with a thick black border; black ink, section headings in red ink; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʻliq; 13 lines in written area 14.5 x 8.3 cm. Folios 1b-135a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, 1. Contemporary red Indian binding. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Incipit: هذه النسخة المسماة هشت بهشت من تصنيف ختم الشعراء وافصح الفصحاء دركاه اله امير خسرو ... Colophon: تمت تمام كتاب هشت بهشت از يد فقير حقير پير تقصير غلام نبي ولد ميان عبد الغفور ... ساكن محله پير رمضان غازي ...
Manuscript. Persian Caption title. Scribe not identified. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Written in Iran? Paper: yellowish, polished cream color commercial paper with no visible watermarks; black ink, with rubrication and overlining in red; catchwords. Nastaʻliq; 15 lines in written area 13 x 6 cm. 1b-104a. Library of Congress. Manuscript, M306. Binding: brown leather frame and spine with embossed edges and red center panel.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from fol. 1a. Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in India. Paper; cream-color, unpolished laid-paper; with horizontal chain lines and no visible watermarks; manuscript appears to be an older manuscript (perhaps 18th century) with missing sections and conclusion added by a later hand and dated 1238 [1822 or 1823], paper of newer section is also laid paper with horizontal chain lines and no watermarks but of a more recent date; older section has text within a ruled border in gold and red ink; newer sections lack border; some interleaved pages; both sections written in black ink with rubrication; numerous marginal glosses; catchwords on some leaves. Nastaʻliq and naskh; 11 lines (nastaʻliq pages), and 13 lines (naskh pages); in written area 15.3 x 10 cm. Text: fol. 2b-136b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M81b. Disbound; original marbled cardboard binding included in case. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Manuscript. Persian. Caption title. Written by Abī Turāb al-Sirḥānī. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Possibly written in northern Iran. Paper: tan colored glazed laid paper with horizontal chain line and obscured armorial watermark, and countermark G M ; black ink in Naskh; catchwords; lacuna from Folio 1-10 caused by worm damage at top of page, with no loss of text. Naskh; 13 lines in written area 15 x 8.5 cm. Folio 1b-9b; 10a notes. With: Hāz̲ā kitāb-i Sirr-i bakhyah. [December 1853, Year of the Rat]. Bound together subsequent to publication. Library of Congress. Manuscript, M307b. Binding: medium brown leather with embossed gold center medallions front and back.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Manuscript. Persian. Title from colophon of first work. Pagination: 1st work: fol. 1b-105a (18 lines); 2nd work: fol. 105b-155b (16-18 lines); 3rd work: fol. 157a-249b (14 lines) First work written by Muḥammad Mahdī al-Kāshānī. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Written in India? Paper: yellowish, polished cream color commercial paper with no visible watermarks; black ink; catchwords. 1st work: Naskh; 18 lines in written area 15 x 9.5 cm.; 2nd work: Naskh; 16-18 lines in written area 14.5 x 10 cm.; 3rd work: Nastaʻliq; 14 lines in written area 16.5 x 13 cm. Folio 1b-95a; 95b-105a poems; 105b-155b; 157a-249b. Library of Congress. Manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding: black leather.
An incomplete compilation including an Arabic treatise on the sultanate and caliphate based on a hadith of Kaʻb al-Akhbār with an interlinear Persian translation, an Arabic treatise on the legal division of human actions into lawful and unlawful, and two unidentified poems in Persian; the last of the poems is incomplete.
Manuscript. Persian with passages in Arabic. Title supplied by cataloger. Scribe not identified. Written in either Iran or India. Paper; cream color laid paper with horizontal chain lines and watermark of a cross within a circle; black ink with minimal rubrication and some red overlining; catchwords. Naskh; 14 lines in written area 14 x 9.5 cm. Fol. 1a-69b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M140. Flexible brown leather binding. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.