I downloaded the book from the following link: http://rbedrosian.com/Folklore/Arberry_Muslim_Saints_Mystics.pdf Very well-written (translated I mean). I was searching for something like this for almost a year. This translation is great cause it gives a feeling as though one is reading some original work. However there are some flaws I would like to point out: 1. The most glaring one is the 'Introduction'- it's obnoxious to say the least. One would think that translating a book about saints must have some positive effect on the translator but no there appears to be none. A.J Aberry remained a condescending, insinuating Orientalist. He just can't help comparing the saints to one famous personality or another. The most annoying of all is his likening Sayyiduna Ibrahim-bin-Adham's repentance to Buddha's awakening. 2. Readers should try not to derive any fiqhi rulings from the incidents. Fiqh books are the best for that purpose. 3. There is an apparent lack of reverence in the manner/style/tone of narration. Readers need be extra careful so as not to allow this to affect their own high opinion of the awliya or indeed Shaykh Fariduddin himself. ========================================= on a different note: Is shaykh Faridudeen included in the list of the awliya? The other day I heard mawlana ilyas qadri say that he is not sure if the shaykh was a wali and he doesn't know anyone who called him such. In fact, he went one step further and said, "maine jo abhi inko wali kaha, to mai apne alfaz waapas leta hoon." that's odd. Wassalaam.
The preface to the book Muslim Saints & MYSTICS (The Tadhkerat al-auliya') In the preface to the Memorial Attar lists his reasons for writing the book, but not the sources used by him. His declared motives, as summarized by R. A. Nicholson, were as follows: 1) He was begged to do so by his religious brethren. 2) He hoped that some of those who read the work would bless the author and thus, possibly, secure his welfare beyond the grave. 3) He believes that the words of the Saints are profitable even to those who cannot put them into practice, inasmuch as they strengthen aspiration and destroy self-conceit. 4) Jonaid said, "Their sayings are one of the armies of Almighty God whereby He confirms and reinforces the disciple, if his heart be dejected." 5) According to the Prophet, "Mercy descends at the mention of the pious": peradventure, if one introduction xxv spreads a table on which Mercy falls like rain, he will not be turned away portionless. 6) Attar trusts that the blessed influence of the Saints may be vouchsafed to him and bring him into happiness before he dies. 7) He busied himself with their sayings in the hope that he might make himself to resemble them. 8) The Koran and the Traditions cannot be understood without knowledge of Arabic, wherefore most people are unable to profit by them; and the Sayings of the Saints, which form a commentary on the Koran and the Traditions, were likewise uttered, for the most part, in Arabic. Consequently the author has translated them into Persian, in order that they may become accessible to all. 9) Since an idle word often excites keen resentment, the word of Truth is capable of having a thousandfold effect even though you are unconscious thereof. Similarly, Abd al-Rahman Eskafi said that the reading of the Koran was effectual, although the reader might not understand it, just as a potion of which the ingredients are unknown. 10) Spiritual words alone appeal to the author. Hence he composed this "daily task" for his conxxvi introduction temporaries, hoping to find some persons to share the meal which he has provided. 11) The Imam Yusof Hamadhani advised some people, who asked him what they should do when the Saints had passed away from the earth, to read eight pages of their Sayings every day. Attar felt that it was incumbent upon him to supply this desideratum. 12) From his childhood he had a predilection for the Sufis and took delight in their sayings. Now, when such words are spoken only by impostors and when true spiritualists have become as rare as the philosopher's stone, he is resolved to popularize literature of this kind so far as lies in his power' 13) In the present age the best men are bad, and holy men have been forgotten. The Memorial is designed to remedy this state of things. 14) The Sayings of the Saints dispose men to renounce the world, meditate on the future life, love God, and set about preparing for their last journey. "One may say that there does not exist in all creation a better book than this, for their words are a commentary on the Koran and Traditions, which are the best of all words. Any one who reads it properly will perceive what passion must have been in the souls of those men to introduction xxvii bring forth such deeds and words as they have done and said." I5) A further motive was the hope of obtaining their intercession hereafter and of being pardoned, like the dog of the Seven Sleepers which, though it be all skin and bone, will nevertheless be admitted to Paradise. In his preface Attar mentions three books which he recommends for those ambitious to attain a full understanding of the pronouncement of the Sufis. These he entitles: Ketab Sharh al-qalb ("The Exposition of the Heart"), Ketab Kashf al-asrar ("The Revelation of the Secrets"), and Ketab Ma'refat al-nafs wa'l-Rabb ("The Knowledge of the Self and of the Lord"). No clue is given here to the authorship of these works, but Attar refers in one other context (II, 99) to the Sharh al-qalb as a book of his own composition; see also Attar's introduction to his own Mokhtar-nama. It may therefore be deduced that Attar was the author of the other two titles. No copy of any of the three has so far been recovered. Sources of Attar's "Memorial"Since Attar did not trouble to specify the precise sources upon which he drew in compiling the xxviii introduction Memorial, these are to be identified on the basis of internal evidence. It cannot be claimed that anything like a complete analysis has been attempted, for such a task (wanting direct clues) is obviously very intricate and laborious, requiring a prolonged research. So far, however, it has been established as certain that Attar consulted the authors and texts here listed. 1) Hekayat al-mashayekh of Abu Mohammad Ja'fer ibn Mohammad al-Kholdi (d. 348/959). Attar quotes from al-Kholdi once directly (II, 51); in the supplementary section of the Memorial his biography is briefly given (II, 284-85), but that part of the text is of very doubtful authenticity. For further in formation on al-Kholdi, described by Hojwiri (Kashf al-mahjub, trans. R. A. Nicholson, p. 156) as "the well-known biographer of the Saints", see C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Suppl. I, p. 358. 2) Ketab al-Loma' of Abu Nasr 'Abd Allah ibn 'Ali al-Sarraj (d. 378/988). Mentioned specifically in the supplement (II, I82-83) where a biographical notice is given; though this reference is of questionable value, the section in which it occurs being very likely a later addition, Attar's use of this fundamental text can be deduced from many contexts. introduction xxix 3) Tabaqat al-Sufiva of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Mohammad ibn al-Hosain al-Solami (d. 412/1021). This celebrated author, whose biographies of the Sufis Attar undoubtedly used, is cited thrice in the supplement (II, 263, 308, 326). 4) Helyat al-auliya of Abu No'aim Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah al-E'fahani (d. 430/1038). Though Abu No'aim is not specifically named, it is clear that Attar knew and used this encyclopaedic work. 5) al Resala of Abu 'l-Qasem al-Qoshairi (d. 465/1072). Cited by name in the main text (II, 135) and the supplement (II, 200, 207, 309, 332, 333), it is abundantly evident that Attar leaned very heavily on this authoritative exposition of Sufi doctrine. 6 ) Kashf al-mahjub of Abu'l-Hasan al-Hojwiri (d. c. 467/1075. Named once in the main text (II, 68), Hojwiri is verbally cited without acknowledgment in a number of passages. This was the easier to contrive, since Hojwiri himself wrote in Persian .When dealing with certain individual Sufis, Attar appears to have had access to some of their own writings, either direct or through quotation by others, as well as to special monographs on their lives and acts. Two obvious instances are alxxx introduction Sahlaji's biography of Abu Yazid al-Bestami, and al-Dailami's biography of Ibn Khafif. Further reference to these two books will be found in my notes on the relevant texts. Though in his prefatory remarks Attar lays much weight upon the "words" of the Sufis as his overriding preoccupation, in fact he put at least equal stress on their "acts" or the legends of their preternatural powers. In setting out his materials he took as his model the Tabaqat al- Sufiya of al-Solami, in which the Sufis are treated more or less in chronological order; he may well also have known al-Ansari's Persian version of this book, which Jami later used as the foundation of his Nafahat al-ons. It is to be noticed, however, that Attar abandoned al-Solami's arrangement of the Sufis by "classes"; he also found the Tabaqat inadequate on the human side. For valuable as that work undoubtedly is as an anthology of Sufi dicta, to Attar, who was interested at least as much in the personalities of the Sufis as in what they said and wrote, it needed to be supplemented with biographical details. So to eke out al-Solami's somewhat austere fare, he combined with the Tabaqat the human and superhuman materials contained in the Hekayat of al-Kholdi, the Resala of al-Qoshairi, and the introduction xxxi =============================== FROM SOURCE / WEB SITE/ from the following book MUSLIM SAINTS & MYSTICS (the Tadhkerat al-auliya') by A. J. ARBERRY ================================================== BY MUHAMMED A. HAFEEZ B.COM., HYDERABAD, INDIA., EMAIL ; hafeezanwar@ yahoo.com ================================================== AQLIM HIND KE HAIN QUTUB MERE SARKAR SHAH AFZAL BIABANI., =================================================