New Persian Original bdg. HC. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Persian. 216 p. Mirsâd ul-'ebâd. Razi was a 13th-century Persian Sufi from Khwarezmia. Hamid Algar, translator of the Persian Mer?ad to English, states the application of "wetnurse" to the author of the Mer?ad derives from the idea of the initiate on the Path being a newborn infant who needs suckling to survive. Daya followed the Sufi order, Kubrawiyya, established by one of his greatest influences, Najm al-Din Kubra. Daya traveled to Karazm and soon became a morid (pupil, one who follows the shaykh master and learns from him, undergoing spiritual training of Najm al-Din Kubra. Kubra then appointed Shaikh Majd al-Din Bagdadi as the spiritual trainer who also became Daya's biggest influence. Daya constantly refers to al-Din Bagdadi as "our shaikh." When his master, Najm al-Din Kubra, was murdered in 618/1221, Daya fled to Hamadan, then to Ardabil, and then to Anatolia where he finally settled with a fellow contemporary master Rumi. There he put the teachings of his master Najmeddin Kubra into a writing in Persian called by the Arabic title Mir?ad al-'ibad min al-mabda' ila'l-ma'ad which is shortly known as Mer?ad al-?ebad, and has gained prominence as a major reference text on Sufism and Islamic theology. Daya was born in Rey, then one of the major centers of urban life and culture in pre-Mongol Iran, in 1117. At the age of 26, Razi travelled through Syria, Egypt, ?ejaz, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. He finally settled in Karazm and soon become a morid to Najm al-Din Kubra, a mystical Sufi and founder of the Kubrawiyya Order. Razi was then tutored by Shaikh Majd al-Din Ba?dadi, who Razi often refers to as "our shaikh." Razi then flees Karazm due to Kubra's prophecy of a Mongol invasion. Finally, Razi fled Rey as well, willingly abandoning his family to the Mongol invasion. Traveling via Hamadan, Erbil, and Diyarbekir, he reached Kayseri in central Anatolia in Ramadan 618/October 1221. Thanks to Seljuq patronage, Anatolia was a center for the cultivation of Persian literature. At Malatya, Razi met Shaikh Sehab al-Din Abu Hafs 'Omar al-Sohravardi, nephew of the founder of the Sohravardi order. In October 1221 he reached Kayseri. He completed the Merad at Sivas in August 1223. The term Mer?ad refers to the path from Qur'anic verse 89:14; "Verily thy Lord watches over the path". The divine vigilance implied here is generally taken as referring to God's omniscience of men's deeds, but it is plain that Daya takes it in a slightly different sense, that of a protective and guarding vigilance. The second part of the title, men al-mabda' ela' l-ma'ad ("from origin to return") is to be found in the titles of many works that purport to treat in comprehensive fashion both cosmogony and eschatology and all that lies between. The comprehensiveness promised in this title of the work is amply fulfilled in its text. It deals, in a systematic manner, with the origins of the various realms and orders of creation, prophethood and the different dimensions of religion, the ritual practices, mores, and institutions of Sufism, the destinations that await different classes of men in the hereafter, and the fashion in which different professions and trades may come to yield spiritual benefit and heavenly reward. A particular virtue of the book is its clear demonstration of the Qur'anic origins of Sufism. The numerous quotations from the Qur'an are not to be regarded as mere ornament, nor even as scriptural proofs adduced in support of various statements. Rather, they bear witness to the fact that for Daya, as for other Sufis, the Qur'an constitutes a well-structured, seamless, and coherent universe. The Qur'anic verses encountered throughout the book are the loom on which it is woven, a particular sense for each verse being implied by the context in which it occurs. Another prominent feature of the book is the frequency with which it draws parallels between the inner and the outer worlds, particularly with references t
