Sufi, (d. 654)
(d. 654/1256)
Sufi
At a young age Abū Bakr ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Muḥammad Najm al-Dīn Rāzī (often known as Dāyah) traveled widely to a variety of places (among them Syria, Egypt, and Iraq) before he found his way to Khwārazm and became a murīd (disciple) of Najm al-Dīn Kubrā, eponymous founder of the Kubrawiyya sufi order. F0llowing his mystical training, Dāyah took up his wandering ways once again until he settled in Anatolia. It was at this point in his life that Dāyah completed the work for which he is mostly known, Mirṣād al-ʿibād ilā al-mabdaʾ va al-maʿād.
Considered one of the most popular treatises on Sufism, Mirṣād al-ʿibād ilā al-mabdaʾ va al-maʿād is a comprehensive work on Sufism’s major themes “written with a fluency, vigor and eloquence that qualify it for comparison with the best of classical Persian prose”. Among the themes explored in Mirṣād are: “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, and the ways in which different professions and trades may yield spiritual benefit if properly practiced”. The work exists in two recensions, one completed in 618/1221 and the other completed in 620/1223. Dāyah also composed several lesser known treatises also dealing with sufistic themes. Dāyah spent the last years of his life in Baghdād and died there in 654/1256.
The Path of God's Bondsmen from Origin to Return (Mersad al-ebad men al-mabda elal-maad): a Sufi Compendium. Persian Heritage Series; no. 35. Trans. Ḥāmid Algar.
Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1982.
167 Naršaḫī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar(d. 348/959)
Historian
Little is known of the life of Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar Naršaḫī. It is likely that he was born in 286/899 in the area around Buḫārā. Naršaḫī’s only known work is Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā, originally written in Arabic.
Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā is a work on the history of Buḫārā extending to the accession of Sāmānid Nūh Naṣr (r. 331/942 to 343/954). In 522/1128, Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā was translated into Persian by Abū Naṣr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Qubāvī, who extended the work to 365/975-6. Later, Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā was abridged and extended by others, eventually being extended to the Mongol conquest of Buḫārā. Tārīḫ-i Buḫārā is considered “very valuable for the early Islamic history of Central Asia and for the Tahirid and Sāmānid periods there, with many details from local traditions going back to the pre-Islamic period”. Naršaḫī died in 348/959.