Page 28 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

A RARE COPY OF TAMHIDAT (PRELUDES)
BY ‘AYN AL-QUDAT HAMDANI, ‘THE PEARL OF JUDGES’

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'AYN AL-QUDAT HAMADANI (D.1130 AD): TAMHIDAT other sources, one of his teachers was the famous ‘Umar al-Khayyam (d.
COPIED BY ABU’L-MAKARIM BIN ‘ALI AL-MURSHIDI, TIMURID OR AH 517/1123 AD) which is plausible given his early interest in mathematics.
AQQUYUNLU IRAN, DATED AH 866/1461-62 AD
However he himself mentions only his Sufi teachers. ‘Ayn al-Qudt’s
A Sufi manuscript on Tamhidat (Preludes), Persian and Arabic manuscript on reputation as a Sufi teacher attracted many disciples. His early admirer, the
paper, 173ff., plus 2 flyleaves, each folio with 14ll. of elegant naskh in black ink, 12th century historian ‘Imad al-Din al-Isfahani, who regards him as a “second
important words and sentences in gold, red and sepia thuluth, text within gold Ghazali” suggested that his fame aroused the jealousy of the ‘pseudo-‘ulama’.
and blue rules, gold and polychrome illuminated frontispiece, signed and dated
colophon on the final folio, in brown gilt and stamped leather binding with flap, He nonetheless attributes the real responsibility for his imprisonment
marbled paper doublures and ultimate execution to the conspiracies of the vizier Qiwam al-Din al-
Text panel 4 x 3in. (10.2 x 7.4cm.); folio 6¿ x 4æin. (15.4 x 11.9cm.) Dargazini (F. Daftary, The Isma’ilis. Their history and Doctrines, Cambridge,
1990, pp.363-4).
£30,000-50,000 US$43,000-71,000
€35,000-58,000 The Tamhidat (Preludes) is ‘Ayn al-Qudat’s most important Persian work. Its
full name is the Zubdat al-haqa’eq fi kashf al-khala’eq and it is divided into
‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 1131 AD) was born in Hamadan to a family of
ten tamhids illustrating Sufi life and thought. It discusses inner attitudes,
judges. He was a renowned and highly celebrated mystic philosopher and
religious experiences and philosophical assumptions of the mystic,
Sufi martyr who is regarded as one of the founders of doctrinal Sufism.
supported by the interpretation of Qur’anic verses and classical Sufi sayings.
Following in the footsteps of his forebears, he qualified as a judge in
‘Ayn al-Qudat expresses his profound ideas in precious poetic language and
Hamadan at a young age and was soon known as the “pearl of judges”
exhibits a high erudition in the literary and religious traditions of his time. The
amongst the Sufi milieu. ‘Ayn al-Qudat became bilingual in Arabic and
work reveals the author’s unconventional spirit and paradoxical reconciliation
Persian and studied Arabic grammar, law, philosophy and theology. He
of belief and unbelief. The Tamhidat was translated into Turkish twice at the
turned to Sufism at a young age and amongst his most influential teachers
end of the 16th century (F. Meier, Der Islam, 24, 1937, p.5). It had considerable
were Muhammad bin Hammuya and Ahmad al-Ghazali (d. AH 520/1126
influence on the Chishti Sufi order in India through a commentary written
AH). According to ‘Ali bin Zayd al-Bayhaqi’s Tatimmat Siwan al-Hikma and
on it by Muhammad bin Yusuf Gisuderaz (d. 1422 AD). Another commentary
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