Hadrami Archives of Malabar:

Two Manuscript Collections in Calicut, Southwest India

Parappu Kadavath Matra Abdul Jaleel
(National University of Singapore)
&
Mahmood Kooria
(Leiden University)

Abstract
This essay introduces and catalogues two important manuscript collections established by members of
the Hadrami Sayyid community in Malabar, southwest India, between the eighteenth and twentieth
centuries. The two collections, kept at the Jifri House and the home of Šihāb al-Dīn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal, contain several Arabic, Persian, and Arabic-Malayalam manuscripts produced, collected, and
transmitted by the Hadramis and their descendants who migrated from Yemen to, and lived in, the
Malabar Coast since the eighteenth century. The materials in both collections shed light on the social,
intellectual, political, and religious lives of the Hadrami Sayyids in the region in particular and the
Indian Ocean world at large. They also represent some of the wider trends in Hadrami diasporic
manuscript collections in terms of their titles, contents, and concerns. The first part of the essay
describes and analyses the broader histories and context of both the collections, while the second part
provides a descriptive catalogue of the materials.

Résumé
Archives Hadrami de Malabar : Deux collections de manuscrits à Calicut, dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Inde
Cet essai présente et catalogue deux importantes collections de manuscrits établies par des membres de
la communauté de Sayyid Hadrami à Malabar, dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Inde, entre le xviii e et le xxe s.
Les deux collections, conservées à la Bayt Jifri et à la Bayt de Šihāb al-Dīn Imbiccikkōya Tangal,
contiennent des manuscrits en arabe, persan et arabo-malayalam, qui ont été produits, collectés et
transmis par les Hadramis et leurs descendants ayant émigré du Yémen vers le xviii e s. et vivant depuis
lors sur la côte de Malabar. Les deux collections mettent en lumière la vie sociale, intellectuelle,
politique et religieuse des Sayyids Hadrami dans la région en particulier et dans l’océan Indien en
général. Ils représentent également certaines des tendances plus larges des collections de manuscrits de
la diaspora Hadrami en termes de titres, de contenus et de préoccupations. La première partie de l’essai
décrit et analyse l’histoire et le contexte plus larges des deux collections, tandis que la deuxième partie
fournit un catalogue descriptif des manuscrits.

‫اخلالصة‬
‫ جنوب غرب الهند‬،‫ خزانتا اخملطوطات يف اكليكوت‬:‫الارشيف احلرضيم يف ماالابر‬
‫ بني‬،‫د‬-‫رب الهن‬-‫وب غ‬-‫ جن‬،‫ادة احلرضيم يف ماالابر‬-‫ات الس‬-‫راد جممتع‬-‫يقدم ويفهرس هذا البحث مكتبتني هممتني للمخطوطات اليت اسسها اف‬
‫ة‬-‫ات العربي‬--‫د من اخملطوط‬--‫ عىل العدي‬،‫ري وشهاب ادلين إمبچكواي تّۼۻ‬-‫ وهام البيت اجلف‬،‫ حتتوي اجملموعتان‬.‫القرنني الثامن عرش والعرشين‬
‫واللغات العامية اليت تلقي الضوء عىل احلياة الاجامتعية والفكرية والسياسية وادلينية للسادة احلرضميني يف املنطقة بشلك خاص وعامل احمليط‬
‫اوين واحملتوايت‬-- ‫ادات احلرضمية من حيث العن‬-- ‫ات للس‬-- ‫ات اخملطوط‬- -‫ة يف خزان‬-- ‫ات العام‬-- ‫ل بعض الاجتاه‬-- ‫ وهام متث‬.‫لك عام‬-- ‫دي بش‬-- ‫الهن‬
‫ ففي القسم األول يف هذا البحث حنلل اترخي وسياق اخلزانتني مقابل بعض اخلصائص العامة للمكتبات احلرضمية عرب عامل احمليط‬.‫والاهامتمات‬
.‫ ويف القسم الثاين نفهرس اخملطوطات املوجودة يف الك اخلزانتني‬،‫الهندي‬

Keywords
manuscripts — Malabar — Calicut — Hadramis — Islam — Indian Ocean

Mots-clés
manuscrits — Malabar — Calicut — Hadhramis — Islam — océan Indien

1
 ‫اللكامت الرئيسية‬
‫اخملطوطات — ماالابر — اكليكوت — احلرضميني — اإلسالم — احمليط الهندي‬

Part I
I. Introduction
In this article, we introduce and catalogue two important private manuscript
collections in Calicut in southwest India. Both collections were set up by the members
of the Hadrami communities settled on the Malabar coast between the eighteenth and
twentieth centuries, and they contain several Arabic manuscripts related to the social,
intellectual and religious lives of the Hadrami Sayyids in the region in particular and
the Indian Ocean world at large. The collections represent some of the wider trends in
Hadrami diasporic manuscripts in terms of their titles, contents and concerns.
Divided into two parts, the article introduces and catalogues the collections at
both libraries. In the Part I, it introduces the history and context of these manuscript
collections against some general characteristics of the Hadrami collections across the
Indian Ocean world. Their general pattern is to collect, carry, preserve and reproduce
genealogical, talismanic and healing texts and charts that serve everyday purposes and
functions of their professions as spiritual leaders and healers, whereas a minority of
them are keen on producing original works and preserving texts with scholarly
interests. The two collections under present focus belong to this latter category. In the
Part II, we catalogue the materials for the wider scholarly use.

II. Larger Contexts: Hadrami Manuscripts of Malabar

In the larger migrations of the Hadrami Sayyids from southern Yemen across the
Indian Ocean world, the Malabar Coast in southwest India was one of their usual
destinations from the eighteenth century onward.1 Although they must have arrived on
the coast earlier, their significant presence was felt in the mid-eighteenth century
when they began to arrive en masse.2 Now, the region hosts more than forty diverse
tribes of the Hadrami descendants who mostly settled across the coastal belts in the
initial phases. During their arrival and dispersal in the region, they also carried books
from Arabia in order to facilitate their religious missions and to establish their
genealogical significance.3 In the course of time, they constructed their own
manuscript collections or libraries with different purposes in mind, and today they
host a rich collection of Arabic materials that illuminate on their history of migrations
and their religious and intellectual peregrinations in the region.
Very few scholars have endeavoured to study these collections as such, and an

1
There is an extensive literature on the Hadrami migrations across the Indian Ocean, but some of the
recent and significant studies are I. F. Alatas, What is Religious Authority?, 2021; E. Ho, Graves of
Tarim, 2006; A. K. Bang, Sufis and Scholars of the Sea, 1860–1925, 2003; U. Freitag, Indian Ocean
Migrants and State Formation in Hadhramaut, 2003; id. & W. G. Clarence-Smith (eds), Hadrami
Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s–1960s, 1997.
2
S. Dale, “The Hadhrami Diaspora in South-Western India”, 1997, p. 177; O. Khalidi, “Sayyids of
Hadramawt in Medieval and Early Modern India”, 2004, p. 339. For a critical commentary on the time
period and details of the early immigrants, see P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Hadrami Sayyid Diaspora in
Malabar and Singapore”, 2016, pp. 128–144. Throughout the footnotes, we mention only relevant page
numbers of the essays while the full-page numbers are given in Bibliography.
3
On the circulation of Islamic texts from Arabia to South Asia and vice versa, see M. Kooria, Islamic
Law in Circulation, 2022; M. Walravens, “Arabic as a Language of the South Asian Chancery”, 2020;
Ch. D. Bahl, “Creating a Cultural Repertoire Based on Texts”, 2018, pp. 132–153; E. Ho, “Two Arms
of Cambay”, 2007.

2
unawareness about the presence of these materials have motivated some scholars to
negate the praxis of written knowledge on and from Malabar. Stephen Dale, for
example, who has written on the history of the Muslim community in the region from
the sixteenth to early-twentieth centuries said that there is no any written historical
documents on the community from within, despite of his extensive treatment of
several Hadrami Sayyids who had contributed immensely to the social and cultural
formation of local Muslims.4 Instead of exploring such resources from the region,
Dale depended almost entirely on the European colonial archives produced with much
hostility towards the community. This trend has dominated the academic scholarship
on certain members of the Hadrami communities in the region.5
The libraries established by the Hadrami Sayyids provide a different perspective
on the community and the local politics and culture. The Hadramis spread in the
region along with the British colonialism, following the fall of Tipu Sultan (r. 1782–
1799) in the 1790s who handed over the region to the British after the Treaty of
Srirangapatna in 1792. The Hadramis, who had arrived in Malabar just before or after
the British takeover, found a warm welcome by the people while the British faced
severe resistance from 1793 onward up until their departure in 1947. 6 As the
Hadramis stood closer to the regional traditions and cultures, they produced a
different sort of archive that addressed the concerns of Mappila Muslims of Malabar.
In them we see answers to the questions from the Mappilas, solutions to their
everyday problems, textbooks used in the traditional learning circles, and scholarly
works written for an advanced audience.
The Hadrami collections at large served diverse purposes. A few of them had
intellectual and scholarly interests, while most of them found a career in the region by
capitalising on the sacred notions the local Muslims attached to them on the basis of
their lineage claims going back to the Prophet Muḥammad. The Mappilas approached
them seeking blessings (baraka), cure for their minor or major diseases, or solutions
for their material or metaphysical predicaments. 7 Most of the Hadrami immigrants in
the littoral in general and in Malabar in particular also were attached to the Sufi orders
(ṭarīqas) such as the ʿAlawiyya and Qādiriyya, and it helped them popularise
themselves as well as the religion and the mystical orders among the lower classes of
their host societies.8
On the basis of realms of engagements, many Hadrami Sayyids in Malabar kept,
and they still continue to keep, texts related to eight major areas: (a) their lineage
going back to the Prophet prepared in different forms and formats; (b) traditional
healing practices ascribed to the Prophet called ṭibb al-nabawī; (c) talismanic texts
with chants and prayers prepared out of devotion or seeking saintly intercession
(šafāʿa) to find solutions for everyday problems; (d) local or transregional socio-
political issues of contemporary importance; (e) devotional texts, especially eulogies
in Arabic and Arabic-Malayalam called mālās, mawlids and manāqibs on the eminent

4
S. Dale, Islamic Society on the South Asian Frontier, 1980; id., “The Hadhrami Diaspora in South-
Western India,” 1997, p. 183.
5
For example, see the treatment of S. Fadl (d. 1901) on the basis of colonial records in S. Alavi,
Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire, 2015, pp. 93–168; a recent departure from this is W. C.
Jacob, For God or Empire, 2019.
6
K. N. Panikkar, Against Lord and State:, 1989; K. K. Muhammed Abdul Kareem, Malabārile
Ratnaṅṅaḷ, 2004, p. 15.
7
S. Dale, “The Hadhrami Diaspora in South-Western India”, 1997, p. 183; P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel,
“Hadrami Sayyid Diaspora in Malabar and Singapore”, 2016, pp. 250-255.
8
A.K. Bang, Sufis and Scholars of the Sea, 2003; E. Ho, Graves of Tarim, 2006.

3
mystical leaders; (f) religious polemics targeting certain Sufi orders with occasional
questions to and answers from scholarly authorities in Mecca, Cairo and Medina; (g)
Sufi “defensive literature” that sought to defend the Sufi ideas, institutions and
practices against the spread of Wahhabi puritan ideas and Egyptian reformist
thoughts; and, (h) political treatises that urged the readers to fight against the British
colonial empire and lend support for the Ottoman and Mysore sultans. The quantity
and contents vary from person to person and from household to household, but most
of these texts were inherited from generations to generations, especially if the
descendants chose to follow their ancestors’ paths. On most occasions, they did, but
the trend has changed recently where the new generation hesitates to continue the
traditions of spiritual healing or leadership. With the arrival of printing press in the
region in the late nineteenth century, many of them began to depend on the
lithographed talismanic and mystical texts as those were available cheaper.
Because of this general nature of their engagements and talismanic treatments,
different layers of secrecy shroud the Hadrami collections. They are not open to the
public immediately or hardly circulated outside their close circles. Some of such
restricted collections can be located across the Malabar coast, and a few examples are
the collections of ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAydarūs in Quilandy, ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb in
Ceṟuvaṇṇūr (Kozhikode), Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī Šihāb Tangal in Pāṇakkāṭ (now
transferred to Sabeel al-Hidaya Arabic College, Paṟappūr) (Malappuram), and OPM
Muttukkōya Tangal al-ʿAydarūs in Valiyaṅṅāṭi (Malappuram), Sayyid ʿAlī Bā ʿAlawī
in Kannāṭippaṟamb (Kannur), ʿAidrūs Tangal in Ponnāni (Malappuram), and Yāsīn
Tangal in Rāmantaḷi (Kannur). A comparable collection to this is the one by Sayyid
ʿAlī Bā ʿAlawī (ʿAlī Tangal) in Māṭṭūl (Kannur), and it was digitalised by Ophira
Gamliel as part of the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (Project No.
EAP1390).9
Beyond the clandestine and fragmentary manuscript collections, there are a few
collections established by the Hadramis who had more scholarly and intellectual
orientation. The two collections under our focus belong to this category. In Malabar,
very few Hadrami Sayyids have emerged as scholars, mainly because most of them
were known as spiritual leaders or Sufi šayḫs upholding different mystical orders.
Surrounding most of the Sayyids, there were many miracle stories (karāmāt) in each
Mappila village and they were popularised as such, instead of their any scholarly or
intellectual valour. Their prophetic lineage easily facilitated such mystical assertions.
Those who did study at advanced levels gained more attention for they combined
spirituality with scholarship, opposed many superstitious or malevolent trends, and
called for social and spiritual change. Some of them wrote works with these aims in
mind, but also copied or got copied the texts on different topics related to their
scholarly interests, which mainly were in fiqh (law), taṣawwuf (mysticism) and ansāb
(genealogies).
Among the Hadramis of Malabar, the most noted scholars who left behind
several scholarly works are Šayḫ Ǧifrī (d. 1808), Faḍl b. ʿAlawī (d. 1901), ʿAbd al-
Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī (d. 1930), Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Qādir Kuññikkōya Bā ʿAlawī (1925–1987),
ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Šihāb (d. 1946), Aḥmad Šihāb Imbiccikkōya Tangal (1922–1999) and
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Imbiccikkōya al-ʿAydarūsī Tangal (1924–2015).10 Their works are
9
For details, see http://www.eap.bl.uk/project/EAP1390
10
On Šayḫ Ǧifrī, see P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Religious Rivalries in Eighteenth-Century Malabar”,
2018. On ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Imbiccikōya al-ʿAydarūsī Tangal, see M. Malayamma, Azharī Tangaḷuṭe
Ātmakathā Kuṟippukaḷ, 2023; id., Oru Malayāḷi Paṇḍitanṯe Dēśāntara Paṭhana Sañcāraṅṅaḷ, 2023. On
Sayyid Faḍl, see M. Oojampadi, Sayyid Faḍl: Oru Āgola Musliminṯe Sañcāra Pathaṅṅal, 2023; S.

4
now dispersed across different libraries inside and outside the region, and they deal
with the topics such as taṣawwuf, fiqh, manāqib and polemics. Some of their works
were specifically addressed at preserving the purity of their lineage, ethnic identity
connected to Yemen, and introducing various eminent scholars of the family at large.
But they also dealt with the wider scholarly trends of their time responding to
religious and political necessities, such as a detailed collection of fatwas against a
very popular Sufi order in the region (the Koṇṭōṭṭi order) demonstrates.

III. Collections
The two manuscript collections at Calicut under our focus are established by two
eminent scholars from the Hadrami community: Šayḫ Ǧifrī and Imbiccikkōya Tangal.
Both collections are now maintained by their descendants and opened occasionally to
the researchers and scholars interested in the materials. The manuscripts have not
been systematically preserved, conserved or catalogued. Although most manuscripts
are in good condition, there are a few that needs immediate attention of a
conservationist. The remaining manuscripts also need preservation in the long run in
order to protect them from extreme conditions of the tropical weather and termite
attacks.
The first collection established by Šayḫ Ǧifrī is now housed at Jifri House at
Kuṯṯicciṟa in the old town of Calicut. Ǧifri is believed to have arrived in Calicut
before 1747: he received the iǧaza (licence of mystical succession) of the ʿAlawī
order from Muḥammad b. Ḥāmid in Quilandi who passed away in 1747. 11 He
belonged to the second batch of Hadramis to arrive in Malabar who eventually
flocked into the region in large numbers. The local sources claim that he was warmly
welcomed by the local ruler and was endowed with a house and a big plot of land,
where his residence is situated now, close to the congregational mosque of Kuṯṯicciṟa.
He drew wider attention of the local Muslims through his scholarly and spiritual
engagements, especially through his encounters with some other mystics in the region
whom he accused of fallacy and fraud. He also critiqued several Šīʿī practices and
some Sufi orders he found as deviant.
Being inspired by the ʿAlawī Sufi order, Ǧifrī found ways to defend its practices
and ideas and to write, preach and spread the words on its masters. The ʿAlawī
genealogy, history, mysticism, law and other aspects of Islam became subjects of his
writing. Through his interest in the history of Hadrami Sayyids and the Prophet’s
descendants in general, he explored their trajectories and travels across the oceanic
world. His genealogical text Kawkab al-ǧalīl provided a link for the Hadramis in
Malabar and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean rim to connect back to their homeland and
to other immigrant relatives in other parts of the ocean.12
Ǧifrī’s other two texts, Natīǧat aškāl and Kanz al-barāhīn, introduced the
sublimity and piety of the ʿAlawī masters and scholars while refuting a local mystical
order based in Koṇṭōṭṭi that claimed the Qādirī-Chištī lineage. His opposition to the
latter order and emphasis on the meritoriousness of the former seem to have
Alavi, Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire, 2015, pp. 93–168; and W. Ch. Jacob, For God
or Empire, 2019. Also see R. E. Miller, Mappila Muslims of Kerala, 1992; S. M. Mohamad Koya,
“Muslims of the Malabar Coast as Descendants of the Arabs”, 1976, pp. 195–200; M. H. Ilias,
“Mappila Muslims and the Cultural Content of Trading Arab Diaspora on the Malabar Coast”, 2007,
pp. 442–446; L. R. S. Lakshmi, The Malabar Muslims, 2012, pp. 1–32.
11
Ǧifrī himself has written about his Sufi master. See Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī, Natīǧat aškāl qaḍāya maslak
al-ǧawhar al-ǧawāhiriyya, 1784, pp. 17–18; P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Religious Rivalries in Eighteenth-
Century Malabar”, 2018, pp. 258–281.
12
Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī (d. 1808), Al-kawkab al-ǧalīl, 1794.

5
significant impacts in the region as the ʿAlawī order gained popularity there along
with the Qādirī and Rifāʿī orders. His third text titled Hafawāt is a collection of poems
with valuable resource on Malabar with its narratives on many local and trans-local
incidents in the eighteenth century. In several poems, Ǧifrī lavishly praises Tipu
Sultan of Mysore, whom he is believed to have met after the reconquest of Malabar in
1782. Overall, his writings of mystical, genealogical, and other religious texts “were
purported to conspicuously reinforce the traditional Šāfiʿite Islam and its scholarly
legacy prevalent in Malabar”.13 With his political and social influences, he played an
inevitable role in the successful settlement of the Hadramis by accommodating and
delegating new immigrants to different parts of the region. His scholarly engagements
made a fertile ground for the later immigrants to preach the ʿAlawī order and to
popularize its ritual of Rātib al-Ḥaddād, as believers routinely recite it in the mosques
and at homes.
In his collection now housed at the Jifri House, there are at least nine important
manuscripts: four are written by Šayḫ Ǧifrī himself, the rest are writings of other
scholars or copies of renowned Sufi texts and ʿAlawī genealogies. There seemed to
have been more manuscripts in the House in the past. For example, four Hadrami
youths who later acquired prominent political positions in different parts of the
Malaya world in the nineteenth century are reported to have stayed at Calicut and
visited the House to study Kanz al-barāhīn.14 Their testimonies indicate to the
importance of the text as well as of the House as a centre of Islamic, especially
Hadrami, learning at that time. However, the current interlocutors mentioned that
most of the manuscripts were shifted to a religious higher education institution in the
Kozhikode district. In addition to the manuscripts, the library also has a few rare
printed materials from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including
some works of other Hadrami scholars such as Sayyid Faḍl, printed hagiographies,
talismanic texts, and genealogies on Hadramis and other Sufi masters such as
Muḥammad al-Ḥamiṣī of Calicut and Daʾūd Kamil of Muttuppēṭṭa in Tamil Nadu.
The second collection was established by Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal (1922–1999) who had served as the chief qāḍī of Calicut for half a century. He
belonged to the al-Šihāb family which had migrated to Malabar in the late-eighteenth
century.15 The first member to arrive in the region was Sayyid ʿAlī al-Ḥadramī (d.
early nineteenth century), who established a family through his marriages into the

13
P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Religious Rivalries in Eighteenth-Century Malabar”, 2018, p. 261.
14
They are Sayyid Muḥammad b. Aḥmad Karaysha of Trengganu in the Malay sultanate, Sayyid
ʿAydarūs b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-ʿAydarūs, the founder of the Kubu town in southwest Borneo, Sayyid
ʿUṯmān b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Šihāb of Siak, and Sayyid Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad al-Qadrī who became
known as the Lord of Mempawa. E. Ho, “Before Paraochialization”, 2002, p. 22; id., Graves of Tarim,
2006, pp. 162–163. Also see ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zāhir (d. 1832–1885), the famous Hadrami leader
who led the anti-Dutch battle in Aceh in the nineteenth century, moves to Calicut, Malabar to seek his
primary studies in his childhood. ʿA. al-R. b. M. b. Ḥ. al-Mašhūr, Šams al-ẓahīra fī nasab Ahl al-Bayt
min Banī ʿAlawī, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 169–393.
15
About the al-Šihāb family in the region, see Anonymous, Shajara Āl Šihāb, MS not numbered,
Cheruvannūr, ʿAbd Allāh Shihāb Library, not dated; S. Dale, “The Hadhrami Diaspora in South-
Western India”, 1997, p. 183; P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Hadrami Sayyid Diaspora in Malabar and
Singapore”, 2016, pp. 223–226. There are plenty of Malayalam texts on this family and particularly on
the members in Pāṇakkaṯ. See for e.g., M. T. Konnāre, Pānakkād P.M.S.A. Pūkkōya Tangal Jīva
Charitram, 2000; S. U. Melmuri, Kēraḷattile Śihāb Kuṭumpa Caritram, 2005; S. K. J. al-ʿUlamāʾ,
Samastayum Pāṇakkāṯ Kuṭumpavum, 2009; O. P. Ali Munduparamba, Shihāb Tangal Ormmayude
Italukali, 2009. However, this particular figure remains least studied even in local Malayalam sources,
except a souvenir in Malayalam, see Prasiddhīkaraṇa Samiti, Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal Smaraṇika, 2000.

6
local elite families. His descendants spread across Malabar, and established
themselves as religious leaders, scholars and political figures. Imbiccikkōya Tangal is
a fifth generation of this first migrant and was born to ʿAbdullākkōya Tangal, the son
of a Husayn Āttakkōya Tangal (d. 1885) who was exiled by the British administration
to Vellūr in Tamil Nadu following a local rebellion. 16 Imbiccikkōya Tangal was born
and brought up in Pāṇakkāṭ, educated at various mosque colleges (paḷḷi dars) in
Malabar under noted teachers in the region such as K. K. Ṣadaqat Allāh Musliyār,
Kaippaṯṯa Bīrānkuṭṭi Musliyār, Tēnu Musliyār and Abu al-Ṣabāḥ Mawlawi. He was
appointed as the qāḍī of Calicut in 1947 when was only 24 years old and he continued
in the position until his demise on 8 May 1999.
The two different qāḍī systems emerged in nineteenth century-Calicut following
disputes between two families whose members had held the position for several
centuries. We have evidence on the existence of the institution of the qāḍī in the city
from the thirteenth century onward when the city found its prominence in the oceanic
networks of trade.17 Utilising the possibilities of the Indian Ocean trade networks, the
qāḍīs acted according to the changing demands of the city and connected themselves
to the larger oceanic cosmopolitan world. In the course of time, the office of the qāḍī
began to be inherited and two families prevailed as abodes of qāḍīs. Many qāḍīs in
Calicut were excellent scholars and have produced several works in Arabic,
Malayalam, and Arabic-Malayalam, and some of their manuscripts continues to be
preserved at various private and public collections.
As an outsider to these family disputes on qāḍīship and a respected young
scholar belonging to the Prophetic lineage, Imbiccikkōya Tangal was recognised by
all and led the community to establish many educational and social endeavours.
During his tenure, he inherited many manuscripts from his predecessors but also got
copied a few manuscripts from the Jifri House and other collections. The ownership
notes in such texts indicate the names of predecessors such as Sayyid ʿAlī b. Aḥmad
Šihāb. The colophon in one manuscript (SIT 17, f. 116v.) shows that it was copied in
Tarim, Yemen and purchased in Palembang, Indonesia. This indicates the
transregional movements of such texts along with people. Besides, Imbiccikkōya
Tangal produced his own manuscripts, with new texts he authored. Although many of
his articles in Arabic and Malayalam have been published, he left most of the works
unedited and unfinished, and hence in manuscript formats. He could have easily
published most of these works when the printing technology was in full swing in the
city and he had access to any publishing house with or without using his position as
the most important Muslim scholar in the city, but his responsibilities as qāḍī
prevented him from finalising these manuscripts. The library he established at his
home in Cēvāyūr has now partially been shifted to the new house of his son in
Kuṯṯicciṟa.
One interesting genre in the library is a collection of various elegies in Arabic
and Arabic-Malayalam on his predecessors in the office. These works shed light into
their life and service across several centuries. It also has important and famous Sufi
works written by Hadrami scholars in Yemen such as ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḫaddād (d.
1044/1634) along with copies of noted hagiographies such as Al-mašraʿ al-rawī and
Al-mawāhib al-quddūs,18 copies of significant Quran exegeses and texts on ḥadīṯ and
16
See Regional Archives of Kozhikode, Judicial Dept, Government of Madras 2nd May 1885, no.
1169, pp. 13–14.
17
E. Lambourn, “India from Aden: Khutba and Muslim Urban Networks in Late Thirteenth-Century
India”, 2008, pp. 55–97; P. P. M. K. Parappil, Kōḻikōtte Muslimkaḷuṭe Caritram, 2012 [1994].
18
See no. SIT 4, p. 28 and no. SIT 3. (iv), p. 24.

7
law. It also has a manuscript of the Qiṣṣa Šakrawati Farmāḍ on the arrival of Islam
on the Malabar coast and a manuscript copy on the history of the Portuguese
invasion.19
This collection also houses printed works, including the ones by other Hadrami
scholars, especially of Sayyid Ǧifrī and Sayyid Faḍl. The specific edition of Kanz al-
barāhīn is unique for its printing was undertaken by one of the important Hadrami
descendants in the region, Sayyid Faḍl. 20 The publication of a noted work of a
Hadrami scholar by another noted Hadrami indicates how the broader Hadrami
community took interest in disseminating his ideas to a larger public utilising the
means available to them by the advent of new technologies. We also find many
handwritten and printed copies of the texts by Sayyid Faḍl across similar libraries in
Malabar. For example, despite the availability of printed editions of his Ḥulal al-
insān and Ṭarīqa ḥanīfa in the Imbiccikkōya Tangal Library, we can also find there a
manuscript copy of the latter text along with marginalia (ḥāšiya).21 Interestingly this
text is written by one Ḥasan who was also Faḍl’s son and both were exiled together
from Malabar to the Hijaz in 1852 by the British colonial administration. After their
exile, the British officers in Jeddah and Aden constantly watched them, especially
when they met pilgrims or itinerants from Malabar. The presence of their works in
these libraries indicate that the textual circulations and intellectual engagements
transcended the imperial surveillance. The printed versions of these books are from
different printing houses in Cairo and Istanbul in the 1890s, which also further
demonstrate the continuing channels of intellectual and scholarly networks that
facilitated the interactions of the Hadramis across the Indian Ocean world and
beyond.
With the generous support of the Alagil Arabia-Asia chair at the National
University of Singapore, Abdul Jaleel had been working in libraries in South India,
documenting and digitizing manuscripts and documents and producing audio-video
files related to the private collections of Arab communities in the region since 2016.
Because a large chunk of these collections are mostly kept in personal libraries in
private homes, accessibility was often depended on contingent factors. As owners
moved, renovated or partitioned houses, the collections were also affected. However,
ʿAbd Allāḥ b. Aḥmad Imbiccikkōya Tangal, Sayyid Saḥl al-Ǧifrī and Sayyid Ǧaʿfar
al-Ǧifrī of Kuṯṯicciṟa were very generous with their support by providing access to
their family spaces. Both these collections, like many others in the regions, were not
catalogued earlier or their original catalogues were missing and they were not
arranged systematically. Thus, it took substantive time to comprehend their overall
nature and contents.
In the following pages we prepare an initial catalogue of both collections. We
try to provide the maximum details on the characteristics and contents of the
manuscripts, which mostly are in Arabic, but some contain or are in Arabic-
Malayalam, Persian and Urdu. They do not usually have a colophon and therefore we
know hardly about their exact production details. However, limited details in some are
helpful to trace their origin, ownership and circulation. Endowing manuscripts for

19
See Y. Friedmann, “Qissat Shakarwati Farmad”, 1975, pp. 233–245; S. Kugle & R. E. Margariti,
“Narrating Community”, 2017, pp. 337–380; Z. b.ʿ A. al-Maʿbarī, Tuḥfat al-muǧāhidīn fī baʿḍi aḫbār
al-Burtukāliyyīn, 1931, pp. 13–17.
20
The expense of printing was born by Saʿīd b. ʿAbd al-Karīm Bāḫḏlaqī with the instruction of Sayyid
Faḍl. See Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī, Kanz al-barāhīn, 1864, p. 543.
21
See no. SIT 6. (i). For a printed version, see M. b. A. al-Šillī, Mašraʿ al-rawī fī manāqib ʿalā Sāda
al-kirām Āl Abī ʿAlawī, 1901.

8
heavenly benefit of dead relatives is an interesting feature, at least in texts no. SIT 3.
(v) and SIT 3. (vi). Mostly they use the Nasḫ and Ṯuluṯ scripts. Most texts are well
bound, and there are similarities in the bindings of both collections. This may indicate
that those were bound or repaired together by the same person(s). Several texts are
bound together later without much regard to the contents, forming them into what
now codicologists identify as Composite Manuscripts (CM). 22 Against the general
trend of binding texts of unrelated topics into one volume, we also have occasional
volumes with multiple texts related to single subjects, such as marriage and divorce.
We also have other maǧmūʿ manuscripts identifiable as Multiple Text Manuscripts
(MTM), where the authors themselves composed texts of related or unrelated topics
for various purposes. For both CM and MTM, we have identified each text inside the
collective volumes and have numbered them alphanumerically. Wormholes and
tropical weather continue to damage these invaluable collections and therefore they
require urgent preservation.

Part II
Both collections are not yet systematically organised or numbered and therefore we
have catalogued here with new accession numbers. Although rare, wherever the
numbers on the manuscripts are available, we note them down in the description. We
have not managed to catalogue all the works in the collections, mainly due to
accessibility issues, but we hope the current lists would help future research,
especially for understanding the nature and content of the collections in the Hadrami
libraries, the features of manuscripts preserved and copied in such Indian Ocean
regions as Malabar. Because the focus of the research was on the local Hadrami
contributions in the region, manuscripts of Qurʾān and ḥadīṯ compilations are not
included, although such items are not plenty in both collections. Furthermore, due to
the limited time at their private homes, maximum time of the visits was dedicated to
photograph and record the materials as much as possible to read and use later. Due to
some tragic developments in the families, further attempts to revisit the collections
were unsuccessful and we could not complete cataloguing all the manuscripts, or
measure them according to the scale. Many of the entries below are thus prepared on
the basis of the images. We hope to overcome these limitations in the future when the
situations permit to publish a comprehensive catalogue.
Below we enlist the sequence of elements we provide for each manuscript,
when the information is available or applicable. Wherever the text becomes illegible
we use rounded brackets with dots in between but we also add the possible words or
letters if those can be assumed.

1. The respective collections: JH = Jifri House collection; SIT = Šihāb al-Dīn

Imbiccikkōya Tangal collection.
2. Serial number or sequence in this catalogue.
3. Single or collective volume with multiple texts.
a. Collective volumes are classified as MTM (Multiple Text Manuscript)
of maǧmūʿ where the author has done the composition; and Composite
Manuscript (CM) for non-maǧmūʿ collective volume.
b. If collective volume, sub texts are given with the serial number of
manuscripts along with Roman serial letters a, b, c, within parenthesis
and folio numbers after it. For e.g., SIT 1. (a) ff. 1–6:
22
K. Hirschler, “The Development of Arabic Multiple-Text and Composite Manuscripts”, 2019, pp.
275–301.

9
 c. If collective volume, a brief note on the subjects included in the
volume. Otherwise description of the text after the opening and closing
lines.
4. Language of the manuscript, Ar.=Arabic, Ar.Mlm.=Malayalam texts written in
the Arabic script (Arabic-Malayalam), Pr.=Persian, Ur.=Urdu. If the language
in a multi-text volume differs in different texts, it will be specified under each
text. Otherwise, it will be mentioned in the beginning of the volume.
5. Author’s name in both Latin and original scripts.
6. Title of the work in both scripts. If multiple or alternative titles are available
we provide those as well.
7. Translation of the title in English within brackets.
8. Opening and closing lines/phrases of the manuscript. If there is a colophon, we
mention that separately with additional closing lines before this.
9. Colophon details: date of copy, if given or estimated.
10. Survey of the contents.
11. Details of the author(s).
12. Physical descriptions, with following details, whenever they are available:
a. Scribal form (Nasḫ; Ṯuluṯ; Nastaʿlīq; Muḥaqqaq, and the local Ponnāni
script). If different in collective volume, it will be given under each entry.
b. Number of folios along with number of lines per folio.
c. Watermark designs in papers.
d. Decoration or bordering of written area, use of coloured inks and use of
rubrics.
e. Ownership details, if any, given as written details or seal impressions.
f. Binding material and ornamentation.
13. References to other manuscripts or printed copies and academic studies.

Catalogue

JH 1. Ar.
MTM, numbered 508 in f. 2r which might be an earlier cataloguing number. A
collection of poems along with some prose by Šayḫ b. Muḥammad al-Ǧifrī (d. 1808)
written on several occasions, as responses to socio-political or religious issues, as
correspondences to friends, scholars and Sufis, and as recollections of his travel
memories and meetings with Sufi masters.

(i) ff. 2r–5v

No title given
Begins (f. 2v):
the exact beginning is illegible because of wormholes.
‫ف ومىت‬--‫ول كي‬--‫( نس ومن جلس ابالكنيف ال يق‬...) ‫اس حضا من جالس‬--‫ف الن‬--‫وه خلس‬--‫ه وعف‬--‫وال حلم‬--‫( ريب جل ل‬.......)
‫رحمي‬--‫رحمي أمحد العلمي الستار ال‬--‫رمحن ال‬--‫م هللا ال‬--‫كرثت األهوي ومعت البلوي فال تفيد ادلعوي وال ايل غري هللا الشكوي بس‬
‫الغفار‬
Ends (f. 5v):
‫ق‬--‫ا ال يلي‬--‫ا م‬--‫ا فامي قلن‬--‫احموا إن رأيمت من‬--‫اب احلرام واعذروا وس‬--‫ل احلالل واجتن‬--‫ر مبا يرتضيه من فع‬--‫ر العم‬--‫ا يف آخ‬--‫ووفقن‬
‫فالسكران مستغرق فامي جناه غري مستفيق‬
A response to ʿUmar b. ʿAlī Bā Faḍl explaining religious issues in Malabar.
Compiled on 26 ḏū al-qaʿda 1209/27 May 1795.

10
(ii) ff. 6r–6v
Qad ǧāʾa ʿaduww Muḥammad ḫariba al-qubba
‫قد جاء عدو محمد خرب القبة‬
(Muḥammad’s enemy has come and destroyed the tomb of the Prophet)
Begins (f. 6r):
‫قلت ملن قد حىك النجدي جبرأته * قد احلق القبة اسفلها ابعالها‬
23
‫من اكن يؤمن ابلقبة ال طه * فالقبة جا عدو هللا اوطاها‬
Ends (f. 6v):
‫بقدرة هللا ال حنيك بقدرتنا * كام حكته غواة ابليس أغواها‬
‫هذا جوايب ومبدايئ خمتت به * من اكن يؤمن ابلقبة ال طه‬
A poem denouncing the religious political movements of Ibn ʿAbd al-
Wahhāb’s followers, particularly in the context of the political advancement by
Ibn Saʿūd in early nineteenth century Arabia.
An additional poem is in f. 6v probably by Šayḫ Ǧifrī himself. Both are given
in the Ṯuluṯ script. The first poem has 14 lines in f. 6r and six lines in f. 6v. The
second poem has 10 lines.

(iii) ff. 7r–145v

Al-hafawāt al-ṣādirāt min al-ḫayālāt al-wāridāt
‫الهفوات الصادرات من اخلياالت الواردات‬
(Solecisms coming from Inherent Thoughts)
Begins (f. 7v):
‫زب‬--‫ من ال يع‬،‫ بديع الصنع حكمي احلكام‬،‫ معمل الانسان ما مل يعمل‬،‫ امحلد هلل العلمي الاعمل‬،‫ وبه ثقيت‬،‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ة‬--‫ق يف اجلن‬--‫ فري‬،‫دمه‬--‫ق ومعب‬--‫دئ اخلالئ‬--‫ مب‬،‫دير‬--‫و السميع البصري وعىل لك شئي ق‬--‫ ه‬،‫ال ذرة يف الارض والسام‬--‫ه مثق‬--‫عن‬
‫مل عىل‬--‫ وصىل هللا وس‬،‫ من ليس مكثهل شئي يف ظاهر األمر وابطنه‬،‫ املزنه عن الاين والكيف والشبيه‬،‫وفريق يف السعري‬
‫ابعني واتبعي‬--‫ وعىل الت‬،‫رم‬--‫ابيع الك‬--‫ وأحصابه ين‬،‫ابيح الظمل‬--‫ وعىل آهل مص‬،‫ة‬--‫ املدعو للك مدهلم‬،‫ة‬--‫ف الغم‬--‫سيدان محمد اكش‬
‫ اما بعد فيقول كثري اخلطا ابلوزري العلوي شيخ بن محمد اجلفري‬،‫التابعني عىل الاثر من يومنا هذا اىل يوم ادلين‬
The last line is missing in the cutting probably at the time of binding. The
current ending (f. 144v):
‫للك شئي آفة يف جنسه * فامي نراه انزل وصاعد‬
‫وانطق وصامت وجامد * حىت احلديد سطا عليه املربد‬
‫ومن العجاب عامه اترخيه * اوال لك عىل ذا يشهد‬
‫وسقمي يف ذا العام انظمه لعل * منه يشفي او رسيعا يلحد‬
This is a compilation of several poems that Šayḫ Ǧifri wrote on diverse
occasions, sometimes as commentaries and summaries of the earlier poems or
as correspondences to contemporary scholars and colleagues. In f. 7r, he states
his motive behind the compilation: “the collection is prepared upon requests
from friends. The author was not willing to compile this into a single volume
[...] The request for such a volume was made by Muḥammad al-Māzandarānī,
who is known in India as Sulṭān Nawāz Ḫān”.

23
Certain words appear in the original manuscripts without following the grammatical or syntactical
conventions, often for the convenience of prosody. We have maintained them as such in our
transcriptions.

11
 The date of the text in the above passage is 1804 as provided in the second last
line by using the Abǧadi mnemonic.
Most of the works in the volume is Sufi poems written as annotations (taʿlīq)
or rewriting into cinquain (taḫmīs) of early poems by renowned scholars. For
example, f. 11r has a poem (abyāt) entitled Taʿǧīz wa-taṣdīr which is a
commentary on the work of Sayyid ʿAbd Allāh b. Asʿad al-Yāfiʿī (d. 1367) and
f. 15v has a commentarial litany (qaṣīda) on a poem by ʿUmar b. al-Fāriḍ.
However, the volume also has many interesting historical and religiously
significant poems and prose in autobiographical nature.
The manuscript is written in Nasḫ with titles in Ṯuluṯ. The titles, punctuations
and demarcations between poems in red ink, while the main text is provided in
black. Bound in good condition, however with wormholes in some pages. 145
folios of 19 lines per page with Nasḫ but sometimes interspersed with a script
mostly similar to Ṯuluṯ (for e.g., f. 142r). Some folios seem missing after f. 26
and f. 129 onwards. In f. 26r, a seal shows Sayyid Faḍl al-Šihāb al-Ǧifrī,
Tangals Road, Calicut; another seal of Sayyid Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān
Sayyid Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī in ff. 29v, 56v, 115v, 129v and an
illegible round seal in f. 131 v. The codex is bound together with a thread, but
no cover.

JH 2. Ar.
CM. The collection includes three prose and five poems that contain elegies and
prayers.

(i) ff. 1r–16r

Šayḫ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿĀlim Ṣāḥib b. al-Ḥakīm al-Ḥāǧǧ Mīrān Labba
Marakkār al-Saylānī (1878-1930)
‫شيخ عبد الرمحن عامل صاحب بن احلكمي احلايج مريان لبا مراكر السيالين‬
Al-kawkab al-durrī fī manāqib al-Quṭb Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī
‫الكوكب ادلري يف مناقب القطب شيخ اجلفري‬
(The Illuminating Star in the Hagiography of al-Quṭb Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī)
Acephalous. Initial folios and title missing; the current copy begins (f. 1r):
‫ون واذلين ال‬--‫ل يستوي اذلين يعلم‬--‫ا{ اكنوا يكسبون وه‬--‫وهبم مبا}م‬--‫ل ران عىل قل‬--‫ون الك ب‬--‫ل هلم اىن يؤفك‬--‫ذورون فوي‬--‫مع‬
‫يعلمون‬
Ends (f. 16r):
‫وتسمل عليه سالما جتعلنا به من ذوي قلب سلمي وفضل معمي وممن اتبعوا رضوان هللا وهللا ذو الفضل العظمي‬
A hagiography on Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī. It seems to be a shortened version of a
mawlid text written in 1911 and printed on 7 November 1989, also available
in the collection. The author is mentioned in the printed copy as the ḫalīfa of
the ʿAlawī Qādirī order in Ceylon, Šayḫ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ṣāḥib b. al-Hakīm
al-Ḥāǧǧ Mīrān Labba Marakkār al-Saylānī.24
In ff. 16r–17r, there are two different notes in different handwriting.
However, both are written in Nasḫ. The first (ff. 16r–16v) is a prayer note,
while the next folio (f. 17r) lists out some miraculous activities of Šayḫ Ǧifrī,
such as that he identified Tipu Sultan when he visited him in disguise.

(ii) ff. 17v–20v

24
See ʿA. R. b. M. al-Saylānī, Kawkab al-ḏurrī fī manāqib al-Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī, 1989.

12
 Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī al-Saylānī (1878–1930)
‫أمحد بن عبد الرمحن اجلفري السيالين‬
Silsila al-qādiriyya al-ʿaydarūsiyya
‫سلسةل القادرية العيدروسية‬
(The ʿAydarūsī Qādirī Sufi Chain)
Begins (f. 17v):
‫يقول امحد بن عبد الرمحن * السيد اجلفري طالب الامان‬
‫أخذت حقا الطريق القادري * العيدرويس من جناب فاخر‬
Ends (f. 20v[):
‫وسمل أيضا لكام هب الصبا * عليه مع آل وحصب جنبا‬
‫واتبعهيم اىل انقضاء ادلهر * واحلق هبم اي رب شيخ اجلفري‬
The author, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Šayḫ b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī
al-Sailānī is the great grandson of Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī. He built a successful career
in Colombo as a renowned ʿAlawī Sufi master.25 The poem is on the chain of
the Qādirī ʿAydarūsī order that the author is associated with and explains his
spiritual genealogy. After the first 11 lines that describes author’s connections
with immediate masters, he adopts poetic lines from Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī’s Natīǧat
aškāl qaḍāyā that explains his Sufi masters. 26 The mnemonic indication of
dates provided in the last line of the original poem (Ṭāba bi Misk Ḫatmuhā =
1180 A. H.) indicate that the original poem (Natīǧāt aškāl) was compiled in
1766/1767. This poem with the title, Silsila al-qādiriyya al-ʿaydarūsiyya, is
scribed resembling mostly to Ṯuluṯ in four folios of 10 lines.

(iii) ff. 21r–22r, Ar.

Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī (1878–1930)
‫أمحد بن عبد الرمحن اجلفري‬
Silsilat al-ʿalawiyya al-qādiriyya
‫سلسةل العلوية القادرية‬
(The ʿAlawi Qādirī Sufi Chain)
Begins (f. 21r):
‫قال الفقري أمحد بن اجلفري * عبد لرمحن سليل اجلفري‬
‫لبست حقا يف الطريق العلوي * من صاحب الفضل رساج علوي‬
Ends (f. 22r):
‫وهو لبس من اب هل ويل * يشهر بني الناس ابلشيخ عيل‬
‫وهو أخذ عن اخيه وابيه * ومعه احملضار فافهم اي نبيه‬
About the author, please see 2 (iii).
The poem describes the chain of the ʿAlawī Qādirī order that he received
from Meccan Sayyid Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-Hibšī who received it from
ʿUmar al-ʿAydarūs, the author of ʿIqd al-yawāqīt. Like the Sufi poem on the
ʿAlawī ʿAydarūsī order, this poem also adopts Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī’s poem on the
ʿAlawī Qādirī order, whose detailed commentary was provided by Šayḫ Ǧifrī
as a separate text entitled as Kanz al-barāhīn, pp. 11–76.27
25
About him see, A. K. al-Šāliyātī, Marṯiya ʿalā Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī, ms. Jifri House
Calicut, n. d.; R. Saqāfī, Kēraḷattile Sayyid Kuṭumpaṅṅal, 2006, pp. 195–196.
26
Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī, Natīǧat aškāl qaḍāya, 1784, pp. 17–18.
27
Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī, Kanz al-barāhīn, 1864, pp. 11–76.

13
 The work in Nasḫ script is in two folios with 16 lines.

(iv) ff. 22v–23r

A part of a mawlid (?) praising Šayḫ Aḥmad al-Badawī (d. 1276)
Begins (f. 22v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ ورشفهم‬،‫هل العظمي من اصطفاه للحرضة القدسية‬--‫ة وخص بفض‬--‫امحلد هلل اذلي اقتبس الوالية من األنوار األمحدي‬
‫ورفعهم من حضيض الصفات النفسية اىل حمال املشاهدات يف جماري الاحاكم الرتبوية‬
Ends (f. 23 r):
‫صلوة عىل طه وآل وحصبه * مدي}ى{ ادلهر ما هب النسمي بدوحة‬
‫عفى ربنا عن مادحيه ومسع * وعن لك حضار وسائر أمة‬
This mawlid on the eponymous Sufi master of the Badawiyya order, Šayḫ
Aḥmad b. ʻAlī b. Yaḥyā al-Badawī, developed in Tanta of Egypt. His name is
mentioned in f. 23a as Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad al-Badawī al-Ḥusaynī. The
manuscript is written by mixing Ṯuluṯ and Nasḫ scripts. Two folios, 20 and
11 lines respectively.

(v) ff. 24r–25r

Anonymous author
Duʿāʾ ḫatm al-Qurʾān
‫دعاء خمت القرآن‬
A prayer to be recited after the completion of Qurʿān recitation.
Begins (f. 24r):
‫اللهم اجعل القرآن العظمي لقلوبنا نورا وهدى‬
Ends (f. 25r):
‫برمحتك اي أرمح الرامحني وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وعىل آهل وحصبه أمجعني‬
The prayer to be made after the completion of Qurʾān recitation, but it also
includes prayers for a better hereafter life for many late scholars and Hadrami
Sayyids such as Muḥammad b. al-Ḥāmid (d. 1747). Written in what seems
similar to Nasḫ in 20–21 lines in two folios.

(vi) ff. 25v–26r

ʿAbd al-Qādir ‫( عبد القادر‬as mentioned in the 29th line of the poem)
Marṯiyat al-Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ḥimṣī al-Kālīkūtī
‫مرثية الشيخ محمد امحليص الاكليكويت‬
(Elegy on Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Himṣī al-Kālīkūtī)
Begins (f. 25v):
‫هلل موىل الورى واخللق لكهم * محدلت محدا عىل الاحسان ابهلمم‬
‫منيش اخلالئق ابألرزاق اكفلهم * ال ابجلفان هلم سبحان ذي القدم‬
Ends (f. 26r):
‫مل أخمت النظم الا ابلصلوة عىل * من داس جحب وعرش هللا ابلقدم‬
‫محمد فار ماء العذب من يده * به ارتوى لك حصب الغزو حني ظمي‬
The poem recounts the Sufi Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ḥimṣī of Calicut who was
one of the influential figures mentioned in the anti-Portuguese battle that

14
 vanquished the Cāliyam fort, as explained in the litany by Muḥammad al-
Kālikūtī (d. 1616).28
The poem written in similar to the Ṯuluṯ script has 31 lines in two folios. F.
26v remains blank with some scribblings.

(vii) ff. 27r–27v

Aḥmad Kōya al-Šāliyātī (1885–1954)
‫أمحد كواي الشاليايت‬
Although the title is not given, it can be discerned this is an elegy on Šayḫ
Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī.
Marṯiyat al-Šayḫ Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ǧifrī
‫مرثية الشيخ أمحد بن عبد الرمحن اجلفري‬
(Elegy on al-Šayḫ Aḥmad al-Ǧifrī)
Begins (f. 27r):
‫طار الفؤاد وطاشت األلباب * اته العقول وضاقت األزحاب‬
‫مبصيبة حلت بنا وتفامقت * مهنا العيون تسح ويه حساب‬
Ends (f. 27v):
‫غفران ريب لناظم ولقارئ * ولسامع مجعا هو الوهاب‬
‫عفو اإلهل لزائر الشيخ الويل * ال زال قبة قربه منجاب‬
An elegy on the renowned Sufi Hadrami figure, Sayyid Aḥmad Pūkkōya b.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 1930). It describes his lineage and Sufi-scholarly life in
Colombo. Another elegy on this figure which is found in the Maktabat al-
Azhar library at Chāliyam.29
The work is only 25 lines long, divided in two folios (16 lines in the first and
nine in the second); it is written in Ṯuluṯ. The second page has a note on the
miracles by Šayḫ Ǧifrī.
The codex is bounded, no watermarks in the paper. A seal showing Sayyid
Faḍl al-Šihāb al-Ǧifrī, Tangals Road Calicut, in Arabic is found on the hard
bound paper in the beginning.

JH 3. Ar.
Anonymous
Maǧmūʿ fatāwā al-ʿulamāʾ al-aʿlām al-mutaʿallaqa bi al-firaq al-mubtadiʿa al-liʾām
al-zanādiqa al-malāʿīn al-Rafaḍa al-Mutašayyaḫa al-ibāhiyyīn al-warada ilā qaryat
Koṇṭōṭṭi min diyār Malaybār
‫ة‬-‫وردة اىل قري‬-‫ة املتشيخة اإلابحيني ال‬-‫ة املالعني الرفض‬-‫ام الزاندق‬-‫ة ابلفرق املبتدعة اللئ‬-‫مجموع فتاوى العلامء األ عالم املتعلق‬
‫كندويت من داير مليبار‬
(A collection of fatwas by renowned scholars from the Hijaz and Egypt regarding the
deviant Rāfiḍī Mutašayyaḫī group who has come to the village of Koṇṭōṭṭi in
Malabar).
Begins (f. 1v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬

28
On Ḥimiṣī, another manuscript is available in the Imbiccikkōya Tangal library: SIT 17 (vi); see also
M. b. ʿA. al-Kalikutī, “Qaṣīda Fatḥ al-Mubīn lī al-Sāmirī al-Laḏī Yuhibb al-Muslimīn”, 1996, p. 16.
29
S. A. b. A. al-Ǧifrī, Marṯiya ʿalā al-marḥūm Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Šayḫ b. ʿAbd Allāh b.
Šayḫ al-Ğifrī, n. d.

15
‫ل العرص‬-‫ادة أه‬-‫ادة العلامء س‬-‫ول الس‬-‫ا ق‬-‫ م‬،‫ه نستعني‬-‫مل وب‬-‫ة وآهل وس‬-‫ة واحلقيق‬-‫يب مجع بني الطريق‬-‫وصىل هللا وسمل عىل ن‬
‫ار يف بدل‬--‫ة من اقلمي مليب‬--‫وهمم يف رجل شيخ طريق‬--‫ا بعل‬--‫اهتم ونفعن‬--‫ول حي‬--‫ا هللا بط‬--‫ل السنة وامجلاعة متعن‬--‫ان من أه‬--‫والزم‬
‫كندويت امسه اشتياق شاه‬
Ends (f. 14v):
‫ع وهللا اعمل من الفقري‬--‫ق ان يتب‬--‫ر واحلق اح‬--‫و كف‬--‫ة ملا فهيا من السجود لغري هللا وه‬--‫فاحلق مع من أفىت ببطالن هذه الطريق‬
‫إبراهمي الباجوري خادم العمل ابألزهر‬
Fatwas regarding the polemical, theological and legal claims of one Ištiyāq Šāh (fl.
eighteenth century) who established a Sufi order in the village of Koṇṭōṭṭi in Malabar
and who had allegedly been ordering his followers to procrastinate before him. 30 The
Malabari scholars sought opinions of the learnt scholars of the Hijaz and Egypt to
reinforce their local repudiation of the order. The first question is answered by one
scholar from al-Azhar named Muḥammad al-Rāfiʿī al-Ḥanafī al-Azharī, while the
last question is specifically asked to Šayḫ al-Azhar, Ibrahīm b. Muḥammad al-Bāǧūrī
(1784–1860), who did provide an answer. It is notable that only Šāfiʿīs and Hanafīs
are selected for the answers as the origin and influence of this particular Sufi order
has mostly happened among the followers of these two schools. The question to
scholars of Medina in the Hijaz mentions the questioner as Kallupaṭi Kuyyil
ʿAlīkkuṭṭi (f. 5r).
The text was written mostly similar to Ṯuluṯ. It has 14 folios of 25 lines. The last
folio (14v) gives the impression that the work is incomplete.

JH 4. Ar., Per.
Anonymous
Risālat al-Šayḫ bi-aǧwibatihā
‫رساةل الشيخ بأجوبهتا‬
(Šayḫ’s Epistle with its Answers)
Begins (f. 2r):
‫ذكرة من أن‬--‫يب يف الت‬--‫ا اورد القرط‬--‫اةل انقال عن أمئة احلديث وم‬--‫ذه الرس‬--‫ة عىل ه‬--‫اةل الطويةل املتقدم‬--‫هذه الرساةل يف الرس‬
‫املهدي خيرج من املسجد األقىص‬
Ends (f. 55v):
‫اةل الشيخ‬---‫ل ومه يسئلون متت الرس‬---‫دبري ال يسئل عام يفع‬---‫ع الواصلني يف التحري والاكملني يف الت‬---‫ذا اذلي أوق‬---‫قلت ه‬
‫ابجوبهتا وهلل امحلد وبنعمته يمت الصاحلات آمني‬
A text describing the eschatological advent of Mahdī in the final days and his
attributes. From the phrases such as qawluhu (“his statement”) and qultu (“I say")
throughout the text, it seems to be a commentary of another text. The text written in
Nasḫ mixing styles of Ṯuluṯ in 55 folios of 19 lines. It has black ink for the main
content and red for the titles, while a Persian quote in ff. 21r–21v is in red

SIT 1. Ar.
MTM. Contains a copy of the collection of poems entitled as Hafawāt and another
prose text on the legal aspects of leading a prayer.

(i) ff. 1r–314v

Šayḫ b. Muḥammad al-Ǧifrī (d. 1808)

30
The first immigrant from the order to Malabar was Sayyid Muḥammad Shāh b. Sayyid Ismāʿīl (d.
1767). See, P. K. M. Abdul Jaleel, “Religious Rivalries in Eighteenth-Century Malabar”, 2018, p. 262.

16
 ‫شيخ بن محمد اجلفري‬
Al-hafawāt al-ṣādirāt min al-ḫayālāt al-wāridāt
‫الهفوات الصادرات من اخلياالت الواردات‬
(Mistakes Emerging from Intrinsic Thoughts)

Incomplete: the first and last pages are missing.

The available folio begins (f. 1r):
‫واطن‬--‫ وسكنت م‬،‫دد اهامةل‬--‫ار كرسى يف زايدة تع‬--‫ وص‬،‫وم ابب وال مضمت من الات العمل اةل‬--‫واب العل‬--‫من اب‬
‫ ورفعت أعالم لو ومل وكيف‬،‫ ونصبت نفيس عىل جادة التسويف‬،‫البالدة يف عمل ومعل وعادة‬
and ends: (f. 314v):
‫فويل بل وويل المعل يل * ارجوه عين ما جنيت يدفع‬
‫بيوم ال مال وال بنون * وال صديق فيه قط ينفع‬
For details of the author, subject and content of the text, please see JH 1 (i).
No colophon, but it contains more pages and poems than the manuscript in
Jifri House mentioned in JH 1 (iii). The folios mostly have 18–19 lines.

(ii) ff. 315r–330v:

Anonymous author. Title is not clear.
Initial folios are missing, and the available beginning is (f. 315r):
‫مأموم مل تصح اخلامس ان ال يكون اميا الا اذا اكن املأموم مثهل فال تصح قدوة قارئ ابيم‬
End folios are missing. Available ending (f. 330v):
‫د‬--‫الرشط التاسع الاحرتاز عن قطع الركن الفعيل ال الجل النفل فلو نيس التشهد الاول فذكره بعد انتصابه مل يع‬
‫هل فان عاد عاملا بتحميه بطلت‬
A work on legal aspects of the Islamic prayer.
Written mostly in Nasḫ but sometimes a script similar to Ṯuluṯ is also used.
330 folios in total. 17 lines per page. Red ink is used for headings,
punctuations and segmentations of poetic lines. Hard binding.

SIT 2. Ar.
CM. The number 1001 on the cover seems to be an earlier catalogue numbering.
However, no source catalogue is found in the library. Collections of poems by
scholars from Tarīm have been bound together.

(i) ff. 1r–34v

Ḥasan b. al-Ḥabīb Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAydarūs al-Ǧifrī (1777–1857)
‫حسن بن احلبيب صاحل بن عيدروس اجلفري‬
Dīwān al-Ḥasan
‫ديوان احلسن‬
(Poetic collection of al-Ḥasan)
Begins (f. 1v):
‫ر‬--‫دروس البح‬--‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي هذه الابيات من ديوان السيد العارف ابهلل احلسن بن ايب صاحل بن عي‬
‫ول‬--‫دون متوسال اىل هللا يف حص‬--‫اءها يف بدل قي‬--‫ذه القصيدة اكن إنش‬--‫ه ه‬--‫ال ريض هللا عن‬--‫ ق‬،‫ري ابعلوي‬--‫اجلف‬
‫الرمحة يف وقت ضيق ففرج هللا بربكته حفصلت الرمحة العامة للمسلمني‬
The text abruptly ends (f34v):
‫فيا سعد من اكن ذلكل قابل * وانه بذل الروح ما حش عاقل‬

17
 ‫بذا انزل القرأن اصدق قايل * فوهللا ما غنب ملن هو ابذل‬
Ḥasan al-Ǧifrī was a Hadrami Sufi scholar based in Yemen. 31 The poems
mainly are Sufi supplications, religious advises and hagiographical litanies.
Notes added to poems give contextual information on the compilation. For
example, the first poem (f. 1v) was written at Qaydūn, a village in
Hadramawt, for the removal of a turbulent situation (waqt ḍīq) and another
poem (f. 3v) was compiled in muḥarram at Mecca when Ḥāǧǧ pilgrims were
still fighting a severe famine.
No date of the collection, but the dates of compilation of poems are
mentioned at the beginnings of most poems.32 Thus, the work provides
interesting historical notes regarding Sufi scholarly transregional connections
with Hadramis in East Africa and Southern Arabia.
The titles are provided in red ink, while the main text in black. The text is in
good condition in a well-bound volume and is written in the Ṯuluṯ script with
19 lines in 34 folios. Folios (ff. 35r–36v) in the end remain blank, while f. 1r
has many notes.

(ii) ff. 37r–118v

al-Ḥabīb Aḥmad33
‫احلبيب أمحد‬
Al-abyāt al-musammāt bi-ālat taʿrīf al-munkar al-aḫnaʿ al-asmaḥ wa-al-
maʿrūf al-amnaʿ al-asmā al-muṣddar bi-masnūn al-ḥamd al-arfaʿ al-abhaǧ
al-muftataḥ bi-ālat. taʿrīf munkar al-asmā
‫ع الاهبج املفتتح بأةل‬--‫در مبسنون امحلد الارف‬--‫الابيات املسامة بآةل تعريف املنكر األ خنع األ مسح واملعروف األ منع الاسام املص‬
‫تعريف منكر الاسام‬
(Poems named as the Device to Identify the Most Indulgent Slavish
Repudiated Matter and the Most Denied Sublime Goodness Originated from
the Prescribed High and Cheerful Praise and that Starts with the Identification
of Unknown Names). The cover page has the title Dīwān al-Ḥabīb Aḥmad
with a lot of notes and poems.
F. 37r has a title with other many scribblings. Begins (f. 37v):
‫ايرة‬-‫دائد املتغ‬-‫دار والش‬--‫ايل الاق‬--‫ادة يف ظمل لي‬--‫رف اىل عب‬-‫ امحلد هلل املتع‬،‫ه نستعني‬-‫رحمي وب‬-‫بسم هللا الرمحن ال‬
،‫ا رشيف امحلد املسنون‬--‫ه عن‬--‫أدى ب‬-‫ محدا يت‬،‫اهرة‬--‫ة والظ‬--‫هل احلقي‬--‫اف فض‬--‫ف الط‬--‫وار عواط‬--‫ابرشاق سواطع ان‬
‫ويصفوا به مهنل عيشنا املسنون مبهنل جود اجلود الغري املمنون‬
The poems appear after an introduction of three folios (f. 40r):
‫أستغفرهللا غفار اذلنوب للك ما * قد جنيت من العصيان واحلرج‬
‫وامحلد هلل رب العاملني فمك * افاد فضال ومك قد جاء ابلفرج‬
Ends (f. 118v):
‫أكرم الاكرمني انت مالذي * وشفيعي اليك اكرم خلقك‬
‫أأرى بني اكرمني مضاما * او مضاعا حاشا الوفا وحقك‬

31
About him, see A. b. M. b. H. al-Saqāf, Taʾrīḫ al-Šuʿarāʾ al-Ḥaḍramiyyīn, vol. 3, 1938, pp. 145–
162.
32
For example, f. 4r shows the date as šaʿbān 1245/Feb 1830, and in f. 7r, the author bequeaths to
ʿAlawī b. ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAydarūs on Tuesday, 24 ḏū al-qaʿada 1247/24 April 1832 through the poem.
33
This is the name mentioned on f. 37v, but his full title and details are yet to be recognized.

18
 The colophon in f. 118v: The copying of this Dīwān was completed by Abū
Bakr b. Sālim b. ʿIwaḍ b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad Balfaqīh, also
known as al-Yatīm, on 14 rabīʿ al-awwal, 1256/13 June 1840.
The content of poems consists of Sufi supplications, calls for repudiation of
this world, highlights the significance of Sufism for the victory of two worlds
and appeals for following the prayers and etiquettes set up by prominent
spiritual figures. Like the other Hadrami poetic collections, this work also
quotes many well-known Sufi poems such as Al-burda of Šaraf al-Dīn Abū
ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Saʿīd al-Būṣirī (d. 1294–1297). The author
mentions some of these poets in f. 38v.
Written in the Ṯuluṯ script, with full stops and titles in red ink and contains 81
folios of 15 lines followed by blank end folios ff. 119r–120r.

(iii) ff. 120v–153v

Anonymous34
Al-qaṣīda al-nūniyya al-mubāraka
‫القصيدة النونية املباركة‬
(The Blessed Nuniyya Poem)
Begins after three blank pages (f. 120v):
‫بسمةل وبه ثقيت وعليه اعامتدي‬
‫إذا شيت حتي سعيدا معا * وعن لك سوء بعيدا مصان‬
‫ومتيس وتصبح يف راحة * اكنك جعلت سكىن اجلنان‬
Ends (f.153v):
‫وأهلم عبادك اي ربنا ال * قناعة كزن اللبيب املصان‬
‫جباه الرسول نل لك سول * وجد ابلقبول لنا والامان‬
‫وصل وسمل عىل امحد * نيب الهدى لكام جفر ابن‬
‫ القران وحوقل واعي األذان‬،‫كذا اآلل والصحب ما جود‬
Poems by several authors on diverse topics from fiqh, theology and sufism
are collected. For example, the text quotes in f. 122v, 135r ʿAbd Allāh b.
Aḥmad Bā Sūdān (d. 1850), the author of Ḏaḫīrat al-maʿād Šaraḥ Rātib al-
Ḥaddād and Ṭāhir b. Ḥusayn in ff. 146 v, 149r. 35 One poem (f. 125r) given as
an introduction to ʿAbd Allāh Bā Sūdān’s Qaṣīda indicates that the author is
Ibn Sumayṭ.36
The copying of the text was completed, according to f. 153v, in the early
morning of 25 rabīʿ al-awwal 1256/26 May 1840 by [A]bū Bakr b. Sālim b.
ʿIwaḍ b. Daḥmān b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn al-Yatīm Balfaqīh. Written in
Ṯuluṯ with 33 folios of 15 lines. It has red ink for headings and black for
others.

(iv) ff. 154r–155v

Anonymous, but a title line indicates a continuation by the anonymous author
of Al-qaṣīda al-nūniyya as f. 154r says:
‫ووجد خبطه ريض هللا عنه‬
34
Not to be confounded by al-Qaṣīda al-nūniyya by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Ǧawzī (d. 1350). See M. b. A. b.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Al-qaṣīda al-nūniyya, 1925.
35
see ʿA. b. A. Bā Sūdān, Kitāb ḏaḫīrat al-maʿād bi-Šaraḥ Rātīb al-Ḥaddād, 1900.
36
About the Ibn Sumyaṭ family, see A. K. Bang, Sufis and Scholars of the Sea, 2003.

19
 (found in his handwriting, may Allāh bless him)
Begins (f. 154r):
‫جزيت معريي حتفة املتعبد * محيد جزاء حازه ذو تودد‬
Ends (f. 155v):
‫وماذا الرحيل اىل جاوة * وهند ومسكت دعي ذي امحلق‬
The poem calls for contentment in this world and makes supplicating prayer
interceding with Alawi masters. Written mixing with Nasḫ and Ṯuluṯ.
The two folios after Qašīda al-nūniyya is filled with several poetic prayers drafted
with eight lines (f. 154r) and followed by another litany in ff. 154r–155v with 37
lines. The second litany provides intercessions with prophets and later saints. The
succeeding folios (ff. 156r–157r) are filled with various notes. The next folios (ff.
157v–158r) is blank, while the last folio (158v) has interesting notes, such as the date
of demise of Imam al-Ġazzālī (d. 1111) and some quotes of Imam Šāfiʿī (d. 820).
The codex has total 161 folios. Well bound, although some folios have begun
decaying due to wormholes. Four texts are written with different handwritings and
use a mixed style of Ṯuluṯ primarily with what may seem Nasḫ.

SIT 3. Ar.
CM. Includes hagiographies, legal texts, theological and Sufi commentaries and
abridged versions of famous texts. Bound well with thread and brown hard cover.
160 folios total. End folio (f. 160v) is blank.

(i) ff. 1r–18v

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad Balfaqīh Bā ʿAlawī (d. 1749)
‫عبد الرمحن بن عبد هللا بن أمحد ابلفقيه ابعلوي‬
Kitāb al-nubḏa mufīda fī šarḥ Al-qaṣīda al-farīda fī ḫulāṣat al-ʿaqīda al-aṣl
wa-al-šarḥ
‫كتاب النبذة املفيدة يف رشح القصيدة الفريدة يف خالصة العقيدة األ صل والرشح‬
(A Useful Text as a Commentary to the Poem Al-Qaṣīda al-Farīda about the
Summary of Basic Beliefs; Main text and Commentary)
Begins (f. 1v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي وبه حويل وقويت‬
‫ل وال‬--‫د بال تعطي‬--‫د والتفري‬--‫ه والتوحي‬--‫ات والتزني‬--‫ق يف االثب‬--‫ه والتثبيت عىل التحقي‬--‫امحلد هلل عىل التعلمي والتفقي‬
‫د‬--‫ه وبع‬--‫وبني هل وفي‬--‫وهل ومصطفيه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه واتباعه احملب‬--‫تشبيه عىل اتباع كتابه وسنة عبده ورس‬
‫ول كام‬--‫احل يف كامل القب‬--‫فهذه نبذة مفيدة حلل أبيايت القصيدة الفريدة يف خالصة العقيدة عىل مذهب السلف الص‬
... ‫جاءت به النقول‬
Ends (f. 18r):
‫مل اجل تسلمي داميا‬-‫دا رسمدا وس‬-‫رة اب‬--‫وم من أايم ادلنيا واآلخ‬--‫رمي لك ي‬-‫ل صالة وأعظم تك‬--‫عليه هللا صيل أفض‬
‫ىل هللا‬--‫لك الليايل ليال ادلنيا واآلخرة كذكل وامحلد هلل رب العاملني وال حول وال قوة الا ابهلل العيل العظمي وص‬
37
‫عىل سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه وسمل وحسبنا هللا ونعم الوكيل‬
This is an autocommentary of poems by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAbd Allāh Bā
ʿAlawī and it provides a brief overview of theological doctrine of the Ahl al-
Sunna.38
37
The bolded text is the base text highlighted in red in the manuscript.
38
About ʿAbd al-Raḥmān see al-Mašhūr, Šams al-Ẓahīra, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 392–393; ʿA. b. ʿU. al-
Ḥibšī, ʿIqd al-yawāqīt al-ǧawhariyya, 2009, pp. 852–860.

20
 The text is written in neat Nasḫ in 18 folios of 25 lines. The black ink is used
for the commentary and red for the main poem, titles and marks. After the
end, three blank end folios (18v–19v).

(ii) ff. 20r–33v

ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ǧīlī (1365–1424)

‫عبد الكرمي اجلييل‬

Kitāb asrār al-ḫalwa wa-yuqālu Risālat al-anwār
‫كتاب أ رسار اخللوة ويقال رساةل األ نوار‬
(Secrets of the Seclusion; also called: the Epistle of Lights Explaining What
may be Provided to the Person of Solitude)
Begins (f. 20r):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ل من‬--‫ود واهب العق‬--‫ع القي‬--‫ق عن مجي‬--‫رق وامجلع خالص هلل املطل‬--‫يب الف‬--‫امحلد هلل اذلي هو إظهار الكامل من مرت‬
‫حيث ذاته ان اكن عبارة عن قامئ بنفسه الا مفن حيث صفاته‬
The text is incomplete and ends abruptly in f. 33 v as:
‫املتعلقة بصور المتثيل واخليال فإن يوسف عليه السالم اكن من الامئة يف عامل التعبري‬
This is a commentary of the Sufi work by Muḥyiddīn Ibn al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī
al-Ṭāʾī al-Andalusī (d. 1165-1240). ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ǧīlī wrote the famous
text, Al-insān al-kāmil.
Basmala is written in Ṯuluṯ while the main text mostly in the Naqš script. 13
folios of 25 lines. Commentary in black and the core text in red. 34r–34v
blank end folios.

(iii) ff. 35r–44v

Burhān al-Dīn al-Zarnūǧī (d. 1197)
‫برهان ادلين الزرنويج‬
Kitāb taʿlīm al-mutaʿallim fi ṭarīq al-taʿallum
‫كتاب تعلمي املتعمل يف طريق التعمل‬
(A Book of Training for Students in the Method of Education)
Begins (f. 35v):
‫امل والصالة‬--‫ع الع‬--‫ارف عىل مجي‬--‫ين آدم ابلعلوم واملع‬--‫ل ب‬--‫ه نستعني أمحلد هلل اذلي فض‬--‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي وب‬
‫د فلام رأيت كثريا من‬--‫وم واحلمك وبع‬--‫والسالم عىل سيدان محمد سيد العرب والعجم وعىل آهل وأحصابه ينابيع العل‬
‫طالب العمل يف زماننا جيدون اىل العلوم ال يصلون‬
Ends (f. 44r):
‫رف‬--‫اب تع‬--‫والتحرز عن قطع األجشار الرطبة إال عند الرضورة وحفظ الصحة واألخبار وادلعوات يف هذا الكت‬
‫من الكتب وامحلد هلل رب العاملني وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وحصبه أمجعني‬
This is a copy of Taʿlīm al-mutaʿallim by Burhān al-Dīn al-Zarnūǧī on
various religious etiquette in the process of seeking knowledge. Al-Zarnūǧī
lived in Transoxiana and was a disciple of Burhān al-Dīn al-Marġīnānī al-
Ḥanafī, the author of Al-hidāya.39

39
See about al-Zarnūǧī, Ṣ. M. al-Ḫaymī al-Zarnūǧī and N. Ḥamdān, “Tarǧamat al-Muʾallif”, 2014, pp.
19–22.

21
 9 folios of 17 lines. Mostly similar to Nasḫ. Some margin notes, for e.g., f.
44r in Ṯuluṯ. It is slightly shorter, compared to the printed version edited by
Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad al-Ḫaymī and Naḏīr Ḥamdān. The last folios (44v and 45r)
are blank.

(iv) ff. 45v–88r

Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr al-Šillī
‫محمد بن أيب بكر الشيل‬
Al-mašraʿ al-rawī fī manāqib al-Sādat al-kirām Āl Abī ʿAlawī40
‫املرشع الروي يف مناقب السادة الكرام آل أيب علوي‬
(The Irrigating Fount in the Hagiography of Āl Bā ʿAlawī)
Begins (f. 45v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ل وداده وأصفيايه‬--‫ة أرواح أه‬--‫امحلد هلل اذلي رشح مبعارف العوارف صدور أوليائه وروح بسامع صفاهتم الطيب‬
‫ومن عىل املؤمنني ابلنعم املستدامة إذ بعث فهيم رسوال هيدي اىل موارد السالمة‬
Abruptly ends (f. 88r):
‫ومل يزل عىل احلال األمكل اىل ان تويف اىل رمحة هللا تعاىل سنة اربع عرشة ومائة وقيل سنة سبع عرشة وقيل‬
‫مثان عرشة ومائة وأوىص ان يكفن يف مقيصه اذلي اكن يصيل فيه ودفن ابلبقيع يف قبة اهل البيت يف القرب اذلي‬
‫فيه ابوه ومع ابيه وهو ريض هللا عنه بن‬
A widely circulated ʿAlawī genealogical text by al-Šillī (1621–1682) with
hagiographical descriptions of some noted ʿAlawī descendants. The
manuscript is incomplete as it abruptly ends with a description of Ǧaʿfar b.
Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d. 148/765).
Nasḫ script with 42 folios of 19 lines. Ff. 88v–89v blank end folios.

(v) ff. 90r–122v

ʿAbd Allāh B. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ḥāǧǧ Bā Faḍl
‫عبد هللا بن عبد الرمحن احلاج ابفضل‬
Kitāb muḫtaṣar al-kabīr
‫كتاب اخملترص الكبري‬
(The Book of the Grant Abridgement)
Begins (f. 90v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫امحلد هلل اذلي فرض علينا تعمل رشائع اإلسالم ومعروف حصيح املعامةل وفاسدها لتعريف احلالل واحلرام‬
Ends (f. 122v):
،‫ وهللا أعمل‬،‫ا للرجل بال حاجة‬--‫وال بأس ابلزعفران وحيرم تسويد الشيب ووصل الشعر والتفليح والومش واحلن‬
‫مت الكتاب حبمد هللا وعونه عىل التفقه يف ادلين هللا ينتفعنا به آمني‬
This is a part from the Šāfiʿī legal text popularly known as Al-muqaddima al-
ḥaḍramiyya by ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ḥāǧǧ Bā Faḍl (d. 1512). It
explains basic matters of rituals such as prayers, ablution and ritual bathing.41

40
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (henceforth GAL), vol. II, p. 383; id. GAL S
II, p. 516.
41
See ʿA. b. ʿU. al-Ḥibšī, ʿIqd al-yawāqīt al-ǧawhariyya, 2009, pp. 1069–1071; ʿA. Q. b. Š b. ʿA. al-
ʿAydarūs, Al-nūr al-sāfir ʿan aḫbār al-qarn al-ʿāšir, 2001, pp. 145–147.

22
 The final folio (f. 122v) states that its copying was completed in rabī’ al-ṯānī,
1209/January 1795 by Ḥabīb ʿUmar b. ʿAlī b. Šayḫ Šihāb al-Dīn. It further
mentions one Sayyid Ḥusayn b. ʿAlawī b. ʿAlī b. ʿAydarūs, who resides at
Rayḍa (?) of the al-Ġinā region, Tarīm. This might be the owner of the text.
Notes in the title folio (f. 90r) states that it is endowed (waqf) in the name of
ʿAlawī b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ǧifrī, the great grandson of Šayḫ al-Ǧifrī
(d. 1808), by his descendants. Another name mentioned there, al-Sayyid
ʿHusayn b. ʿAlawī b. ʿAydarūs, could be the overseer (nāzir) of the waqf.
Written in Nasḫ but interspersed with Ṯuluṯ, the text has 33 folios of 18 lines
with red ink for headings and punctuations and black ink for the main
content. The title is bold with black and red inks and some notes are struck.
One blank end folio (f. 123).

(vi) ff. 124r–129r

ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad Sibṭ al-Māradīnī [Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b.
Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Raḥbī (1104–1182)]
[‫عبد هللا بن محمد سبط املارديين] محمد بن عيل بن محمد بن احلسن الرحيب‬
Kitāb al-manḍūma [al-manẓūma]al-raḥbiyya
‫كتاب املنضومة ]املنظومة[ الرحبية‬
(Welcoming Poem)
Begins (f. 124v):
‫أول ما نستفتح املقاال * بذكر محد ربنا تعاىل‬
‫وامحلد هلل عىل ما أنعام* محدا به جيلو عن القلب العام‬
Ends (f. 129r):
‫محمد خري األانم العايف * وآهل الاحصاب واملناقب‬
‫وحصبة الاجماد الابرار* الصفوة الاكبار الاخيار‬
A poem on inheritance law according to the Šāfiʿī school, known usually as
Buġyat al-bāḥiṯ ʿan ǧumal al-mawāriṯ.42 The author is known by his
sobriquet, Ibn al-Mutaqqana whose full name is a Abū ʿAbd Allāh
Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Raḥbī (1104–1182) of
Damascus. He is identified in the title folio as the grandson of al-Māradīnī
(Sibṭ al-Māradīnī: ‫)سبط المارديني‬, which is an error. In fact, the person known
as Sibṭ al-Māradīnī wrote a commentary for the poem in the sixteenth
century. His full name was Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad (1423–
1506) and he was the grandson of ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḫalīl b. Yūsuf b. ʿAbd Allah
al-Māradīnī (d. 1406).43
The last folio (129r) mentions that this is also endowed in the name of ʿAlawī
b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ǧifrī by his descendants. Written in a mixed style
of Ṯuluṯ (title page and headings) and Nasḫ. Six folios of 19 lines, with red
ink for titles and black for contents.

(vii) ff. 129v–139v

ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Bā Faḍl
‫عبد هللا بن عبد الرمحن ابفضل‬
Al-muḫtaṣar al-ṣaġīr
42
C. Brockelmann, GAL, vol. I, p. 391.
43
M. A. Al-Baghā, (ed.), Al-rahbiyya fī ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ, 1998, pp. 6–11.

23
 ‫اخملترص الصغري‬
(The Short Abridgement) (sometime titled as Al-muḫtaṣar al-laṭīf or
Muḫtaṣar Bā Faḍl)
Begins (f. 129v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ىل هللا‬--‫وهل ص‬--‫ده ورس‬--‫املني واشهد ان ال اهل الا هللا وحده ال رشيك هل وأشهد أن محمدا عب‬--‫امحلد هلل رب الع‬
‫ فهذا خمترص فامي ال بد من معرفته او معرفة مثهل من فروض الطهارة‬،‫عليه وعىل آهل وسمل وبعد‬
Ends (f. 139v):
‫ة وودلها حىت ميني وهللا‬--‫ق بني اجلاري‬--‫ه والنجس وحيرم التفري‬--‫والسوم عىل سوم أخيه والرشاء عىل رشاء أخي‬
‫سبحانه وتعاىل أعمل وأحمك‬
A basic legal text according to the Šāfiʿī school that explains ritual aspects of
prayer, fasting and ḥaǧǧ.
Its colophon (f. 139v) says that copying was finished on Monday 12 ǧumād
al-uḫrā 1259/10 July 1843. Another note attached to the colophon but written
upside-down says that Husayn b. ʿAlī b. ʿAlī b. Šihāb al-Dīn studied
(taʿllama) [the text], which might be note on its iǧāza (license). On the other
side of the colophon, another reverse note says that it was owned by (…) b.
(…) ʿUmar b. ʿAlī Šihāb al-Dīn. Below the colophon, there is a prayer poem
of six lines.
Written in what seems similar mostly to Ṯuluṯ mixed with Nasḫ. 10 folios of
18 lines. The text is widely printed and used in Šāfiʿī learning centres in
Arabia, Asia and Africa.

(viii) ff. 140r–144v

Šayḫ Šihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn b. Raslān (d. 1440)
‫شيخ شهاب ادلبن أمحد بن حسني رسالن‬
Naẓm al-zubad
‫نظم الزبد‬
Begins (f. 140v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫أمحلد هلل ذا اجلالل* وشارع احلرام واحلالل‬
‫مث صلوة هللا مع سالم * عىل النيب املصطفي الهتام‬
‫محمد الهادي من الضالل* وأفضل الصحب وخري آل‬
Ends (f. 144v): The text is incomplete. It ends ex abrupto:
‫) رة حيث توجل‬..(‫موجبه املين حني خيرج * واملوت واكل‬
‫فرجا ولو ميتا بال إعادة * واحليض والنفاس والوالدة‬
A poem with basics of Islamic theology and legal aspects of rituals, by Šihāb
al-Dīn Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad b. Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Raslān al-Šāfiʿī b. Raslān, a
Šāfiʿī scholar from Ramallah, Palestine. 44 It is considered an important poem
in the Šāfiʿī school.
Five folios with 19 lines written with a style that combines both Ṯuluṯ and
Nasḫ. After, f. 145r blank.

(ix) ff. 145v–150v, Ar.

44
See about him, al-Saḫāwī, Al-ḍawʾ al-lāmiʿ li-Ahl al-qarn al-tāsiʿ vol. 1, 1992, p. 281.

24
 Muḥammad b. Faḍl
‫محمد بن فضل‬
Al-ḥaqīqa al-muwāfiqa li-al-Šarīʿa bi-Šarḥ Tuḥfat al-mursala ilā Rasūl Allāh
‫احلقيقة املوافقة للرشيعة برشح حتفة املرسةل اىل رسول هللا‬
(The Reality Compatible to Šarīʿa as a Commentary of Tuḥfat al-Mursala)
Begins (f. 145v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي أمحلد هللا رب العاملني والعاقبة للمتخيل عن الكونني والصلوة والسالم عىل املظهر الامت‬
‫مل محمد بن‬--‫ه وس‬--‫ىل هللا علي‬--‫يب ص‬--‫اج اىل شفاعة الن‬--‫د املذنب احملت‬--‫ول العب‬--‫د فيق‬--‫ا بع‬--‫محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني أم‬
‫الشيخ فّض ل هللا هذه نبذة من اللكامت يف عمل احلقائق‬
Ends (f. 150v):
‫ه‬-‫ىل هللا علي‬-‫يب ص‬-‫ة الن‬-‫ام حبرم‬-‫ذا املق‬-‫بل مل يبق فيك الا اثبات احلق سبحانه وتعاىل ورزقنا هللا تعاىل واايمك ه‬
‫وسمل آمني آمني آمني اي رب العاملني‬
This is an autocommentary by the author on his earlier text titled Tuḥfat al-
mursala on various stages and experiences in the Sufi life.
Six folios of 15 lines written in Nasḫ. The core text is in red ink and the
commentary is in black. A blank endfolio (f. 151r).
The following folio (f. 151v) provides a note on an argument between the
Muʿtazilī Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār b. Aḥmad b. al-
Ḫalīl b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Asadābādī (d. 1025) and the Sunni leader Abū Isḥāq
Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Mihrān al-Mihrdaǧānī al-Isfarāyīnī (d.
1027).45 The anecdote is recorded as being quoted from Šarḥ Rātib al-
Ḥaddād, possibly from the noted commentary by Bā Sūdān (d. 1850). 46
Another anecdote about Qādiriyya during the reign of Hišām b. ʿAbd al-
Malik (r. 691–743) is copied thereafter (f. 152r).

(x) ff. 152v–159r

Anonymous
Kašf al-ẓulma fī bayān firaq hāḏihi al-umma
‫كشف الظلمة يف بيان فرق هذه األ مة‬
(Bringing Light in Explaining the Sects of this Community)
Begins (f. 152v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ه هيدي‬-‫ل ملن هيدي‬-‫امحلد هلل اذلي خلق فسوى واذلي قدر وقىض وأضل واهتدى فال هادي ملن يضهل وال مض‬
‫من يشاء بال عةل ويضل من يشاء بال عةل‬
The text abruptly ends in f. 159r:
]…[‫واوقفه الاوزاعي وعنده غسل امجلعة مستحب للك أحد حرض امجلعة ام ال واملا النخعي فعنده ابو الـ‬
After, the next folio (f. 159v) provides a quote from the hagiography of al-
Ḥaddād and a poem which ends:
‫فالهنا والبسط حايل وداثري وشعاري * قد كفاين عمل ربيي من سؤايل واختياري‬
‫ه متت املنظومة ه‬
The text says it is an abridged version of Risāla by al-Šayḫ al-Fāḍil Tāǧ al-
Dīn b. Zakariyya al-Naqšbandī al-ʿUthmān al-ʿAšmī (d.?). It explains various

45
W. Madelung, “Al-Isfarāyīnī”, 1997, pp. 107–108.
46
A. B. A. Bā Sūdān, Kitāb Dhakhīra al-Maʿād bi Sharah Rātīb al-Ḥaddād, 1900; ʿA. b. A. b. H. Bā
ʿAlawī, Šarḥ Rātib al-Ḫaddād, 1993.

25
 Islamic sects including Sufis, Šīʿis, Sunnis, Qadarīs, Ǧabarīs and others. A
similar text is Al-farq bayn al-firaq by Ḫaṭīb al-Baġdādī (d. 1037).47
It is written mostly in the Ṯuluṯ script. Titles in red and the main content in
black. The poem in ff. 159v–160r seems similar to the Muḥaqqaq script.
Eight folios with 19 lines each.

SIT 4. Ar.
al-Šayḫ Muḥammad b. ʿUmar Baḥraq al-Ḥaḍramī (1465–1524)
‫الشيخ محمد بن معر حبرق احلرضيم‬
Mawāhib al-quddūs fī manāqib al-ʿAydarūs
‫مواهب القدوس يف مناقب العيدروس‬
(The Divine Gifts in the Hagiography of al-ʿAydarūs). On f. 1r, a title written
probably later is‫ الوسائل‬.
Begins (f. 1v):
‫ه‬--‫ق من احب‬--‫ا ورشفا مث وف‬--‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل وسالم عىل عباده اذلين اصطفى وجعل مهنم انبيا وعلام واولي‬
48
‫لصحبة من اصطفاه من عباده حبا هلم وشغفا فرتاه ال يزال لهجا يذكرمه ليال وهنارا انقال من اخبارمه علوما‬
Ends (f. 102v):
‫ال‬-‫ان وابن حزمية يف حصيحهام واحلامك وق‬-‫ده هللا رواه ابن حب‬-‫وقال صىل هللا عليه وسمل من ذكرت عنده فمل يصل عيل أبع‬
‫مل عىل محمد وابرك عىل‬--‫ل وس‬--‫ه اللهم ص‬--‫مل علي‬--‫ىل هللا وس‬--‫حصيح الاسناد فلنختمت الكتاب ايضا ابلصالة والسالم عليه ص‬
‫د‬--‫د جمي‬--‫محمد وعىل آل محمد وأزواجه وذريته كام صليت وسلمت وابركت عىل ابراهمي وعىل آل ابراهمي يف العاملني إنك محي‬
‫سبحان ربك رب العزة عام يصفون وسالم عىل املرسلني وامحلد هلل رب العاملني‬
A hagiography on the Hadrami Sufi figure, Abū Bakr b. Šayḫ al-ʿAydarūs b. ʿAbd
Allāh b. Abī Bakr b. al-Šayḫ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Bā ʿAlawī al-Ḥusaynī al-ʿAdānī (d.
1509). Along with the genealogy and brief autobiography, the author also provides
several litanies compiled by the same mystic.
Written in Nasḫ in 102 folios of 15 lines in black ink with red marking for titles.
Hard bound. The folios are getting wormholes and are becoming illegible.

SIT 5. Ar., Per.

CM. It includes a collection of poems by Sayyid Ḥusayn and excerpts from the
famous Kašf al-ẓunūn.

(i) ff. 2r–5v

Al-Sayyid Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Šihāb Bā ʿAlawī (d. 1911)
‫السيد حسني بن محمد بن عيل بن شهاب ادلين ابعلوي‬
Taḥrīr al-ašʿār fī duhūr al-ʿumr wa-al-aḫbār
‫حترير األ شعار يف دهور العمر والاخبار‬
(Revised Poems on the Contemporary Subjects and News)
Begins (f. 3r):
‫أللفاظ حرب قد صفى وهو زاهر * جناين وفكري مستنري وابهر‬
‫مسعت خريا ما علمت حقيقة * مفا راينا نرشه ىل عاطر‬
Ends (f. 5r):

47
al-Baghdādī, Al-farq bayn al-firaq wa-bayān al-firqa al-nāǧiya minhum, not dated.
48
As mentioned in fn 17, the inconsistencies in the original manuscripts are maintained in our
transcriptions, such as the absence of hamza at the end of several words in this passage.

26
 ‫هو الطالع الهادي عىل كبد السامء * حسني ابن احرار امحلى بتنور‬
‫هو اخلاطر املايح اجازة من حنا * حسني ابن ابرار البنا يتبرش‬
A collection of poems that contains eulogistic lines on ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-
Zāhir (1833–1896), one of the famous Hadrami leaders who led anti-Dutch
political battles in Aceh and was later exiled to Mecca and occupied
influential positions in Muslim sultanates of Istanbul, Aceh and Hyderabad,
and on Qāḍī Abū Bakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn (d. 1884). The author became the
chief qāḍī of Calicut after the latter’s brother ʿAbd al-Salām (d. 1886).49
The elegy on Abū Bakar also mentions (f. 3v) the famous Meccan Mufti,
Šayḫ Sayyid Aḥmad b. Zaynī Daḥlān (d. 1886), who was very strong critique
of the Wahhabi movement.50
Nastaʿliq script. The first poem is in 19 lines in f. 3r and seven lines in f. 3v
and the second poem is in 10 lines in f. 3v, 19 lines in f. 5r and 8 lines in f.
5v. The title in f. 2r states that the author began to copy the volume on
Monday 8 rabīʿ al-awwal 1309/12 October 1891. Along with the poem, f. 1v
also provides some interesting notes on legal issues in prayer, while f. 6r
records personal opinions of the author on the issue of masbūq (one who joins
prayers later).

(ii)ff. 6v–62r
Mullā Kātib Çelebi (1609-1657)
‫مال اكتب چليب‬
Kitāb kašf al-ẓunūn ʿan asāmī al-kutub wa-al-funūn
‫كتاب كشف الظنون عن اسايم الكتب والفنون‬
(Removal of Speculations about the Names of Books and Subjects)
The text acephalous. Current beginning (f. 7v):
‫ا يف سنة‬--‫روف ابلسهاب احلصكفي واكن حي‬--‫اس امحد بن محمد املع‬--‫وال اليب العب‬--‫ام الع‬--‫ول من مق‬--‫ة الوص‬--‫طالب‬
،٨٦٤
Ends (f. 60r):
‫ه محمد خامت النبيني‬--‫ل وصالته عىل نبي‬--‫و حسبنا ونعم الوكي‬--‫وال يرد دعوة القاصدين وال يصلح معل املفسدين وه‬
‫وعىل آهل وحصبه أمجعني وسمل تسلامي كثريا اىل يوم ادلين وامحلد هلل رب العاملني‬
A selected portion from the famous bibliographic encyclopaedia by Muṣṭafa
b. al ʿAbd Allāh Ḥāǧǧī Ḫalīfa, aka Kātib Celebī.
Descriptions in f. 7v, f. 62r state that the copying from the second volume of
the text printed in mid šawwāl 1272/June 1856 by Dār al-ṭibāʿa al-miṣriyya
was started on 19 rabīʿ al-awwal 1309/22 October 1891 and ended on
Tuesday night 24 ǧumād al-uḫrā 1309/26 January 1892. Ff. 58v–59r and 62v
contain different names of noted scholars and authors.
Written in Nasḫ and Ṯuluṯ in 38 lines in most folios. Sometimes two columns
used in ff 53v–57r and others written in triangle shape with about 52 lines in
folios 13r, 19r, and all recto sides from ff. 21–43, 47–53. End folio (f. 63) is
blank.
49
About al-Zāhir, see al-Mašhūr, Šams al-zahīra, pp. 169–174; A. Reid, “‘Habib Abdur-Rahman Az-
Zahir (1833–1896)”, 1972, pp. 36–59; U. Freitag, Indian Ocean Migrants and State Formation in
Hadhramaut, 2003, pp. 195–199.
50
About him, see Š. A. Š. al-Dimyāṭī, Nafḥa al-Raḥmān fī Baʿḍ Manāqib al-Šayḫ al-Sayyid Aḥmad b.
al-Sayyid Zaynī Daḥlān, 2016; C. S. Hurgronje, Mekka in the Later Part of the Nineteenth
Century,2007, p. 200; id., “Een Rector Der Mekka Ansche Universiteit”, 1887, pp. 344–348.

27
 The binding is decaying with loose thread and some folios are in fragile
condition. Contains a seal in f. 2r marking in English “Sayed Ahmed
Shihabuddin Quzee of Calicut”. Two folios in the beginning, where f. 2v has
the title of Taḥrīr al-ašʿār.

SIT 6. Ar.
CM. Contains one manuscript and other printed texts.

(i) ff. 1r–10r

[Ḥasan?]51 b. al-Sayyid Faḍl b. al-Sayyid al-Ġawṯ ʿAlawī b. Muḥammad b.
Sahl Mawlā al-Dawīla
‫]حسن؟[ بن السيد فضل بن السيد الغوث علوي بن محمد بن سهل موىل ادلويةل‬
Ḥāšīya ʿalā Risāla al-ṭarīqa al-ḥanīfiyya al-samḥā
‫حاشية عىل رساةل الطريقة احلنيفية السمحا‬
(A Supercommentary on the Treatise of the Righteous Order)
Begins (f. 1v):
‫رين وعىل آهل وحصبه‬--‫املني والصالة والسالم عىل سيد الاولني واآلخ‬--‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل رب الع‬
‫وذريته أمجعني أما بعد فقال العامل العالمة واحلرب الفهامة اكشف املشالكت‬
Incomplete ending (f. 10r):
‫ل‬--‫رة وادلنيا ومن لك جلي‬--‫ور اآلخ‬--‫اه من ام‬--‫ه رض‬--‫فنسأهل اللطف والعافية وصالح العاقبة ويسال لكام شاء مما في‬
‫وحقري انهتي من رشح الراتب نفسه تنفس فاذلكر اذلي‬
A ḥāšīya (supercommentary) on Al-ṭarīqa al-ḥanīfiyya al-samḥā of Sayyid
Faḍl by his son. It describes the significance of the ʿAlawī Sufi order. The
base text was published in 1317/1900 in Turkey just before the author’s death
in Istanbul. The title is Al-ṭarīqa al-ḥanīfa al-samḥāʾ not ‘al-ḥanīfiyya’.52 The
base text is given here in the margin while the commentary is in the centre in
marked boxes. The commentator quotes the original with the phrase qawluhu

( ‫ )قوله‬followed by parentheses. Written in a style similar to Muḥaqqaq with

25–27 lines per folio. End folios 10v–12r are blank.

The remaining part of the codex includes three printed texts.

(ii) ff. 13r–73v

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Asʿad al-Yamanī al-Yāfiʿī (d. 1367)
‫ابو محمد عبد هللا بن أسعد الميين اليافعي‬
Al-durr al-naẓīm fī ḫawāṣṣ al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm
‫ادلر النظمي يف خواص القرآن العظمي‬
(The Neat Pearl on the Specialties of the Great Qurʾān)

51
A wormhole makes the first name of the author illegible.
52
F. P. b. ʿA al-Ḥusaynī, Al-ṭarīqa al-ḥanīfa al-samḥāʾ, 1900.

28
 ‫‪Begins (f. 13v):‬‬
‫بس‪--‬م هللا ال‪--‬رمحن ال‪--‬رحمي ق‪--‬ال الشيخ الام‪--‬ام الع‪--‬امل العام‪--‬ل الع‪--‬ارف اب‪--‬و محمد عب‪--‬د هللا بن اسعد الميين الي‪--‬افعي‬
‫الشافعي رمحه هللا‬
‫‪Ends (f. 72v):‬‬
‫ومن قرأه‪--‬ا عن‪--‬د ادلخول عىل السالطني واحلاكم كفى رشمه واكن بق‪--‬درة هللا يف ام‪--‬ان وسالم واطمئن‪--‬ان محدا‬
‫ملن حفنا بواحض الغرر وآاثر الكرامات وجعل لنا حبرا خيرج من‪--‬ه فوائ‪--‬د اجلواهر وب‪--‬واهر اآلايت وصالة وسالم‬
‫عىل سيد السادات سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه الربرة الثقات وبعد‬
‫‪ff. 73r–73v are the index of the work. The text was printed in 1323/1905.53‬‬

‫‪(iii) ff. 74r–102v‬‬

‫‪Muḥammad b. Raǧab b. ʿAbd al-ʿĀl b. Mūsā Ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥusaynī al-Šāfiʿī‬‬
‫محمد بن رجب بن عبد العال بن موىس ابن امحد احلسين الشافعي‬
‫‪Risala tataḍammanu Faḍl Šahr rabīʿ al-awwal wa-mā yataʿallaqu bi-wilādat‬‬
‫‪al-Nabī ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam‬‬
‫رساةل تتضمن فضل شهر ربيع األ ول وما يتعلق بوالدة النيب صىل هللا عليه وسمل‬
‫‪(An Epistle on the Merits of the Month of rabīʿ al-awwal and other Matters Related‬‬
‫)‪to the Birth of the Prophet‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 74v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل اذلي ابرز املصطفى اىل الوجود يف شهر ربيع الاول فسبح لك مكل وكرب وهل‪--‬ل واهزت‬
‫العرش طراب‬
‫‪Ends (f. 102v):‬‬
‫هاجرت م‪-‬ع الن‪--‬يب ص‪--‬ىل هللا علي‪--‬ه وس‪-‬مل من مك‪-‬ة اىل املدين‪--‬ة حىت ااته اليقني وهللا سبحانه وتع‪-‬اىل اعمل وص‪--‬ىل هللا عىل‬
‫سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه وسمل‬
‫‪The text was bought in Egypt at Maktabat al-Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Malīǧī al-Katabī‬‬
‫‪and was printed in 1325 ṣafar/March 1907.54‬‬

‫‪(iv) ff. 103r–145r‬‬

‫‪Abū al-Ḥasan al-Bakrī‬‬
‫أبو احلسن البكري‬
‫‪Al-durra al-mukallala fī fatḥ Makka‬‬
‫ادلرة امللكةل يف فتح مكة‬
‫)‪(The Crowned Pearl on the Victory of Mecca‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 103v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل رب العاملني وصىل هللا عىل سيدان محمد وعىل آهل وحصبه وسمل لكام ذكره اذلاكرون وغف‪--‬ل‬
‫عن ذكره الغافلون وبعد‬
‫‪Ends (f. 144v):‬‬

‫‪53‬‬
‫‪A. b. A. al-Yāfiʿī, Kitāb al-durr al-naẓīm fī ḫawāṣṣ al-Qurʾān al-aẓīm, 1905.‬‬
‫‪54‬‬
‫‪M. b. R. b. A. al-Ḥusaynī, Risala tataḍammanu faḍl šahr rabīʿ al-awwal wa-mā yataʿallaqu bi-‬‬
‫‪wilādat al-Nabī ṣallāhu ʿAllāhu ʿalayyihi wa-sallam, n. d.‬‬

‫‪29‬‬
 ‫امحلد هلل اذلي جعل حوادث الاايم عربة يتعظ هبا من سعد من الاانم والصالة والسالم عىل‬
‫سيدان محمد خامت النبني املبرش به عىل لسان الرسل السابقني وعىل آهل وآحصابه وسائر أتباعه وأخرابه‬
The text is about the Prophet’s victory over Mecca, and it is printed in Egypt
in 1324/1906. 55
The manuscript has many wormholes and is getting increasingly illegible. F.
145v is blank, while f. 146r contains a basmala possibly to start another text,
but the rest of the folios remain blank.

SIT 7. Ar.
CM. Contains a poem and a prose.

(i) ff. 1r–71v

ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn b. Ṭāhir Bā ʿAlawī (1777–1855)
‫عبد هللا بن حسني بن طاهر ابعلوي‬
Muʾallaf al-Dīwān al-Quṭb al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn b. Ṭāhir Bā
ʿAlawī
‫مؤلف ادليوان القطب احلبيب عبد هللا بن حسني بن طاهر ابعلوي‬
(A Collection of Poems by al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn b. Ṭāhir Bā
ʿAlawī)
Begins (f. 2v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ادق‬--‫امحلد هلل رب العلمني وأشهد ان ال اهل الا هللا املكل احلق املبني وأشهد أن سيدان محمدا عبده ورسوهل الص‬
‫د‬--‫ه أراد ان يكتب اىل الشيخ عب‬--‫ات سبهبا ان‬--‫ هذه األبي‬،‫األمني صىل هللا وسمل عليه وعىل آهل وحصبه والتابعني‬
‫دت اىل ان جعلهتا قصيدة طويةل‬--‫ات مث تزاي‬--‫ة ابي‬--‫ل من اىل متام ثالث‬--‫ودان بقوهل أال اي شيخ ه‬--‫هللا بن أمحد ابس‬
‫ويه هذه‬
‫بسم هللا مفتاح * قويل يف البداايت‬
‫وأثىن ابحملامد * عىل رب الربايت‬
Ends (f. 71v):
‫وامحلد هلل عىل ما أانب * من فضهل والامتناين‬
‫ آمني‬،‫متت الكتاب بعون هللا املكل الوهاب‬
This collection of poems includes various subjects such as pilgrimage to the
holy mosques, replies to some fellow scholars, eulogies for good deeds,
prayers for the Prophet and a cinquain (taḫmīs). The poet is also the author of
Sullam al-tawfīq ilā maḥabbat Allāh ʿalā al-taḥqīq in the Šāfiʿī school of law,
for which the Indonesian scholar based in Mecca Muḥammad al-Nawawī al-
Ǧāwī al-Bantanī (1813–1898) has written a commentary.56
The period of writing can be deciphered by mnemonics ḥisāb ǧummal or al-
tartīb al-abǧadī in some final lines and indicate that most of these have been
written between 1225 to 1235/1813 to 1823. 57 The first poem ends with a
description that the number of total lines is 199 and the date of its

55
Abū al-Ḥasan al-Bakrī, Al-durra al-mukallala fī fatḥ Makka, 1906.
56
See A. b. M. b. H. al-Saqāf, Taʾrīḫ al-šuʿarāʾ al-Ḥaḍramiyyīn, vol. 3, 1938, pp. 162–178; ʿA. b. ʿU.
al-Ḥibšī, ʿIqd al-yawāqīt, pp. 446–474.
57
About al-tartīb al-abǧadī or ḥisāb al-ǧummal, see G. Weil, “Abjad”, 1986, pp. 97–98.

30
 composition is 22 ramaḍān 1238/4 June 1823 at Šiḥr (Yemen). The second
poem is recited when he planned to visit the tomb of the Prophet Muḥammad.
The poems are written in a script that comes similar to Nasḫ in 71 folios of
mostly 15 lines and more lines in the last folios (ff. 69r–71v). The titles and
margin borders are given in red while the main text is written in black ink.

(ii) ff. 72r–82r

Ǧaʿfar b. Ḥasan b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Rasūl al-
Barzanǧī (d. 1764)
‫حسن بن حممد الربزجني السنوسي احلسين املدين ]جعفر بن حسن بن عبد الكرمي بن حممد‬
[‫بن عبد الرسول الربزجني‬
Kitāb al-miʿrāǧ li-al-Nabī ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
‫كتاب املعراج للنيب صلى اهلل عليه وسلم‬
(A Book of the Night Journey of the Prophet)

In the manuscript, the author’s name is given as Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-

Barzanǧī al-Sanūsī al-Ḥasanī al-Madanī, which is incorrect. The text is
widely circulated in the Islamic world.58
Begins (f. 72v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫اللهم صل وسمل عليه أفتتح ختبري ايراد األخبار احملمدية همذاب حواشهيا بفرائد فوائد بسم هللا‬
The ending page is worn and decayed where some lines became less legible.
Ends (f. 82r):
‫رائس الرباعة البامسة‬--‫) ايد ع‬...(‫واره وقدّل ت اج‬--‫ور األفاكر بغزير أن‬--‫ور زه‬--‫) عىل ثغ‬....( ‫وّحست حسب أخباره‬
‫بنظمي اثري مسوطها ادلرية وجنح بغاية الانهتاء اترخي حسن اخلامتة وذحب عراس املشاهد نفح كباه‬
The manuscript which explains the story of Prophet’s night journey towards
heaven. The colophon in f. 82r shows that the copy was handwritten by one
Bilāl, a follower of Sayyid Faḍl b. ʿAlawī b. Muḥammad b. Sahl, with the
inspiration from al-Ḥabīb ʿAlawī b. Aḥmad al-Ǧifrī, mentioned in this
catalogue earlier SIT 3 (v).
Mostly written in Nasḫ, but sometimes also in Ṯuluṯ. 11 folios of 19 lines.
Red ink is used for punctuations and headings. Two blank end folios (ff. 82v–
83v). Bound well. Cover in blue. It has many wormholes, especially in the
last folios.

SIT 8. Ar.
CM. Many manuscripts and a few printed texts on marriage practices, rituals,
pedagogy and theology. The binding is loosened, as threads are broken. Fragile folios
because of wormholes. A seal in folios 2r, 39 r, 131v, 253v, 263v shows “T. M. G.
Syed Ali Imbichi Koya Tangal”.
(i) ff. 3r–37r
Muḥammad b. Aḥmad59
‫حممد بن أمحد‬
58
For example, see al-Barzanǧī, Miʿrāj al-Barzanǧī, EAP466/1/67, the Riyadh Mosque of Lamu,
Kenya. https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP466-1-67
59
The author’s name is unclear but the colophon mentions the above name.

31
 Kitāb nūr al-abṣār
‫كتاب نور األبصار‬
(A Book of the Light for the Eyes)
Begins (f. 4r):
‫بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم‬
‫احلمد هلل رب العاملني والصالة والسالم على سيدنا حممد رسوله أفضل املخلوقني وعلى آله‬
‫وصحبه أمجعني وبعد فهذه مسائل منشورة من الطهارة والصالة‬
Ends (f. 37r):
‫فبدعة غري حسنة وال يعذب بنياحة أهله ان مل يرض هبا واهلل أعلم متت الكتابة‬
It primarily discusses ritual laws of daily prayers and cleanliness. It should
not be confused with a noted text with the same title on the Prophet
Muhammad and his family. Title folio (f.3r) contains various poems written
on margins and the main part.
Copying completed by Muḥammad b. Aḥmad on 3 ḏū al-ḥiǧǧa 1261/2
December 1845. After the colophon in the last folio, a poem on the prayer
starts with 37 .‫ أبوان آدم صىل صباحا‬folios of 15 lines in neat Nasḫ.

(ii) ff. 37v–55r

Anonymous
Bāb šuruṭ al-ṣalāt wa-arkānihā
‫باب شروط الصالة وأركاهنا‬
(A Chapter on Preconditions of the Prayer and its Elements)
Begins (f. 37v):
‫بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم‬
‫امحلد هلل رب العاملني والصلوة والسالم عىل سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني ابب رشوط الصالة وأراكهنا‬
Ending (f. 55r) is not clear because of the blurred photograph and the last line
on f. 54r is:
‫او اكن هل دار ان مل يتفاحش بعدهام واحدهام اقرب تعني الاقرب يف الصورتني‬
F. 39r starts with another title, bāb al-ṣiyām. F. 39r onwards seems another
text. Explains the basic legal aspects of daily prayers and fasting. Written in
Nasḫ in 17 folios of 21-22 lines from f. 39r. Folios before (37v–39v) have
only 15 lines per folio, and these two sections are in two different
handwritings. The end folio (f. 55v) is blank.

(iii) ff. 56r–102r

ʿUmar b. ʿAlī al-Bilankōtī (d. 1273/1857)
‫معر بن عيل البلنكويت‬
Bayt Maqāṣid al-nikāḥ
‫بيت مقاصد الناكح‬
Begins (f. 56v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫امحد ريب حلل الناكح * يف ديننا وحّر م الّس فاح‬

32
 ‫صىل اهل اخللق ما تناكحو * مع السالم رسمدا او ّرس حوا‬
Ends (f. 102r):
‫فامحد هللا ممت النعمة * مصليا عىل نيب الرمحة‬
‫محمد وآهل الكرام * وحصبه الابرار مع سالم‬
F. 102v. says about the author in the main text of poem: qāla al-Bilankōtī
qāḍīhā ʿUmar * bi-Ibn al-ʿAlī nāẓimuhā Ištahar. The printed poem on the
legal aspects of marriage according to the Šāfiʿī school. F. 102v has an
ownership note: this book was owned by Sayyid Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn b.
Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Šihāb al-Dīn Bā ʿAlawī, while f. 103r is blank.

(iv) ff. 103v–132r

Qāḍī Muḥammad b. al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 1616?)
‫قاضي حممد بن القاضي عبد العزيز‬
Qaṣīda Maqāṣid al-nikāḥ
‫قصيدة مقاصد النكاح‬
(Poem on the Objectives of Marriage)
Begins (f. 103v):
‫بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم‬
‫قال محمد هو ابن القايض * أبدأ ابمس هللا خري قايض‬
‫امحلد هلل وال حول وال * قوة الا ابإلهل ذي العال‬
Ends (f. 131v):
‫مث بعوين ريب الفتاح * منظوميت مقاصد الناكح‬
‫يف عام عرش بعد الف سنة * من جهرىت الهادي اىل املدينة‬
‫متت وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه وسمل‬
‫ذا‬--‫وهذا الوقف لأل من من السلطان وجللب الرزق ولأل من من الفقر يكتب بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي ويكتب ه‬
‫الامس للوقف‬
The text also deals with marriage laws. The author is reputed in the region as
the author of the first available Arabic-Malayalam text called Muḥyiddīn
māla.
The work is written in 1010/1602 as the final line (f. 131 v) shows. Written in
Ṯuluṯ with 28 folios of 9 lines. The titles of the sections are given in red ink
while the main text is in black. It is in good condition. A seal of Syed
Imbiccikkōya Tangal is on f. 131v.

(v) ff. 132r–142v

Al-Faqīh Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad al-Mihfanī
‫الفقيه حسني بن أمحد املهفين‬
Kitāb al-marqūm al-nikāḥ
‫كتاب املرقوم النكاح‬
(A Book on the Points of Marriage)
Begins (f. 132r):

33
‫بس‪--‬م هللا ال‪--‬رمحن ال‪--‬رحمي امحلد هلل املكل ادلاين ال‪--‬رمحن ال‪--‬رحمي والصالة عىل نبي‪--‬ه محمد علي‪--‬ه السالم وعىل أهل‬
‫وأحصابه الكرام قال الفقيه حسني بن أمحد املهفين ارضاه هللا ابجلنة‬
‫‪Ends (f. 142v):‬‬
‫فان محمدا صىل هللا عليه وس‪-‬مل برئي من‪--‬ه وهللا مجي‪--‬ع املالئك‪-‬ة برئي من‪--‬ه نع‪-‬وذ ابهلل مهنا متت الكت‪--‬اب بع‪-‬ون هللا‬
‫املكل الوهاب آمني برمحتك اي أرمح الرمحني وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني‬
‫‪This text also deals with marriage laws along with some socio-religious‬‬
‫‪explanations.‬‬
‫‪10 folios of 17 lines. F. 142v shows that it was written on 5 rabīʿ al-awwal‬‬
‫‪1289/12 May 1872 in the Nasḫ script. No style distinction between the text‬‬
‫‪and the titles.‬‬
‫‪ff. 143r–149r: interesting notes in Arabic and Arabic-Malayalam on various‬‬
‫‪legal aspects of marriage. One end folio (149v) is blank.‬‬

‫‪(vi) ff. 150r–249v‬‬

‫‪Unknown author.‬‬
‫‪Masāʾil maǧmūʿa mutaʿallaqa bi-al-nikāḥ‬‬
‫مسائل جمموعة متعلقة بالنكاح‬
‫‪(Collection of Legal Issues related to Marriage).‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 150r):‬‬
‫‪The first few paragraphs are missing, the current beginning:‬‬
‫اذ الابتداء حقيقي واضايف فاحلقيقي حصل ابلبسمةل واإلضايف ابمحلدةل وقدم البسمةل معال ابلكتاب والاجامع‬
‫‪Ends (f. 249v):‬‬
‫وامحلد هلل اذلى هداان لهذا وما كنا لهنتدي لوال ان هداان هللا وصلواته وسالمه عىل سيدان محمد عب‪--‬ده ورس‪--‬وهل‬
‫سيد املرسلني وخامت النبني وعىل آهل وحصبه أمجعني واتبعهيم ابحسان اىل يوم ادلين وعلينا معهم وفهيم ان‪--‬ه ارمح‬
‫الرامحني والحول والقوة الا ابهلل العيل العظمي‬
‫‪Further discussions on marriage laws. Written in Ṯuluṯ with a commentarial‬‬
‫‪style where the main text is in red ink while the commentary in black. 99‬‬
‫‪folios of 17 lines.‬‬

‫‪(vii) ff. 250r–260v‬‬

‫)‪Burhān al-Dīn al-Zarnūǧī (d. 1197‬‬
‫برهان الدين الزرنوجي‬
‫‪Kitāb taʿlīm al-mutaʿallim fī ṭarīq al-taʿallum‬‬
‫كتاب تعليم املتعلم يف طريق التعلم‬
‫)‪(A Book of Training for Students in the Method of Education‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 250v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل اذلي فضل ب‪--‬ين آدم ابلعلوم واملع‪--‬ارف عىل مجي‪--‬ع الع‪--‬امل والصالة والسالم عىل‬
‫سيدان محمد سيد الع‪-‬رب والعجم وعىل آهل وأحصابه ين‪-‬ابيع العل‪-‬وم واحلمك وبع‪-‬د فلام رأيت كثريا من طالب العمل‬
‫يف زماننا جيدون واىل العلوم ال يصلون‬
‫‪Ends (f. 260v):‬‬
‫والتحرز عن قطع األجشار الرطبة إال عند الرضورة وحفظ الصحة واألخبار وادلعوات يف هذا الكت‪--‬اب تع‪--‬رف‬
‫من ذكل وامحلد هلل رب العاملني‬
‫‪About the content and the author, see SIT 3. (iii).‬‬
‫‪34‬‬
 Written in Ṯuluṯ. Red ink for titles and black for contents. 13 lines in 10
folios. End folio (f. 261r) is blank.

(viii) ff. 261v–266r

Anonymous
Kitāb al-īmān
‫كتاب االميان‬
(The Book of Faith)
Begins (f. 261v):
‫د‬--‫ا بع‬--‫املني والصلوة والسالم عىل سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمحعني أم‬--‫رحمي امحلد هلل رب الع‬--‫رمحن ال‬--‫بسم هللا ال‬
‫فاول ما جيب عىل العاقل البالغ الاميان فيؤمن بقلبه ويقر بلسانه‬
Ends (f. 266r):
‫اذ‬--‫ لنسيان فاذا صدر عنه ذكل حيمك ابرتدداه والعي‬....‫فيجب عىل امللكف العمل هبا لئال يقع فيه اجلهل الو الشهوا‬
‫ىل‬--‫رامحني وص‬--‫ك اي أرمح ال‬--‫ان رب متم ابخلري والسعادة برمحت‬--‫ابهلل آمني متت الكتاب بعون هللا املكل املاجد املن‬
‫هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمحعني آمني ه‬
A work on Islamic theology in Islam. Parts of pages broken and lost. F. 261v
has 13 lines while f. 262r onwards 25 lines per folio. The endfolio (266v) has
a note in Arabic-Malayalam that this book was missing and found back on 17
ḏū al-qaʿda 1347/26 April 1929. Another note on the deadly sins (al-sabʿ al-
mūbiqāt) in f. 267v, while f. 267r, ff. 268r–269v are blank but with a seal in f.
268v.

SIT 9. Ar.
Qāsim b. Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ḫānī (1619–1697)
‫قامس بن صالح ادلين اخلاين‬
Al-sayr wa-al-sulūk ilā malik al-mulūk
‫السري والسلوك اىل مكل امللوك‬
(The Book of Initiating to the Path of Truth)
The title and author is not mentioned in the manuscript, but a seemingly title part in f.
2r also indicates the author’s name Aḥmad.

Begins (f. 3v):

‫ه‬--‫ا بقدرت‬--‫ة واودعه‬--‫ة اللكي‬--‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي امحلد هلل اذلي أهبط حبمكته ارسار ذاته من سامء العام اىل ارض الطبيع‬
‫يف صدف النطق اظهار اخلواص الاسامء‬
Ends abruptly (f. 31v):
‫اىل علهيا وعىل‬--‫فآفات النفس كثرية وال يقطعها الا الصادقون من ساليك طريق املقربني مبجاهدة النفس والاستعانة ابهلل تع‬
‫الشيطان بل عىل لك قاطع يقطع السالكني عن‬
This is a Sufi manual on various stages of initiating to the spiritual path.
The title folio (2r) shows that one Aḥmad b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlawī b. Aḥmad al-Ǧifrī al-
ʿAlawī was initiated into the path (daḫala fī nawba) at the Madras port on 11 ǧumād
al-uḫrā 1280/1863. The same folio also has some poems that starts with: al-ḫaṭṭ
yabqā zaman baʿda kātibhi.
In Ṯuluṯ. 22 lines in 31 folios. Bound well in an incomplete volume where the rest of
the folios are blank.

35
SIT 10. Ar.
Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb al-Dīn b. al-Ḥusayn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal (1922–1999)
‫سيد أمحد شهاب ادلين بن عبد هللا شهاب ادلين بن احلسني امبچي كواي تنغل‬
Marṯiya ʿalā ʿAlī b. Husayn Šihāb al-Dīn Qāḍī Kālikūt (d. 1946)
‫ الهجرية‬1365 ‫مرثية عىل عيل بن حسني شهاب ادلين قايض اكلكوت املتويف ليةل السبت الثالث عرش من شعبان سنة‬
(Elegy on ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Šihāb who passed away on Saturday night 13 šaʿbān 1365
A. H.)
Begins (f. 1):
‫ وامام عني املسلمني توفيا‬،‫ركن الاسالم أصبح هاواي‬
Ends (f. 1):
‫ضع وزره عنا وعنه وأههل * وعن السايب عن مجيع عفيا‬
‫واجرب لكرس قلوبنا وارزق لنا * صربا مجيال كنت معزاي‬
An elegy on the Grand Qāḍī of Calicut, Sayyid ʿAlī Šihāb al-Dīn (d. 1946), the
predecessor of the author. It recalls his life and services.
Written in the Ṯuluṯ script, it has 36 lines in a single unfolded folio. For another good
copy, see SIT 11.

SIT 11. Ar.

Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb al-Dīn b. al-Ḥusayn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal (1922–1999)
‫سيد أمحد شهاب ادلين بن عبد هللا شهاب ادلين بن احلسني امبچي كواي تنغل‬
Marṯiya ʿalā ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Šihāb al-Dīn Qāḍī Kālikūt
‫ الهجرية‬1365 ‫مرثية عىل عيل بن حسني شهاب ادلين قايض اكلكوت املتويف ليةل السبت الثالث عرش من شعبان سنة‬
(An Elegy on ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Šihāb)
Begins (f. 1r):
‫ركن الاسالم أصبح هاواي * وامام عني املسلمني توفيا‬
Ends (f. 1v):
‫اسود وجه الارض من خطب أمل * فينا وعنا النوم أصبح جافيا‬
A good copy in the Ṯuluṯ script. 31 lines in a single loose folio, although the last five
lines are missing from this copy.
The work is written on two unfolded loose folios. F. 1r has 20 lines and f. 1v has 11
lines.

SIT 12. Ar.

Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb al-Dīn al-Marḥūm al-Sayyid b. al-
Ḥusayn Imbiccikkōya Tangal (1922–1999)
‫سيد أمحد شهاب الدين بن عبد اهلل شهاب الدين بن احلسني امبچي كويا تنغل‬
Al-Muslimūn wa-al-ʿArab ʿalā šafā ḥufra min al-nār
‫املسلمون والعرب علي شفا حفرة من النار‬
(Muslims and Arabs on the Verge of Hell)
Begins (f. 1r):
‫بعدما التفتت انظار العامل ايل سبيل السمل والوفاء ادلامئ بوضع احلرب الثانية الكربى اوزارها التفتت سوراي ولبنان‬
Ends (f. 1v):
‫ ينرصمك هللا نرصا عزيزا‬،‫فعليمك بتوحيد الصفوف ومجع اللكمة لدلفاع عام امل بنا واستعدوا الية تضحية اكنت‬

36
The text discusses precarious political conditions of Muslims that further deteriorated
after the Second World War, and advocates for the unity of Muslim nations. He must
have written this to publish in a magazine or so, but we could not locate any
published version. In two unfolded loose sheets, with 29 lines in f. 1r and 5 lines in f.
1v.

SIT 13. Ar.

Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb al-Dīn b. al-Ḥusayn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal (1922–1999)
‫سيد أمحد شهاب ادلين بن عبد هللا شهاب ادلين بن احلسني امبچي كواي تنغل‬
Maʿlūmāt wāfiya ʿan Māppila
‫معلومات وافية عن مابال‬
(Sufficient Information on the Mappilas)
Begins (f. 1r):
‫ار لكن املسلمني مه‬--‫ارى مليب‬--‫ق عىل نص‬--‫و وان اكن يطل‬--‫ وه‬،‫ار‬--‫ل مليب‬--‫د اه‬--‫ة الاسالمية عن‬--‫ق لدلاين‬--‫ابال امس ملن يعتن‬--‫م‬
‫املتبادرون اىل األذهان‬
The last lines are missing. Current ending (f. 1v):
‫وع‬--‫ان وهبم ارتقى ن‬--‫ائر املسلمني حاملني راايت الفتح العلمي يف مستقبل الزم‬--‫ار وس‬--‫ة مسلمي مليب‬--‫ة العلمي‬--‫جعلت احلرك‬
‫الانسان ويكونون نورا وهدى للعاملني‬
This article seems to have been prepared for any Arabic magazine. It deals with the
Mappila Muslim community of Malabar, after a brief history of the advent of Islam
in the region and their community formation. It sheds light upon some socio-
religious and educational activities among them, but calls for a more focused and
systematic approach for the upliftment of the community.
Written in Ṯuluṯand has two loose unfolded folios with 22 lines in each. The blue ink
has spread over both pages where it is turning illegible.

SIT 14. Ar.

Sayyid Aḥmad Šihāb al-Dīn b. ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb al-Dīn b. al-Ḥusayn Imbiccikkōya
Tangal (1922–1999)
‫سيد أمحد شهاب ادلين بن عبد هللا شهاب ادلين بن احلسني امبچي كواي تنغل‬
Al-Islam wa-šubbān al-Muslimīn
‫الاسالم وشبان املسلمني‬
(Islam and Muslim Youths)
Begins (f. 1r):
‫يعمل لك ذي عقل سلمي ان األداين الساموية يه أزىك موهبة وهبت لالنسان من حظرية القدس فاطر الساموات واألرض‬
‫ا‬--‫دايهتم اىل سبل الرتيق والسعادة لكه‬--‫القامة مزيان القسط وللتأليف بني قلوهبم وقيادهتم اىل التعاون عىل الرب والتقوى وه‬
‫دنيواي أو اخرواي‬
Ends (f. 1v):
‫اب‬--‫و كت‬--‫ور الالهي فه‬--‫دمك الن‬--‫وا أمئة اجملموعة البرشية وارىق األمم وعن‬--‫فاعتصموا حببل هللا مجيعا غري متفرقني هتتدوا وتكون‬
‫ تزنيل من حكمي محيد وسنة رسوهل‬،‫هللا احلكمي اذلي ال يأتيه الباطل من بني يديه وال من خلفه‬
This article written in Ṯuluṯ seems also to have been prepared for any Arabic
magazine and signifies the necessity to lend our time and resources in the path of
Allāh. It has 36 line in the first folio and 11 lines in the second.

SIT 15.

37
CM. Consists of elegies, mawlids, prayers and supplicatory poems in Arabic and
Arabic-Malayalam. A seal of Sayyid ʿAlī Šihāb, in f. 4r, f. 66v, f. 113v and f. 163v.
In total 165 folios including two blank end folios (ff. 164–165).

(i) ff. 1r–3r: Ar.

Anonymous
Abyāt al-Salām ʿalayka
‫ابيات السالم عليك‬
(Supplicating Poems that Starts with assalām ʿalayka)
Begins (f. 1v):
‫السالم عليك زين الانبياء * السالم عليك اتقي االتقياء‬
‫السالم عليك أصفى األصفياء * ألسالم عليك ازىك األزكياء‬
Ends (f. 3r):
‫كذاك عّيل ن السايم اليقينا * السالم عىل حصابك أمجعينا‬
‫وآكل لكهم والتابعني * واتبعهيم واتبع التابعينا‬
‫ريص عليمك‬--‫ا عنمت ح‬--‫ه م‬--‫مك عزيز علي‬--‫ول من انفس‬--‫د جاءمك رس‬--‫ول هللا أمجعني لق‬--‫وريض هللا عن أحصاب رس‬
‫رش العظمي ان هللا‬-‫و رب الع‬--‫ولكت وه‬-‫ه ت‬--‫و علي‬--‫ابملؤمنني رؤوف رحمي فان تولو فقل حسيب هللا ال اهل الا ه‬
‫ اي أهيا اذلين آمنوا صلوا عليه وسلموا تسلامي‬،‫ومالئكته يصلون عىل النيب‬
A famous poem usually recited in the region at dawn of the Mīlād day (the
birthday of the Prophet Muhammad).60 Its each line starts with starts with the
phrase al-salām ʿalayk (“greetings to you, [O Prophet]”) providing the poem
the title.
Written in the local script style of Ponnāni, with red marks above the
beginning of each line. Three folios in total.

(ii) ff. 3v–34v

Šihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Qāsim al-Mālikī al-Andalusī al-Harīrī61
‫شهاب ادلين أمحد بن عيل بن قامس املاليك الاندليس احلريري‬
Mawlid Šarraf al-anām
‫مولد شرف االنام‬
(Mawlid Text Known as Šarraf al-anām)
Begins (f. 3v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫وى رشفا وفضال ورشف‬-‫ود ح‬-‫ام الاعىل ومكل السعود ابرشف مول‬-‫احب املق‬-‫امحلد هلل اذلي رشف الاانم بص‬
‫به اآلابء واجلدود ومأل الوجود بوجوده عدال محلته آمنة‬
Ends (f. 34v):
‫زة عام يصفون وسالم عىل املرسلني وامحلد هلل‬-‫ك رب الع‬-‫محمد خامت النبيني وعىل آهل وحصبه أمجيعن سبحان رب‬
‫رب العاملني وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني آمني‬
60
About the devotional, literary and cultural aspects of such devotional poems, see, S. P. Stetkevych,
The Mantle Odes, 2010.
61
Although the author of Mawlid Šarraf al-Anām is not mentioned in the manuscript, the text is
attributed to al-Harīrī. See ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Šayḫ b. ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAydarūs, Al-nūr al-sāfir ʿan al-
aḫbār al-qarn al-ʿāšir, 2001; I. Weinrich, “From the Arab Lands to the Malabar Coast”, 2020, p. 36.

38
 A famous mawlid usually recited in the Mawlid ceremonies. Author’s name
has not been mentioned in the text. Written mostly similar to the Ponnāni
script. 31 folios with 12 lines.

(iii) ff. 35r–42r, Ar.

Anonymous
(Devotional song that ends with ḫaṣṣahu Allāh)
Begins (f. 35r):
‫صالة وتسلمي وازىك حتية * عىل املصطفى اخملتار اذلي خصه هللا‬
‫صالة وتسلمي وأزىك حتية * عىل املصطفى اخملتار اذلي حبه هللا‬
Ends (f. 42r):
‫عليك صالة ريب ما توالت * دهورا او تال صبحا مساء‬
‫انت حارض يف احلرضة *ليت شعري هل تدري‬
‫ان حمبوبك حارض* اكن جرحك ال يربى‬
No given title in the manuscript. The title provided here is inferred from the
text. An Arabic poem praising the Prophet Muhammad along with
intercessional prayers. Eight folios of 12 lines in the Ponnāni script.

(iv) ff. 42v–98v, Ar.

Anonymous
Mawlid Ṭarraf al-ʿālam
‫مودل طّر ف العامل‬
(Mawlid Starts with ṭarraf al-ʿālām)
Begins (f. 42v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ خري من‬،‫ريض‬--‫ل الع‬--‫ صاحب اجملد الطوي‬،‫أمحلد هلل اذلي طرف العامل وكرم بين آدم بطلعة املولود يف العروض‬
‫يؤيت يف احملرش الشفاعة‬
Ends (f. 98v):
‫فصل عليه دامئة * وآل طهروا طيبة‬
‫وحصب رامحني هبم * ازل عن ذا الفىت عيبة‬
‫سبحان ربك رب العزة عام يصفون وسالم عىل املرسلني وامحلد هلل رب العاملني‬
Another mawlid in praise of the Prophet with poems, prose and prayers. It is
not as popular as the previous one.
Written in the Ponnāni script with red ink for titles and marking the beginning
of a prose section after poems. End folio (99r) is blank.

(v) ff. 99v–121v, Ar.

Anonymous
Mawlid
‫مودل‬
(A Mawlid Text)
Begins (f. 99v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬

39
‫ابتدئ الامالء ابمس اذلات العلية مستدرا فيض الرباكت عىل ما اانهل واواله واث‪--‬ين حبم‪--‬د م‪--‬وارده س‪--‬ائغة هني‪--‬ة‬
‫ممتطأ من الشكر امجليل مطاايه واصيل واسمل عىل النور املوصوف ابلتقدم والاولية‬
‫‪Ends (f. 121v):‬‬
‫وعىل آهل وحصبه من نرصه ووالاه ما شنفت اآلذان من وصفه ادلري ابقراط جوهري‪--‬ة وحتلت ص‪--‬دور احملاف‪--‬ل‬
‫املنيفة بعقود حاله سبحان ربك رب العزة عام يصفون وسالم عىل املرسلني وامحلد هلل رب العاملني‬
‫‪Another interesting mawlid in Arabic in the Ponnāni script with 12 lines each.‬‬
‫‪Colophon in f. 121v describes the copying completed on Friday 14 ǧumād al-‬‬
‫‪awwal 1290/11 July 1873. F. 122v has some lines from the Ašraqa Bayt, a‬‬
‫‪widely circulated poem in the region in praise of the Prophet, although its‬‬
‫‪author is anonymous. The end folios (ff. 123r–124r) are blank.‬‬

‫‪(vi) ff. 124v–139r, Ar. Mlm.‬‬

‫)‪Al-Qāḍī Abū Bakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn (d. 1884‬‬
‫القاضي أبو بكر بن محيي الدين‬
‫‪Šāḏilī māla‬‬
‫شاذيل ماال‬
‫)‪(Elegy on Šayḫ Šāḏilī‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 124v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫ّل‬
‫بسم فكۻّچ صلوامت سالممي * بدفول تڊنّۼ فرينّن چ نور‬
‫اروااّمّك رل فقريم حقري آي * ابوبكر قايض اذ يّن فري اّۻ ور‬
‫انڊم ترمي لكيكوت اذ أنور * نّناي اذل كورو وّفچ كوّتور‬
‫‪Ends (f. 139r):‬‬
‫ياّل طريقة أڊي شيخّم اڔم * ياّل ور كوڊ قيامّتل كوّڊ هللا‬
‫نّڔن سورك تلُّنِّت ِا ور ُكوَڊ * نّٗڔن لقااكمان ييكڹم ين هللا‬
‫ييّڔ م صلومت سالمم براكمت * ينكۻ نبمُّك ٗچ يشاّك رمك ييك هللا‬
‫برمحتك اي أرمح الرامحني‬
‫‪A eulogy in Arabic-Malayalam on the eponymous founder of the al-Šāḏilī‬‬
‫‪order, Šayḫ Abū al-Ḥasan al-Šāḏilī (d. 1258).‬‬
‫‪Written in the Ponnāni script with 12 lines in 15 folios.‬‬

‫‪(vii) ff. 139r–140r, Ar.‬‬

‫‪Anonymous (probably Qāḍī Abūbakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn, the author of the‬‬
‫‪previous text).‬‬
‫‪Qaṣīda li-madḥ al-Šāḏilī‬‬
‫قصيدة ملدح الشاذيل‬
‫)‪(Eulogizing Poem on Šayḫ al-Šāḏilī‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 139r):‬‬
‫امحلد هلل اذلي هدى ملدح الشاذيل * به الصالة عىل النيب هو خري جّد الّش اذيل‬
‫تتلو مع التسلمي مع آل وحصب عادل * ثبات دين الرشد مهنم لطريق الّش اذيل‬
‫‪Ends (f. 140r):‬‬
‫هداية التوحيد عند املوت قول القائل * ال اهل الا هللا اجعل جباه الشاذيل‬
‫اي رب صل عىل النيب آل وحصب فاضل * امحلد هلل اذلي هدى ملدح الشاذيل‬
‫‪A poem in praise of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Šāḏilī in lines with his mystical order.‬‬

‫‪40‬‬
 Written in the Ponnāni script in 2 folios of 12 lines. Ff. 140v–141r are blank
end folios.

(viii) ff. 141v–154r, Ar. Mlm.

Qāḍī Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 1616?)
‫قايض محمد بن عبد العزيز‬
Muḥyī al-Dīn Māla
‫حميي ادلين ماال‬
(The Eulogy of Šayḫ Muḥyī al-Dīn)
Begins (f. 141v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫أهلل تڔّفريم تدمي صلوامت * اذانل تڊّۼوان اڔۻ چيذار بيذامرب‬
‫عامل اڊيونّڔ ي ييلك اڔۻايل * آي محمد اوركۻ آنور‬
Ends (f. 154r):
‫فۻ يري چيذ نڊّنوڔ اڊاينّڔ ي * فۻمي فرّت ين رمحتل كوّڊ هللا‬
‫نيل صلوامت نيّل سالممي * نّڔن ي محمدن ييكمن ين هللا‬
‫وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني آمني‬
A eulogy on the Sufi Šayḫ Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Ǧīlānī (d. 1166) in
Arabic-Malayalam. This is the earliest work available in this literary tradition.
Written in the Ponnāni script with 12 lines in 12 folios.

(ix) ff. 154v–155v, Ar.Mlm.

Anonymous (probably Qāḍī Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the author of the
previous text).

Tawassul Muḥyī al-Dīn

‫توسل حميي ادلين‬
(An Intercession by Šayḫ Muḥyī al-Dīn)
Begins (f. 154v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫مّتال فڊچي دنياول نمك انۻ * موّفر حميي ادلين اكولل ييك هللا‬
‫اكملي عزرائيل موت ابنّۼم انۻل * كڔّتر حميي ادلن اكولل ييك هللا‬
Ends (f. 155v):
‫يال فشمي فرّكين انيين * ييّڔ م فرّت كرف چي اي هللا‬
‫نيل صلوامت نيّل سالممي * ينكۻ محمدن ييكڹم ين هللا‬
‫برمحتك اي أرمح الرامحني‬
A poem with intercessional prayer (tawassul) in Arabic-Malayalam evoking the
name of al-Ǧīlānī. Scripted in the Ponnāni script with continuing style, in two folios
of 12 lines. Total 17 lines in three folios.

(x) ff. 156r–157r, Ar.

Anonymous.
Tawassul bi-Šayḫ Muḥyī al-Dīn

41
 ‫توسل بشيخ حميي ادلين‬
‫)‪(An intercession by Šayḫ Muḥyī al-Dīn‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 156r):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫أاي شيخ حميي ادلين عبد لقادر * واي قطب رابين مغيث لكربيت‬
‫واي نور رحامين واي غوث مصداين * مغيث ملن اندى هبول وشدة‬
‫‪Ends (f. 157r):‬‬
‫انت اذلي عاهدته ووعدته * ابن ال ترد السائلني خبيبة‬
‫بشيخك حميي ادلين عبد لقادر * فيا رب يرس لك عرس برسعة‬
‫برمحتك اي أرمح الرمحني وصىل هللا عىل خري خلقه سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه وسمل وامحلد هلل رب العاملني آمني‬
‫‪Written in the Ponnāni script with 12 lines in three folios.‬‬

‫‪(xi) ff. 157v–161v, Ar.‬‬

‫‪Anonymous.‬‬
‫‪Marṯiya ʿalā al-Qaḍī Abū Bakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn b. ʿAlī al-Kālikūtī (d. 1884).‬‬
‫مرثية عىل القايض ايب بكر بن حميي ادلين الاكليكويت‬
‫)‪(An elegy on al-Qaḍī Abū Bakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Kālikūtī‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 157v):‬‬
‫امحلد هلل منيش اخللق والشكر* ابيق الوجود مميت اخللق يقتدر‬
‫هو اذلي عمّل الانسان للرّش ع * وفّض ل البعض لالرشاد ينحرص‬
‫‪Ends (f. 161v):‬‬
‫مث الصلوة وتسلمي بدوهمام * يتلوهام لك افواه ويدكر‬
‫عىل النيب رسول هللا خرّي ه * والرسل واآلل والاحصاب من ظفروا‬
‫متت‬
‫‪Elegy on Qāḍī Abū Bakr b. Muḥyī al-Dīn, written probably by the successor‬‬
‫‪in the Qāḍī office Sayyid Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Šihāb Bā ʿAlawī‬‬
‫‪(d. 1911). Written in Ṯuluṯ. Five folios of 12 lines.‬‬

‫‪(xii) ff. 161v–163v, Ar.‬‬

‫‪Anonymous.‬‬
‫)‪Marṯiya ʿalā al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Salām b. Muḥyī al-Dīn (d. 1885‬‬
‫مرثية عىل القايض عبد السالم بن حميي ادلين‬
‫)‪(An elegy on al-Qaḍī ʿAbd al-Salām b. Muḥyī al-Dīn‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 161v):‬‬
‫محدت هللا يبقى يف ادلوام * ويفىن لك فن ابنقصام‬
‫وبعد فان أجنال القضاة * وابطال الرساة مضوا أمايم‬
‫‪Ends (f. 163v):‬‬
‫أراان هللا لقياه ولقيا * محمدن املكني عىل املقام‬
‫وصىل هللا مث سمل يف الشفيع * عىل آل وأحصاب اللجام‬
‫‪Ponnāni script. 12 lines in three folios.‬‬

‫‪SIT 16. Ar.‬‬

‫‪MTM. A collection of various texts including hagiographies, Qurʿān exegeses,‬‬
‫‪stories, chronicles, and historical and eschatological treatises.‬‬

‫‪42‬‬
(i) ff. 2v–5v
Anonymous.
Bāb fī wuṣūl al-Afranǧ al-Malāʿīn fī Malaybār
‫ابب يف وصول الافرجن املالعني يف مليبار‬
(A chapter on the Arrival of the Damned Portuguese in Malabar)

Begins (f. 2v):

‫ابب يف وصول الافرجن املالعني يف مليبار أهلكه هللا بقهره مجيعا أمني اي رب العاملني‬
The ending also seems to be missing due to an improper binding. The last
lines extend to the margin (f. 5v):
‫( اخلط عن‬...)‫( من‬..) ‫ة‬----‫ع مائ‬----‫ان عرشة وتس‬----‫اجد يف شهر رمض‬----‫راق املس‬----‫واكن نزوهل يف اكليكوت واح‬
‫ار اثين عرش‬--‫ة من اترخي الكف‬--‫(وست مائ‬.. )‫( يف مليباري عام‬...) ‫( انه وجد يف دفرت ما صورته اكن‬....) ‫لسان‬
‫( جاير‬...)‫ك‬
The text does not have a title, and its first words are given above as a title. A
unique text on the arrival of Portuguese on the Malabar coast in the sixteenth
century. It seems to rely on the noted Arabic texts such as Tuḥfat al-
muǧāhidīn by Aḥmad Zayn al-Dīn b. Muḥammad al-Ġazzālī al-Malaybārī (d.
1583?), but it also has additional details along with dates in the Malayalam
calendar. It also mentions (f. 5v) the story of the first converted Hindu king
from Malabar. As this manuscript has only a few folios, the actual work
would have been even more interesting than the available Arabic and
Malayalam texts from the region.
Written in the Ṯuluṯ script with approximate 15 lines in four folios. The
following folio (6r) has two poems in two sections with 6 lines each in
different handwritings.

(ii) ff. 6v–15r

Anonymous
Al-mawlid al-mubtadāʾ bi-Ṣubḥāna Allāh tasbīḥan
‫املودل املبتدأ بسبحان هللا تسبيحا‬
(A mawlid that begins with “Subhān Allāh Tasbīḥan”)
Begins (f. 6v):
‫ه وياكيف‬--‫وايف نعم‬--‫ق جبالل من هل السبحات وامحلد هلل محدا ي‬--‫رحمي سبحان هللا تسبيحا يلي‬-‫رمحن ال‬-‫بسم هللا ال‬
‫مزيده عىل مجيع احلاالت وال اهل الا هللا توحيد حمق خملص قلبه‬
Ends (f. 15r):
‫اس اللهم‬--‫ىن عن الن‬--‫أكل الغ‬-‫ة ونس‬--‫أكل الشكر عىل العافي‬-‫ونسأكل العافية من لك بلية ونسأكل دوام العافية ونس‬
‫ك رب‬--‫ك جميب ادلعوات سبحان رب‬--‫اغفر للمؤمنني واملؤمنات واملسلمني واملسلامت األحياء مهنم واألموات إن‬
‫العزة عام يصفون وسالم عىل املرسلني وامحلد هلل رب العاملني وصىل عىل سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني ه‬

43
 This text seems to be a re-elaboration of other mawlids such as Šarraf al-
Anām. Written in Ṯuluṯ in nine folios of 17 lines. Red ink is used for titles.

(ii) ff. (15v–16r)

Anonymous
Manẓūma Akramu man fī al-samāʾ Muḥammad
‫منظومة أ كرم من يف السامء محمد‬
(A poem on the Prophet Muhammad that starts with akram man fī al-Samāʾi
Muḥammadu)
Begins (f. 15v):
‫أكرم من يف السام محمد * أفضل من يف الرثى محمد‬
‫أعظمهم خلقا محمد * أحسهنم خلقا محمد‬
‫أرشفهم نسبا محمد * أخفرمه حسبا محمد‬
Ends (f. 16r):
‫صىل الاهل عىل محمد * واآلل والصحب اي محمد‬
‫هللا صىل عىل محمد * والرسل يدعوه اي محمد‬
The poem does not have a title, and the first half line is used as its title.
This poem in praise of the Prophet has every verse ending with the name
“Muḥammad”. Written in Nasḫ with 17 lines in f. 15v and 11 lines in f. 16r
with red marks for center demarcation.

(ii) ff. 16r–17r

Ibn ʿAlwān?
‫ابن علوان؟‬
Ḫalīlayya šuddā riḥālī ilā Allāh
‫خلييل شدا رحايل اىل هللا‬
(Oh, comrades, set out to Allāh)
Begins (f. 17r):
‫خلييل شدا رحايل اىل هللا * وسريا معي وارحال نذكر هللا‬
‫ونطلب رضا وعفوا من هللا * ونشكو شاكان ونستغفر هللا‬
‫مك من ذنوب ثقال جنينا * وأفعالنا ليس ختفى عىل هللا‬
Ends (f. 18r):
‫وصىل الهي عىل املصطفى من * به قد هدينا اىل طاعة هللا‬
‫اان استغفر هللا اان استغفر هللا * اان استغفر هللا اتوب اىل هللا‬
The title provided here is the first line of the poem. Likewise, the author’s
name is delinated from f. 18r, where he laments: wa-inna Ibn ʿAlwān yā
rabbi ǧān (Oh, my Lord. Ibn ʿAlwān has turned a culprit). Some notes after
the poem brings the name of Ḥabīb Ġawṯ Muḥammad Muǧāhid in a prayer
for his betterment. The poem also repents that Ibn ʿAlawān is a wrong doer,
indicating the probability of being him the author. Written in Ṯuluṯ in two
folios with 13 lines.

(iii) ff. 18v–31v

Anonymous
Qiṣṣat al-miʿrāǧ bi-nabiyyina Muḥammad ilā al-samāʾ al-muntahā

44
 ‫قصة املعراج بنبينا محمد اىل السامء املنهتى‬
‫)‪(The Night Journey of the Prophet to the Farthest Sky‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 18v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫روي يف احلديث عن رسول هللا صىل هللا عليه وس‪--‬مل ان‪--‬ه ق‪--‬ال بيامن أان ذات ليةل من اللي‪--‬اىل واكنت ليةل امجلع‪--‬ة‬
‫واكنت ليةل ابردة ليةل رعد وبرق ومطر ال يسمع فهيا صوت من كرثة الامطار و اذا ابملكل جربيل عليه السالم‬
‫يف الصورة اليت خلقه هللا فهيا وه‪--‬و ابيض وجناحه أخرض وشعره اجع‪--‬د هل سبعون ال‪--‬ف ذواب‪--‬ة منظوم‪--‬ة ابدلر‬
‫والياقوت واجلواهر وعليه من اذلهب األمحر‬
‫‪Ends (f. 31v):‬‬
‫كام ق‪--‬ال هللا تع‪--‬اىل سبحان اذلي أرسى بعب‪--‬ده ليال من املسجد احلرام اىل املسجد األقىص اذلي ابركن‪--‬ا حوهل‬
‫لرنيه من آايتنا إنه هو السميع العلمي متت حديث معراج النيب صىل هللا عليه وسمل‬
‫‪Describes the story of the night journey of the Prophet into the seven skies. In‬‬
‫‪the Ṯuluṯ script with 21 lines in 14 folios.‬‬

‫‪(iv) ff. 31v–38r:‬‬

‫)‪Al-Imām Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd al-Baġawī )1044-1122‬‬
‫الامام حسني بن مسعود البغوي‬
‫‪Sūrat al-Wāqiʿa min Tafsīr al-Baġawī‬‬
‫سورة الواقعة من تفسري البغوي‬
‫) ‪(The Quranic Exegesis of the Chapter “al-Wāqiʿa” from Tafsīr al-Baġwī‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 31v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫إذا وقعت الواقعة اذا قامت القيامة وقيل اذا نزلت صيحة القمية ويه النفحة األخرية ليس لوقعهتا جمليهئا‬
‫‪Ends (f. 38r):‬‬
‫أخربان الامام أبو عيل احلس‪--‬ني بن محمد القايض السيد أب‪--‬و احلس‪--‬ن محمد داود العل‪--‬وي اخربان أب‪--‬و النرص محمد بن‬
‫أمحد وي‪---‬ه من سهل املروزي أخربان محمود بن آدم املروزي أخربان سفيان عن عيين‪---‬ة عن معرو بن دين‪---‬ار عن‬
‫عروة عن عامر عن عبيد بن رفاعة الزريق ان أسامء بين معيس قالت اي رسول هللا ان بين جعف‪--‬ر تصيهبم العني‬
‫افاسرتيق هلم قال نعم فلواكن شئي يسبق القضاء لسبقته العني ه ه ه ه ه‬
‫‪Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd b. Muhammad al-Farrāʾ al-Baġawī’s‬‬
‫‪exegesis of the Holy Qurʾān, Maʿālim al-tanzīl, is one of the ḥadīṯ-based‬‬
‫‪significant tafsīrs. On f. 37r the chapter “al-Wāqiʿa” (“The Event”) abruptly‬‬
‫‪ends and the next folio (f. 38v) changes to the last parts of chapter 68 of the‬‬
‫‪Quran, al-Qalam (“the Pen”).‬‬
‫‪Written in Ṯuluṯ with Quranic verses in red and exegesis in black in 21 lines‬‬
‫‪of seven folios. One blank end folio (f. 38v–39r) follows.‬‬

‫‪(v) ff. 39v–267r‬‬

‫‪Abū al-Ḥasan Muhamamd b. ʿAbd Allāh‬‬
‫أبو احلسن محمد بن عبد هللا‬
‫‪Kitāb al-Mubtadāʾat min ḫalq al-samāwāt wa-al-arḍ wa-ḫalq al-ǧinn wa-al-‬‬
‫‪ins wa-awāʾil aḥwāl al-nabiyyīn‬‬
‫كتاب املبتداءة من خلق السموات واأل رض وخلق اجلن والانس وأوائل أحوال النبيني‬

‫‪45‬‬
 ‫‪(A book of the Firsts from the Creation of Skies, Earth, the Jinn, the Humans‬‬
‫‪and the Early Situations of the Prophets).‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 39v):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫قال حدثنا الشيخ أب‪--‬و احلس‪--‬ن محمد بن عب‪--‬د هللا رمحة هللا علي‪--‬ه امحلد هلل اذلي انبت اخلل‪--‬ق نباات وجعلهم احي‪--‬اء‬
‫بعد ان اكنوا امواات‬
‫)‪Ends (f. 267r‬‬
‫وان جتعلوا عالهيا سافلها يف اقل من طبق اجلفن عىل اجلفن فهلكوا عن آخرمه جعل هللا ارواهحم اىل النار وه‪--‬ذا‬
‫ما انهتى كتابنا من قصص الانبياء واملرسلني صلوات هللا علهيم أمجعني وامحلد هلل رب الع‪--‬املني وص‪--‬ىل هللا عىل‬
‫سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه وسمل تسلامي كثريا دامئا أبدا ايل يوم ادلين ريض هللا عن الصحابة أمجعني‬
‫‪The cosmological work explains the creation of the Prophet Adam and other‬‬
‫‪skies, earth and universe followed by the stories of prophets. Compilation‬‬
‫‪completed on Wednesday, 11 ḏu al-hiǧǧa 1043/7 June 1634. Copying (?) by‬‬
‫‪Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm 21 lines in 228 folios. Script similar to Ṯuluṯ. The end‬‬
‫‪folio (f. 267v) has supplicating poetic lines invoking Chišti Sufi leaders.‬‬

‫‪(vi) ff. 268r–271r‬‬

‫‪Anonymous‬‬
‫‪Manāqib al-Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Qādirī al-Kālikūtī‬‬
‫مناقب الشيخ محمد القادري الاكلكويت‬
‫)‪(Hagiography of Ṣayḫ Muaḥammad al-Qādirī al- Kālikūtī‬‬
‫‪Begins (f. 268r):‬‬
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫امحلد هلل اذلي اختص برمحته من يشا ووفق ملعرفته من عباده األولياء والصلوة والسالم عىل سيدان محمد خامت‬
‫الانبيا وعىل آهل وأحصابه األصفياء وبعد فهذه نبذة يسرية من من‪-‬اقب شيخنا وبركتن‪-‬ا املنقط‪-‬ع اىل هللا تع‪-‬اىل ذي‬
‫الكرام‪--‬ات الظ‪--‬اهرة واملاكشفات الب‪--‬اهرة واحلال الص‪--‬ادق والرس اخلارق ص‪--‬احب املدد ال‪--‬وافر والقلب الع‪--‬امر‬
‫والانفاس السعيدة واألحوال امحليدة‬
‫‪Ends (f. 271r):‬‬
‫وملا دنت وفاته أم‪-‬ر بعض من أخذ عن‪-‬ه ابلقي‪--‬ام يف مقام‪-‬ه فمل يوفق‪-‬ه هللا تع‪-‬ايل ذلكل ومل يكن هل عقب يرمح هللا‬
‫مثواه وبل بوابل الرمحة ثراه وجعل الفردوس حمهل وماويه متت الرساةل املباركة يف من‪--‬اقب ال‪--‬ويل الع‪--‬ارف ابهلل‬
‫تعايل الشيخ محمد القادري الاكليكويت أعادان هللا علينا من براكته وصاحل دعواته‬
‫‪A hagiography of a Sufi figure from Calicut, Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ḥimṣī,‬‬
‫‪mentioned in JH 2 (vi). Copied on 8 raǧab [1]196/18 June 1782.‬‬
‫‪23 lines in four folios. Similar to Ṯuluṯ in black. One folio follows with small‬‬
‫‪notes.‬‬
‫‪A basmala is written in f. 271v probably to begin another text Hidāyat al-‬‬
‫‪aḏkiyāʾ. On f. 272r, notes in the full folio on the Prophet Dawūd and the‬‬
‫‪Prophet Ismāʾīl.‬‬

‫‪(vii) ff. 272v–283v‬‬

‫‪Anonymous‬‬
‫‪Qiṣṣat Šakrawatī Farmāḍ‬‬
‫قصة شكرويت فرماض‬
‫)‪(The Story of Šakrawatī Farmāḍ‬‬
‫‪Anonymous‬‬

‫‪46‬‬
 Begins (f. 272v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫أمحلد هلل رب العاملني والصلوة والسالم عىل سيدان محمد وآهل وحصبه أمجعني‬
‫رواه محمد بن ماكل عن أبيه ماكل وابوه ماكل عن جده حبيب بن ماكل رضوان هللا تعاىل علهيم أمجعني‬
Ends (f. 283v):
‫متت القصة مع السلطان اتج ادلين الهندي املليباري بعون هللا املكل الوه…) (ه‬
This treatise explains the first delegation of Muslims to arrive on the Malabar
Coast and their activities. The text now has been widely discussed among the
scholars of the region on the basis of two different manuscripts at the British
Library.62
Written in Nasḫ in black with approximately 11 folios of 14-15 lines. No
colour highlighting.

(viii) ff. 284r–290v

Anonymous
Ḥikāya ʿaǧība ġarība aḥsan mimmā yasmaʿ al-sāmiʿūn
‫حاكية جعيبة غريبة أحسن مما يسمع السامعون‬
(A Wonderful Strange Story which is the Best out of What Listerners Would
Hear)
Begins (f. 284r):
‫هذه حاكية جعيبة غريبة أحسن ّمما يسمع الّس امعون‬
Incomplete. Current ending: last lines become illegible because of termite
attacks (f. 290v):
(......)‫( ان تنرص‬......) ‫( ابن سيدان وحبيبنا فأىت حربيل عليه السالم‬... )‫ اين الغم‬،‫أين البشري أين النذير وأين الرساج‬
A story about Ǧadīd b. ʿAtāʾ who was resurrected after witnessing the
wonders of other world.
Written in Nasḫ with 15 lines in eight folios. Termite marks in the last few
folios.

SIT 17. Ar.

Al-Šayḫ ʿAbd Allāh b. Sayyid al-Walī ʿAlawī b. Muḥammad al-Ḥaddād Bā ʿAlawī
(d. 1720)
‫الشيخ عبد هللا بن السيد الويل علوي بن محمد احلداد ابعلوي‬
Dīwān al-Quṭb al-Ġawṯ Muǧaddid li-al-Dīn al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Šayḫ ʿAlawī
al-Ḥaddād
‫ديوان القطب الغوث اجملدد لدلين احلبيب عبد هللا بن الشيخ علوي احلداد‬
(Anthology of al-Quṭb al-Ġawṯ Muǧaddid li-al-Dīn al-Ḥabīb ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Šayḫ
ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād)
Begins (f. 3v):
‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬
‫اي ربنا ايربنا * ايرب اي أهل الثنا* اي ذا اجلالل وذا العال* ايذا الهبا وذا السنا‬
Ends (f. 116r):
62
For a study, see Y. Friedmann, "Qissat Shakarwati Farmad ", 1975, pp. 233–245; S. Kugle & R.E.
Margariti, “Narrating Community”, 2017, pp. 337–380. Two copies of the manuscript is found in
British Library. MSS British Library, India Office, Loth 1044, fols. 81b-104b; and Or. 1738. Another
manuscript of Qiṣṣa is found in Chaliyam, Calicut. See Anonymous. Qiṣṣat Šakrawtī Farmāḍ, MS no.
92, Maktabat al-Azhar, Chaliyam, Calicut.

47
 ‫وعىل آل وحصب* ومجيع التابعينا‬
‫ما تال اتل قراان * جا ابحلق مبينا‬
‫متت وابخلري‬
This manuscript is a collection of poems by the famous ʻAlawī Sufi scholar and the
composer of Rātib al-Ḥaddād that spread among Muslims of the Indian Ocean, ʿAbd
Allāh b. ʿAlawī b. Muḥammad al-Ḥaddād (d. 1720). 63 The title (f. 3r) has a red and
black decoration. In the opening folios (1r–3r) there are some notes on the naming of
the daughter of Aḥamd as Ruqiyya and another striken notes which become illegible,
along with another title, Kitāb al-durr al-manḍūm fī al-kalām al-maqsūm.
The colophon (f. 116r) states that the copying of this collection of Dīwan was
completed in ramaḍān 1176/1763 by ʿIwaḍ b. ʿAlī b. Aḥmad Bā Ḏīb. Details of its
ownership in a round column decorated with red colour is in f. 116v. It says that it
was owned by ʿAfīf (?) al-Dīn ʿAlawī b. Sayyid al-Šayḫ Aḥmad b. al-Ḥabīb … b. al-
Quṭb ʿAbd Allāh ... al-Ḥaddād Bā ʿAlawī. Another ownership note in the same folio
(116v) identifies another owner: al-Sayyid Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Šayḫ al-Ḥibšī al-
ʿAlawī who possessed it through an auction from ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn Marzaq (?)
for eight Qirʾš in Palembang. It also informs that Sayyid ʿAlawī b. Aḥmad b. Ḥasan b.
ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥaddād Bā ʿAlawī (d. 1817) purchased in 1226/1811 at Palembang
another copy of Dīwān in which there is a handwriting of author’s son Ḥabīb ʿAlawī
b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥaddād. These descriptions on the involvement of those closely
related to the author make the manuscript more valuable and credible.
The text is written in mostly similar to Ṯuluṯ. Decorations, demarcations between
lines and titles are mostly made in red, while the black is used for the main content.
Dates are given sometimes using al-ḥasāb al-ǧummal or with Arabic and are mostly
dated between 1160 to 1712. There are 118 folios of 17 lines. End folios 117r and
118r have some personal notes which are struck.

Bibliography

Sources
Manuscripts
Anonymous, Qiṣṣa šakrawtī farmāḍ, MS no. 92, Chaliyam, Calicut, Maktabat al-
Azhar.
Anonymous, Šajara āl šihāb, MS not numbered, Ceruvaṇṇūr, ʿAbd Allāh Šihāb
Library.
Al-Barzanǧī, Miʿrāj al-Barzanǧī (d. 1764), EAP466/1/67, Kenya, The Riyadh
Mosque of Lamu.
Al-Ǧifrī, Šayḫ b. Muḥammad (d. 1808), Natīǧat aškāl qaḍāya maslak al-ǧawhar al-
ǧawāhiriyya wa-burhān sulṭān mašāʾiḫ al-ṭarīqa al-ʿAydarūsiyya al-
Qādiriyya, MS. unumbered, written in 1784, Ponnāni, Maʿūnatul Islam Arabic
College.
Al-Ǧifrī, Šayḫ b. Muḥammad (d. 1808), Al-kawkab al-ǧalīl al-rafīʿ al-zāhir al-munīr
al-durrī fī nisbat al-sādāt al-ašrāf banī ʿalawī lā siyyama minhum āl al-ǧifrī,

63
About him, please see M. b. A. al-Šillī, Mašraʿ al-rawī fī manāqib ʿala Sāda al-kirām Āl Banī
ʿAlawī, vol. 2, 1901, pp. 181–184; Š. b. M. al-Ǧifrī, Kanz al-barāhīn, pp. 17–32; al-Mašhūr, Šams al-
ẓahīra, 1984, pp. 568–571; al-Saqāf, Tāʾrīḫ al-šuʿarāʾ, vol 2, pp. 24–49.

48
 MS not numbered, written in 1794, copy-written in 1933, Ponnāni, Maʿūnatul
Islam Arabic College.
Regional Archives of Kozhikode, Judicial Dept, Government of Madras 2nd May
1885, no. 1169.

Printed
Al-ʿAydarūs, ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Šayḫ b. ʿAbd Allāh, Al-nūr al-sāfir ʿan aḫbār al-qarn
al-ʿāšir, ed. Aḥmad Ḥālū, Maḥmūd al-Arnāʿūṭ & Akram al-Būšī, Beirut, Dār
al-ṣādir, 2001.
Bā ʿAlawī, ʿAlawī b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād (d.
1818), Šarḥ rātib al-ḫaddād, Tarīm, Maqām al-Imām al-Ḥaddād, 1993.
Al-Baġā Muṣṭafā Dīb (ed), Al-raḥbiyya fī ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ bi šaraḥ sibṭ al-māradīnī,
Damascus, Dār al-qalam, 1998.
Al-Baġdādī, Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Qāhir b. Ṭāhir b. Maḥmūd (d. 1071), Al-farq bayn
al-firaq wa-bayān al-firqa al-nāǧiya minhum, ed. Muḥammad ʿUṯmān al-Ḫišt,
Cairo, Maktabat Ibn Sīnā, n. d.
Al-Bakrī, Abū al-Ḥasan, Al-durra al-mukallala fī fatḥ Makka, Egypt, no publisher,
1906.
Bā Sūdān, ʿAbd Allāh bin Aḥmad (d. 1850), Kitāb ḏaḫīra al-maʿād bi -šarah rātīb
al-Ḥaddād printed on the margin of ʿAydarūs b. ʿUmar b. ʿAydarūs al-Ḥibshī,
ʿIqd al-yawāqīt al-jawhariyya wa-simṭ al-ʿayn al-ḏahabiyya bi-ḏikri ṭarīq al-
sādāt al-ʿalawiyya, Cairo, al-Maṭbaʿa al-ʿāmira al-šarafiyya, 1900.
Al-Celbi, Muṣṭafā b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Šahīr bi-Ḥāǧǧī Ḫalīfa wa-bi-Kātib (d. 1657), Kašf
al-ẓunūn ʿan asāmī al-kutub wa-al-funūn, Beirut, Dār iḥyāʿ al-turāṯ al-ʿarabī,
1906.
Al-Dimyāṭī, Abū Bakr al-Šaṭṭā (d. 1892), Nafḥat al-raḥmān fī baʿḍ manāqib al-Šayḫ
al-Sayyid Aḥmad b. al-Sayyid Zaynī Daḥlān, n. pl., Maktabat Ibn Ḫarjū al-
Ǧāwī, 2016.
Al-Ǧifrī, Sayyid Aḥmad b. Aḥmad, Marṯiya ʿalā al-marḥūm Aḥmad bin ʿAbd al-
Raḥmān b. Šayḫ b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Šayḫ al-Ğifrī, Paḷḷikkal, Maṭbaʿt anwār al-
Islām, n. d.
Al-Ǧifrī, Šayḫ b. Muḥammad (d. 1808), Kanz al-barāhīn al-kasbiyya wa-al-asrār al-
wahhābiyya al-ġaybiyya li-sādāt mašāyiḫ al-ṭarīqa al-ʿAlawiyya al-
Ḥusayniyya wa-al-Šuʿaybiyya, Egypt, no publisher, copy with additional notes
in the first pages from Ponnāni, Maʿūnat al-Islam Arabic College, 1864.
Al-Ḫaymī, Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad & Naḏīr Ḥamdān, “Tarǧamat al-Muʾallif”, in: Burhān
al-Dīn al-Zarnūǧī, Taʿlīm al-mutaʿallim fī ṭarīq al-taʿlīm, ed. Ṣalāḥ
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