Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی

Authors

• saeede dehqan niri
• salman saket

Department of Persian language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

This study aims to introduce an ancient literary work known as Zad Al-Moghvin, a book written in the Persian language in the Transoxiana region. The author of this work, on the subject of ethics and sermons and most likely written in the twelfth or thirtieth century, is Mohammad ibn Mohammad Al-Nasr, known as the Ghazi, who lived in Vobkent. Only three manuscripts of this work are available, one of which is kept at the National Archive of Afghanistan and was written in 1485, and the other at the Library, Museum, and Document Center of I.R.Iran's Parliament and written in 1618 and third manuscripts is kept at the the Salar Jung – Museum and Library and was written in 1646.
In addition to introducing the manuscripts, the author, his religion, the sources used in the writing of this book, the text structure, and the reasons for its significance are explained in this study. Some of the sources that the author has used in writing this book are Tanbih Al-Ghafilin Samarqandi, Maqazi Mohammad ibn Eshagh, Zad Al-Abedin, Tafseer Anwar, Kitab Al-Anwar, and most likely, Tafsir Miraj.

Highlights

Introduction and Manuscript Study of an Ancient Literary Work on the Subject of Ethics and Sermons Named Zad Al-Moghvin

Salman Saket

Department of Persian language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

 

Saeede Dehqan Niri

Department of Persian language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Introduction

From the early centuries of the Islamic era and with the expansion of Islam in Transoxiana, a kind of mysticism based on the Sharia was evolving in this region, which was void of esoteric impressions and focused more on worship. Thus, from the fourth century to the seventh century, several literary works were written in that region, which endeavored to promote morality by relying on the principles of Sharia and utilizing the narrations of famous Sufis, such as Tanbih al-Ghafilin, Rawdah al-Fariqain, selections of Rownaq al-Majalis, Bustan al-Arifin, and Tohfat al-Moridin, Irshad and Hizar Hikayat-i Sufiyan. Although these literary works have differences with each other, regardless of their authorship location, their general Sharia-based view and the effort to preserve the binary of religion and morality categorize them into one group.

One such work is Zad-ul-Muqwin (meaning the provision of those without provisions) written by Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Nasr, known as the “Ghazi” (Judge), who lived in Vobkent. Compared to other mentioned works, Zad-ul-Muqwin is most similar to Tanbih al-Ghafilin, and it can even be said that the author of Zad-ul-Muqwin has used Tanbih al-Ghafilin as his model to write and compose the chapters and structure of his book and that he has even selected some tales of that book and rewrote them with a better arrangement in more pertinent chapters.

Saeed Nafisi published the first report about this work based on the manuscript available in the National Archives of Afghanistan (dated 1485) in 1959. A few years later in the 1967, Mohammad Taqi Daneshpajouh presented a report based on the manuscripts in the National Archives of Afghanistan, adding more notes to Nafisi’s article. The author has introduced himself as a follower of Hanafi School.

In addition to the name “Vobkent”, on the first page, there are several lexical and textual pieces of evidence which indicate that this work has been composed in the cultural domain of the Transoxiana. The textual evidence includes various tales and hadith indicated that the work was composed in the Bukhara and Transoxiana; furthermore, the predominant source of hadith in this work is Tanbih al-Ghafilin and the tales are very similar, even identical, to Hizar Hikayat-i Sufiyan, both of which originated from the Transoxiana domain. Terms such as “Sa’tari”, “Pezhman”, “Jogharat”, and the conjugation of the “Bashidan” verb are some of the lexical evidences pointing to the compilation of this text in Bukhara and Transoxiana. Even more fascinating, the author himself explicitly introduces the term “Sa’tari” as a word originating from Transoxiana.

Language, words, syntax, and poetic evidence in the text indicate that this work was composed in the second half of the sixth century or the early seventh century. It consists of almost one hundred chapters, beginning with “The Issue of Knowledge and Virtues of Scholars” and continues with the worship, deeds, and merit of occasions. After stating the title of each chapter, the author has presented a hadith associated with the title and has usually translated it. He occasionally has written some hadith in Farsi between the translation and has not mentioned its Arabic. In some cases, he has not translated the hadith into Persian by writing “the translation of the hadith is clear”. In some other cases, the Arabic version of the hadith is cut short through the statement of “and the rest” at the end of the hadith. There are instances in which the hadith has not been fully translated, and in contrast, sometimes the translation is accompanied by interpretation. Afterward, the author narrates some tales related to each chapter to realize his intended moral conclusion.

Keywords: Codicology, Zad-ul-Muqwin, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Nasr, Transoxiana, Vobkent.

Materials and Methods

Tanbih al-Ghafilin is the main source in composing Zad-ul-Muqwin, which is explicitly mentioned by the author on some occasions, and in many instances, it has been used without any reference. Moreover, Tanbih al-Ghafilin is the primary source of the hadith presented in the text. The author has clearly stated that he has also benefited from Maqazi, Tafsir-e Anwar, Ketab al-Anwar and Zad al-Abedin. In addition to the specified references, by tracking down the origins of the tales, we find out that the author has also used books such as Ihya al-uloum al-din, Kimia-ye s`adat, selections of Rownaq al-Majalis, Bustan al-Arifin and Tohfat al-Moridin, Taj al-Trajem, Rawh al-Arwah, Kashf al-Asrar, etc.

As far as we know, only three manuscripts of this work remain, the oldest of which is from 1485 and previously kept in Kabul Museum and now in The National Archives of Afghanistan. This manuscript is in 315 folios, 19 lines per page, with the dimensions of 17 by 14.5 cm, written by Muhammad ibn Sheikh Ahmed ibn Abdullah. The other manuscript is available in the Library of I. R. Iran's Parliament written in 1618. This manuscript has 302 folios, each measuring 14 by 20.5 cm and 13 to 16 lines per page, composed by Abdulmajid Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Ghasem Jaziki Ghaeni. Compared with the Afghan manuscript, the Parliament’s copy has numerous errors and misprinting in words or syntax, and it is clear that the author has simplified many of the phrases and words. The third manuscript is in the Salar Jung Library in India, written in 1646. Its dimensions are 21 by 12.6 cm and with 298 folios, 15 lines per page, by Khan Muhammad ibn Seyed Shah Muhammad in Nastaliq, and its penmanship was finished on July 3rd, 1646 in Lahore. The beginning of the manuscript has some missing parts.

Conclusion

This text is of significance from various aspects including the tales because it is a valuable reserve of tales, the value of language and words, since in addition to the several words originating from Transoxiana, rare words are used in the text, which does not exist in the available dictionaries, and this shows the novelty and originality of the words in this text. Undoubtedly, introducing and publishing this literary work will play a significant role in the further cognizance of the heritage of mysticism in the Transoxiana.

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Keywords

• Manuscriptology
• Zad Al-Moghvin
• Mohammad ibn Mohammad Al-Nasr
• Transoxiana
• Vobkent

Main Subjects

• Sufism and Mysticism