Islamic Manuscripts : Epistle on the Customs of the Naqshbandiyya Order

Tāj al-Dīn ibn Zakariyya Mahdī Zamān al-Rūmī (d. AH 1050/AD 1640)

Islamic Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>The only known copy of a brief treatise on Naqshbandi practices and rituals by Tāj al-Dīn ibn Zakariyya Mahdī Zamān al-Rūmī, of the Indian branch of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, who died in Mecca in AH 1050/AD 1640. Not available in a printed edition.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>According to Trimingham (1971, pp. 93-94) Tāj al-Dīn ‘had an interesting career and eventually found a niche in Mecca away from the rivalries which ensued after the death of Muḥammad Bāqī bi’llāh. From this vantage point he had much to do with commending the Naqshbandī Way to Arabs. He translated books like Jāmī’s <i>Nafaḥāt</i> and ‛Alī al-Kāshifī’s <i>Rashaḥāt ‛Ain al-Ḥayāt</i> into Arabic. Al-Muḥibbī devotes a long article to him in his <i>Khulāṣat al-Athar’</i>. See Muḥibbī, M., <i>Khulāṣat al-athar fī a‛yān al-qarn al-ḥādī‛ashar</i> (Cairo, 1384), i, 464-70.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>It is perhaps better to describe Bahā’ al-Dīn al-Naqshbandī (AD 1318-1389) as the ‘crystallizer’ of the Naqshbandī <i>ṭarīqa</i>, which bears his name, rather than its ‘founder’. It is certain that the Naqshbandī tradition itself does not regard him as a founder nor as the initiator of the <i>silsila</i> as it is clearly noted in this text for example.</p>