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Ibn al-Fāriḍ (d. 632/1235) is arguably the greatest mystical poet in the history of Arabic literature. Born in Cairo and a student of Shāfiʿī law and ḥadīth in his younger years, he turned to mysticism, living a solitary existence on Cairoʾs Muqaṭṭam hills, in the desert, and in the Hijaz. After his return to Cairo, people worshipped him as a saint and even today, admirers still visit his tomb in that city. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) is one of Persiaʾs great medieval poets. As a young man, he joined the followers of Saʿd al-Dīn Kāshgharī (d. 860/1456), leader of the mystical Naqshbandiyya order in Herat. His combined output in poetry (39.000 lines of verse) and prose (over 30 works) is quite overwhelming. Besides a commentary on Ibn al-Fāriḍʾs Khamriyya mīmiyya , he also made the first and only Persian translation of his seminal al-Tāʾiyya al-kubrā , published here for the very first time

Born into a family that traced its origins to caliph ʿUmar born al-Khaṭṭāb (d. 23/644), Rashīd al-Dīn Waṭwāṭ (d. 578/1182) was a graduate of the Niẓāmiyya academy in his hometown of Balkh, where he had received a solid grounding in Arabic language and literature. Bi-lingual in Persian and Arabic and an accomplished writer of poetry and prose, he spent the greater part of his active life in Gurgānj, steadily climbing the administrative ranks to become chief-secretary at the courts of Qizil Arslan Atsiz Khwārazmshāh (d. 551/1156) and his son Il-Arslan born Atsiz (d. 568/1172). Bald, small sized and bad-tempered, Rashīd al-Dīn used his sharp tongue to protect himself from ridicule and animosity. He is mostly known for his annotated translation of 100 sayings of ʿAlī born Abī Ṭālib and several collections of letters. The Persian renderings of 281 Arabic sayings and proverbs presented here offer an excellent sample of the authorʾs taste and erudition

In Islam, Twelver-Shīʿism is based on the claim that the rightful successors to the Prophet were his son-in-law ʿAlī born Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661) and eleven of his descendants through his marriage with Fāṭima, ending with the grand occultation of the twelfth and last imam, Muḥammad al-Mahdī in 329/940. In the centuries following the occultation of the last imam, there emerged a special type of hagiographic literature glorifying the lives and wonders of the Prophet, his daughter Fāṭima, and the twelve infallible imams. The importance of these works was not just informative and apologetic; they also had a didactic side insofar as the imams were regarded as a channel for Godʾs grace to man, it being through them that man could learn how to fulfil Godʾs wish of obeying Him. Composed around 755/1355 for the Sarbadār ruler of Sabzawār by Ḥasan Shīʿī Sabzawārī, this elegantly written Persian volume is a fine specimen of this particular type of writings

Since times immemorial man has been fascinated by his dreams. This is true of western civilization as it is true of any other civilization, including Islam. In the Qurʾān and the traditions, dreams and visions are frequently mentioned as instruments of divine guidance and instruction. This sanctification of the pre-existing oral tradition around dreams and their interpretation created room for this tradition to further develop, both in a religious and in a secular context. Dream interpretation remained unsystematized and mostly oral until Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Arabic translation of Artemidorus' (2nd cent. CE) Oneirocritica and Dīnawarī's al-Qādirī fi 'l-taʿbīr (commissioned in 397/1006) that it inspired. From then onwards, a vast literature developed. The work published here is an important early text from the Persianate world, based on more than fifteen declared and other sources, most of which are lost. It is a compilatory work, with an introduction followed by an alphabetical inventory of themes. 2 vols; volume 1