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Khargūshī's Manual of Ṣūfism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

A. J. Arberry
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Extract

Through the courtesy of the authorities of the Preussische Staatsbibliothek I have had the opportunity of reading in the India Office Library the apparently unique copy of Abū Sa'd 'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Wā'iz al-Khargūshī's manual of Sūfism entitled Tahdhīb al-asrār. Khargūshī, who is otherwise known for his voluminous biography of the Prophet and a treatise on the interpretation of dreams, died at Nīshāpūr in 406/1015 or 4Q7/1016. He is therefore an earlier authority than Sulamī (d. 412/1021), Abu Nu'aim al-Isfahānī (d. 430/1039), and Qushairī (d. 465/1072), but is junior to Sarrāj (d. 378/988), Kalābādhī (d. 385/995), and Abū Tālib al-Makkī (d. 386/996). These comparisons are important, for they show Khargūshī as being a sufficiently early writer in the genre of systematic Sūfism. His name is not included in Nicholson's list of eight authorities for the history of early Sufism, and he does not appear to have received the attention which he deserves; though it is true that he has been utilized by Massignon in his study of Hallaj. The purpose of the present note is to supplement the somewhat exiguous account of the work given by Ahlwardt, and also to estimate the true value of Khargūshī's manual as a primary source.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1937 , pp. 345 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1937

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References

1 According to the manuscript (Ahlwardt 2819) and other authorities, this is the correct form: there is, however, support for a variant, Abū Sa'id (cf. Brockelmann, Suppl., p. 361). I write Khargūshī with Storey, Persian Literature, p. 175, for Khargūsh is said (Sam'ānī, K. al-Ansab, fol. 195b), to be the name of a street in Nīshāpūr. The arabieized form is, of course, Kharkūshī.Google Scholar

2 Sharaf al-Muṣṭặ, in eight volumes, see Brockelmann, ibid. A Persian version of this work is extant, see Storey, loc. cit.

3 K. al-Bishāra wa'l-nidhāra, see Brockelmann, ibid.

4 Brockelmann, ibid., with the authorities there quoted.

5 Nicholson, Kitáb al-Luma', Introd., pp. i-ii.

6 Passion, Bibliographie, p. 13.

7 Verzeichn. d. arab. Handschriften, iii, p. 6.Google Scholar

8 Fol. 4a.