Abstract: This diwan, Al-Faydh al- Muhammadi wa-al-Madad al-Ahmadi wa Huwa Diwan (The superabundance of the commendable and the reinforcement of the yet-more commendable: Poetry collection), is a book of poems, mostly in praise of the Prophet Muhammad or in supplication of his blessing and assistance. Some of the verses vary from this theme, for example, poetic prayers addressing Ahmad al-Rifa’i, founder of the famous Sufi order of which the author, Abū al-Hudá al-Ṣayyādī, was a prominent (and controversial) leader. Abu al-Huda was a prolific writer who rose from humble origins in rural Syria to become teacher and advisor to Sultan Abdülhamid II. He was a religious figure of great importance, and a power broker whose influence at the Ottoman court was unrivaled. He was responsible for the appointment to high office of many contemporaries, specifically Ahmad Izzat al-Abid (1851−1924), a Syrian adviser to the sultan. Abū al-Hudá’s presence as an Arab at the imperial court involved him in Ottoman-Islamic politics, causing his decisions to be felt in many parts of the empire. He was associated with major figures of the Islamic reform movement, such as Mahmud Shukri al-‘Alusi (1856−1924) in Iraq and Muhammad ‘Abdu (1849−1905) in Egypt. Leadership of the Rifa’iyah Sufis caused rival orders to try to undermine his religious claims and court position. History has not been kind to Abū al-Hudá. His rapid rise to power, key patronage position, and the ambiguities of his writings led him to be termed an obscurantist, reactionary, and fraud. It seems ironic that one of the sultan’s favored links to his Arab subjects should be, until today, widely ignored in Arab historiography. An indefatigable writer and publicist, he is credited with more than 200 works. The poems in this collection are, for the most part, short. Couplets and short verses are interspersed with longer poems. Many verses were written on special occasions, such as the post-Ramadan feast, or composed to commemorate an event.Physical description: 207 pages ; 22 centimeters
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 14 of 1853, dated 28 February 1853. The enclosure is numbered 3 and is dated 10 December 1852.The enclosure consists of a letter from HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Tehran, Justin Sheil, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, enclosing under a flying seal (for the information of the Governor in Council) copies of nine of his despatches addressed to HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Malmesbury. These despatches relate to affairs in Persia [Iran] and Herat, and are dated 11 November to 8 December 1852.The despatches report matters including:Sheil’s stated intention to remark to the Sedr Azim [Ṣadr-i Aʿẓam] that a specific declaration is required to counteract articles which had appeared in the
Tehran Gazette‘boasting’ of the annexation of Herat to the dominions of the Shah (an enclosed copy of a translated paragraph from the
Tehran Gazetteof 11 November 1852 is included)Sheil enclosing a translation of a firman nominating Abbas Koolee Khan ['Abbās Quli Khān] to a permanent residence in Herat, to fulfil a function, Sheil states, of Vizier or Political Secretary but not a diplomatic agentA party of Toorkomans [Turkoman or Turkmen people] capturing 'about 30 Persians' in Mazandaran, and the apparent displeasure of Persian Ministers at the Prince Governor of the province requesting Russian help to pursue and punish the Toorkomans, thereby providing an opportunity for the Russians to extend their influence in MazandaranThree letters (translated copies enclosed) ‘of a rather distant date’ which Sheil had received from Fatteh Mahomed Khan [Fath' Muḥammad Khān], an Afghan ‘Chief’ and ‘one of the chief notables of Herat’, who had been seized as an ‘English’ partisan and sent into captivity in Beerjend [Bīrjand] when Persian supremacy had lately been established in HeratNews received by Sheil that Sam Khan [Sām Khān], the former Persian Agent in Herat, had marched into Herat with a body of troops; the Sedr Azim responding to Sheil’s request for an explanation by stating that Sam Khan had acted without orders from the Persian Government, that his actions were entirely in opposition to their wishes, and that a messenger had been sent to recall Sam Khan immediately (in an enclosed exchange of notes between Sheil and the Sedr Azim); and the Sedr Azim’s verbal assertion that the troops accompanying Sam Khan were only of his tribe, and that this occurrence could be attributed to the intrigues of the Governor of Khorasan, in order to prevent his recall as GovernorSheil highlighting the announcement by the Sedr Azim of the intention to send troops to oppose Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāʾi] of Cabul [Kabul] and Kohendil Khan [Kuhandil Khān Muḥammadzā'ī] of Candahar [Kandahar], suspected of planning a new expedition in Herat territoryA dispute between the Persian and Ottoman Governments regarding the displaying of their respective flags at their embassies in Tehran and Constantinople [Istanbul] (enclosed copies of two despatches from Sheil to Colonel Hugh Rose, HM Chargé d’Affaires at Constantinople, are included)An agreement having been reached with the Persian Government regarding issues in relation to the nomination of ‘English’ consuls in Asterabad [Gorgan] and Resht [Rasht] (with enclosed translated correspondence between Sheil and the Sedr Azim)Sheil enclosing a portion of a letter from the British Agent in Meshed [Mashhad], containing intelligence from HeratThe arrival in Tehran of Mahomed Sedeek Khan [Sayyid Muḥammad Siddiq Khān Alakuzā'ī], brother of the ‘Chief’ of Herat, with five other ‘Chiefs’ of Herat, and two of them, Khan Dilaver Khan [Khān Dilāvar Khān] and Ser Afraz Khan [Sarafrāz Khān], placing themselves in sanctuary at the British mission, causing the Shah and the Sedr Azim ‘great umbrage’, and with the latter sending Sheil a letter protesting against their protection.Physical description: There is an abstract of contents of the despatch, numbered 1-3, on folio 302. The number 3 is repeated for reference on the verso of the last folio of the enclosure.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 73 of 1840, dated 25 September 1840. The enclosures are dated 21-24 September 1840.They consist of correspondence relating to the security of communications in Aden and the Red Sea area and onwards to London via Alexandria, in the event of a rupture with Mehmet Ali [Muḥammad ‘Alī Pāshā al-Mas‘ūd bin Āghā, Ruler of Egypt]. An alternative route to Europe via Bagdad [Baghdad] and Constantinople [Istanbul] is discussed.Correspondents include: the Political Agent at Aden (Stafford Bettesworth Haines); the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq]; the Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Military Board, Bombay.Physical description: 1 item (99 folios)
Abstract: This part contains correspondence and India Office Minute Papers relating to the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Mesopotamia [Iraq], mainly concerning the Baghdad branch.It includes papers regarding:The decision of the British Government, on the recommendation of local British political authorities, to close the Baghdad branch of the Imperial Ottoman Bank for the duration of the First World War, on the grounds that the Bank was identified with enemy interests, and it continued to do enemy business up to the date of the British occupation of Baghdad, and was recognised by the Turkish authorities as a Government bank.The proposal of the London Agency of the Bank to send their representative Mr Critchley to Baghdad to enquire into the interests of the Bank’s shareholders and clients in Mesopotamia, and their later proposal to send Mr H R Saltmarsh and Mr E E Humphries instead of Critchley.The proposal of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, that the Baghdad branch of the Bank should be allowed to re-open.Permission being granted to the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Basra to correspond with its Constantinople [Istanbul] Office.The visit of Lord Goschen, a director of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, to Mesopotamia.A query by Drysdale and Company Limited about whether the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Baghdad was ‘a safe and sound’ institution, in response to a customer asking the company to accept payment at the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Baghdadthe proposal that the Baghdad and Mosul branches of Bank should be permitted to settle transactions dating back to the period before the British occupation.The correspondence largely consists of correspondence between the India Office and the following: the Foreign Office; Sir William Plender, appointed by the Treasury as Supervisor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank’s London Agency; the Imperial Ottoman Bank, London Agency; the Viceroy of India, Foreign Department; and the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (telegrams addressed from ‘Political, Baghdad’). The file also includes copies of Foreign Office correspondence with the London Agency of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Sir Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner, Egypt.Physical description: 1 item (210 folios)
Abstract: The volume contains papers regarding the future of Constantinople [Instanbul]. It includes: India Office minute papers; copies of correspondence between the Foreign Office and Sir George Buchanan, HM Ambassador at Petrograd [St Petersburg], and other British diplomats; draft telegrams from the Secretary of State for India addressed to the Viceroy of India; correspondence between the India Office and the Foreign Office; and other papers. Some of the correspondence is in French.Issues discussed in the papers include: whether the Constantinople Agreement, concluded between the British, French and Russian governments in March 1915 (under the terms of which Constantinople and the Straits of the Dardanelles would be annexed to the Russian Empire), should be made public; the possible effect upon Muslims in India of the announcement of the agreement; and the question of the re-conversion of the St Sophia [Hagia Sophia] mosque in Constantinople into a Christian church.The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 259; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated.