Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Baha Al-Din Muhammad-i Walad (1226-1312 AD), Ibtida-nama (The Book of the Beginning) (completed in 1291 AD), attributable to Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah al-Konawi al-Waladi, Anatolia, probably Konya, late 13th century
Auction Closed
March 31, 12:40 PM GMT
Estimate
26,000 - 35,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Persian manuscript on buff paper, 230 leaves 3 flyleaves, 21 lines to the page, written in neat black naskh arranged in two columns, important headings and phrases in red, with occasional catchwords and marginal notes added later, opening folio with text mostly in red, the flyleaf following the colophon folio with later notes including the date of composition of the text, in brown leather binding
23.9 by 16.7cm.
Ex-collection Jafar Ghazi (d.2007), Munich.
Christie’s South Kensington, 28 April 2017, lot 130.
Christie’s South Kensington, 28 April 2017, lot 130.
Baha al-Din Muhammad Sultan Walad (1226-1312), also known as Sultan Walad, was the eldest son of the great thirteenth-century Persian poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi. Born in Laranda (present-day Karaman) in southern Anatolia, Sultan Walad was named after his grandfather, Baha al-Din Walad, who was a theologian, jurist and mystic from Balkh. The family moved to Konya when Sultan Walad was a young boy.
Sultan Walad is known as one of the founders of the Mawlawwiya Sufi order. The order originated in Konya and was founded by the followers of Jalal al-Din Rumi, Walad amongst them. Along with Rumi and his closest followers, Salah al-Din Zarqub and Husam al-Din Çelebi, Sultan Walad was an important figure during the early years of the order. He was responsible for the structuring of the order in keeping with other Sufi fraternities, for formalising its rites and ceremonies, and for sending its representatives throughout Anatolia and beyond to establish a wider following. After his father’s death in 1273, Sultan Walad and Husam al-Din Çelebi had a mausoleum built for Rumi in Konya, which came an important centre for the order and remains a place of pilgrimage today.
The marriage of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I (r.1389-1402) to Devlet Hatun, a descendant of Sultan Walad, helped to establish the order within the Ottoman Empire. Their son, Mehmed I Çelebi (r.1413-21), became the next Sultan and he and his successors generously endowed the order over the years. The Mawlawwiya or Mevlevis Sufis are known as the ‘whirling dervishes’. The practice of sema or whirling is seen as dhikr, an Islamic devotional act to remember God.
The Ibtida-nama (The Book of the Beginning), also known as the Walad-nama (The Book of Walad) and the Mathnawi-i Walad, is a Persian book of poetry, in the mathnawi style of verse. Along with the Rabab-nama and the Intiha-nama, it is considered as one of Sultan Walad’s greatest works. It was composed between 1 Rabi’ al-Awwal 690 AH/4 March 1291 AD and 4 Jumada al-Ukhra 690 AH/ 4 June 1291 AD. The date of composition is included in the final lines of poetry, seen in the present manuscript on folio 230b. The text is an important source of information regarding the lives of Baha al-Din Walad and Rumi, and the early history of the Mawlawwiya order.
The early date of this manuscript is of great significance. The paper dates to the thirteenth century and the writing is attributed to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The text could have been copied during the lifetime of Sultan Walad or soon after his death in 1312. Our manuscript is most likely the earliest known copy of the Ibtida-nama. There is another, slightly later, copy in the Mevlana Museum in Konya which is dated to circa 1332 (MS 74).
The marginal notes in black and red ink are written in the same hand as the main text of the manuscript. They include brief corrections or additions to the copied text followed by the word sah meaning correct or authentic. It appears that the scribe was able to check his writing against the original text, or perhaps with the author himself or someone with access to the original text. This method of correction is known from another manuscript dated to 1278, the earliest copy of the mathnawi of Rumi, which is now in the Mevlana Museum in Konya (MS 51). The colophon of the mathnawi mentions the name of Muhammad ibn Abdullah Konawi, a scribe in the service of Sultan Walad. Konawi copied the text from the original in the presence of Sultan Walad and Husam al-Din Çelebi, with corrections added in the same manner as seen in the present manuscript. The early dating and the possible association of our scribe with Sultan Walad and his companions also suggests that perhaps the present manuscript, like the mathnawi of Rumi in the museum in Konya, was also written by Muhammad ibn Abdullah Konawi.
For further discussion on the manuscripts in the Mevlana Museum, see Cailah Jackson, The Mevlevis’ earliest manuscripts: the Islamic arts of the book in Konya and Sivas (1278-1332), Sufism and Islamic Manuscript Culture: The Eleventh Islamic Manuscript Conference, The Islamic Manuscript Association and the University of Cambridge, September 15, 2016.
Sultan Walad is known as one of the founders of the Mawlawwiya Sufi order. The order originated in Konya and was founded by the followers of Jalal al-Din Rumi, Walad amongst them. Along with Rumi and his closest followers, Salah al-Din Zarqub and Husam al-Din Çelebi, Sultan Walad was an important figure during the early years of the order. He was responsible for the structuring of the order in keeping with other Sufi fraternities, for formalising its rites and ceremonies, and for sending its representatives throughout Anatolia and beyond to establish a wider following. After his father’s death in 1273, Sultan Walad and Husam al-Din Çelebi had a mausoleum built for Rumi in Konya, which came an important centre for the order and remains a place of pilgrimage today.
The marriage of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I (r.1389-1402) to Devlet Hatun, a descendant of Sultan Walad, helped to establish the order within the Ottoman Empire. Their son, Mehmed I Çelebi (r.1413-21), became the next Sultan and he and his successors generously endowed the order over the years. The Mawlawwiya or Mevlevis Sufis are known as the ‘whirling dervishes’. The practice of sema or whirling is seen as dhikr, an Islamic devotional act to remember God.
The Ibtida-nama (The Book of the Beginning), also known as the Walad-nama (The Book of Walad) and the Mathnawi-i Walad, is a Persian book of poetry, in the mathnawi style of verse. Along with the Rabab-nama and the Intiha-nama, it is considered as one of Sultan Walad’s greatest works. It was composed between 1 Rabi’ al-Awwal 690 AH/4 March 1291 AD and 4 Jumada al-Ukhra 690 AH/ 4 June 1291 AD. The date of composition is included in the final lines of poetry, seen in the present manuscript on folio 230b. The text is an important source of information regarding the lives of Baha al-Din Walad and Rumi, and the early history of the Mawlawwiya order.
The early date of this manuscript is of great significance. The paper dates to the thirteenth century and the writing is attributed to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The text could have been copied during the lifetime of Sultan Walad or soon after his death in 1312. Our manuscript is most likely the earliest known copy of the Ibtida-nama. There is another, slightly later, copy in the Mevlana Museum in Konya which is dated to circa 1332 (MS 74).
The marginal notes in black and red ink are written in the same hand as the main text of the manuscript. They include brief corrections or additions to the copied text followed by the word sah meaning correct or authentic. It appears that the scribe was able to check his writing against the original text, or perhaps with the author himself or someone with access to the original text. This method of correction is known from another manuscript dated to 1278, the earliest copy of the mathnawi of Rumi, which is now in the Mevlana Museum in Konya (MS 51). The colophon of the mathnawi mentions the name of Muhammad ibn Abdullah Konawi, a scribe in the service of Sultan Walad. Konawi copied the text from the original in the presence of Sultan Walad and Husam al-Din Çelebi, with corrections added in the same manner as seen in the present manuscript. The early dating and the possible association of our scribe with Sultan Walad and his companions also suggests that perhaps the present manuscript, like the mathnawi of Rumi in the museum in Konya, was also written by Muhammad ibn Abdullah Konawi.
For further discussion on the manuscripts in the Mevlana Museum, see Cailah Jackson, The Mevlevis’ earliest manuscripts: the Islamic arts of the book in Konya and Sivas (1278-1332), Sufism and Islamic Manuscript Culture: The Eleventh Islamic Manuscript Conference, The Islamic Manuscript Association and the University of Cambridge, September 15, 2016.