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Arabic Manuscripts in the British Library - Islamic Mysticism & Philosophy

 

Order Background

Prayers and sermons

  • Almost 200 anonymous collections from the 13th century onwards
  • Many copies of works by al-Bannani, Ibn al-'Arabi, Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn al-Jazari, Ibn Zarruq al-Burnusi, al-Qari' al-Harawi, al-Qasri al-Fasi, al-Shadhili, and others
  • 47 manuscripts of the works of al-Jazuli from the 16th century onwards

    Mysticism and Pietics

  • 118 manuscripts of Ibn al-'Arabi's works from the 13th century onwards
  • Many copies of works by al-Allahabadi, al-Dawwani, al-Ghazali, Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Iskandari,Ibn Ghanim al-Maqdisi, al-Jili, al-Qunaqi, al-Qushayri, al-Sha'rani, al-'Umari, and others
  • Among the earliest manuscripts are al-Qushayri's al-Risalah (504/1110), al-Sarraj's Kitab al-luma' fi al-tasawwuf (548/1153), and al-Bahrani's Qawa'id al-Ilahiyah (658/1260)

    Philosophy

  • Many copies of works by al-Abhari, al-Baghandi, al-Bihari, al-Damad, al-Farisi, al-Katibi al-Qazwini, al-Khayrabadi, al-Labkani al-'Uthmani, al-Shirazi, and others
  • 16 works of al-Farabi - known as (after Aristotle) the mu'alllim al-thani - in one 17th-century manuscript from the Mughal Library at Delhi, and 62 manuscripts of the philosophical works of Ibn Sina, including Kitab al-shifa' copied in 485/1092
  • Among the oldest manuscripts are the anonymous works, al-Mulakhkhas (603/1206), and Risalah yatadamman adab wa-hikmah (639/1242), Sinan Ibn Thabit's Siyasat al-nufus (639/1242), and al-Razi's Kitab al-sirah al-falsafiyah copied the same year
  • Early copies of the works of al-Katibi al-Qazwini, including 'Ayn al-qawa'id (677/1278), Bahr al-fawa'id (680/1282), and Jami' al-daqa'iq (672/1274)
  • Selection of works by Indo-Arabic philosophers such as al-Jawnpuri, al-Lakhnawi, al-Mangaluri and al-Siyalkuti, and by authors popular in India including al-Jurjani, Mirak al-Bukhari, al-Tulunbi, al-Tusi and al-Yazdi

    Ethics and Polity

  • Many copies of works by al-'Adawi, al-Ghazali, al-Jahiz, al-Tha'alibi, al-Turtushi, and others
  • 3 early copies of al-Mawardi's al-Ahkam al-sultaniyah (540/1145-46; 567/1171; 588/1192)