Recitation of Fourteen Quotations from Tazkerat al-Awliya of Attar Based on Arabic Sources

Mohsen Pourmokhtar¹
1.Introduction
Tazkerat al-Awliya Attar Neyshabouri is one of the most important texts in the Persian language, which is extremely important both in terms of including the quotations and anecdotes of 97 famous mystics of Islam and Iran and in terms of Persian prose. This great work has been edited several times so far, the most famous of which, is the edition of the late English Orientalist R.A. Nicholson in 1905. Recently, a publication of Tazkerat al-Awliya has been published, which should be considered the most scholarly edition of this book. This edition of Tazkerat al-Awliya, which was compiled by Mohammad Reza Shafiee Kadkani and spent a lot of time, has been prepared using 38 manuscripts and the use of many sources, including Persian, Arabic sources. The editor in introduction has written of more than one hundred and seventy pages, deals with the method of editing the text of the book and its structure and content and in the second volume, he has tried to mention the copies of the exchanges as well as the detailed comments on the quotations and anecdotes contained in the Tazkerat al-Awliya.Tazkerat al-Awliya.
Attar Neyshabouri has used Arabic sources in editing Tazkerat al-Awliya rather than using Persian sources. With his poetic and beautiful prose, he has poured Arabic quotations and phrases in the form of Persian language and has created an exhibition of the most beautiful examples of Persian prose in this book. However, he also makes mistakes in quoting or translating from Arabic.
 The author, who while studying and carefully editing the new Tazkerat al-Awliya, noticed some forms of mistakes and ambiguity in a number of quotations, searched the Arabic sources of the quotations and, after finding the Arabic origin of them, compared them with the text of Tazkerat al-Awliya. And noticed corrections in the Persian text and their correct form in Arabic sources, and finally presented its findings in the form of this article.
 
2.Methodology
In the present study, we have dealt with 14 cases of the quotations of Tazkerat al-Awliya and according to the origin of those words in the Arabic sources used by Attar, we have shown that in 13 cases, the text of Tazkerat is different from the Arabic principle of the saying. These differences in the recordings were either due to Attar's misreading or misunderstanding of the Arabic sources he used, or to the difficulty in the source he quoted. In one case, we have discussed the meaning of a word - in a word by Abu Hafs Haddad Neyshabouri - and we have explained the word in question in a meaning other than that edited by the editor of the book. In addition to showing the alteration of the text of the Tazkerat with their Arabic origin, the source that was probably used by Attar is also discussed in most of the quotations discussed. What is presented in this article can be considered as commentaries on these fourteen quotations that guide the reader of Tazkerat al-Awliya to their correct text as well as the correct understanding of the words of the mystics from whom these sayings have been quoted.
 
 
 
3.Discussion
In the following, we will describe the 14 cases mentioned in the text of the article in the order of the book. Arguments, references and sources are given in the confrontation text.
1-3. Quotation 17/31
The word فرستادن is ambiguous in this quotation, but according to its Arabic origin, it is clear in Sufi sources that the translation or quotation of this word has been corrected. What Attar called فرستادن is actually فراستدن.
2-3. Quotation 28/159
In this quote, the word is شاید vague and meaningless in the context of speech. But according to the Arabic origin, it is clear that شاید the corrected form of the word is آساید.
Carefully in the sources before Attar who have quoted this word, it can be accepted that Attar took this word from the translation of the Risalat al-Qushairiyya, which was one of his most important sources in Tazkerat al-Awliya.
3-3. Quotation 30/52
Although the word خلق has meaning in this quotation, in the Arabic origin of this quotation, it has come instead of خلق the word حق.
4-3. quotation 35/31
In this quotation, too, although the word موت means death, the consensus of the Arabic sources who have quoted this quotation leads us to accept the authenticity of جوع. According to the narrations of this word in four Arabic sources, Attar's translation is closer to the Arabic text of the Risalat al-Qushairiyya.
 5-3.Quotation 38/4
This statement of Abu Hafs Haddad Neyshabouri is also an anecdote related to the period when he was a blacksmith. The editor of Tazkerat al-Awliya has explained the meaning of the word action in this commentary in the book:
 "He wants to say: 'As long as I saw my action, it was useless. When sincerity came to me and I no longer valued my action and did not see it, then the goal was achieved."
But the meaning of عمل here is not طاعات و عبادات but کار و حرفه و کسب, and it is about Abu Hafs blacksmith's job, nor spiritual obedience and worship.
6-3.Quotation. 43/103
The word نسبت has no specific meaning in this quotation. Carefully in the Arabic sources, it is clear that the corrected نسبت is نشست.
7-3.Quotation. 43/133
In this word, in all three Arabic sources that have quoted it, the final word of the phrase is جود. It is clear that the misreading of جود  to  خودis tied to a point, and it is very natural that the scribes of the early manuscripts of Tazkerat al-Awliya خود  was read / written جود.
8-3.Quotation. 43/200
This word is mentioned in the form of مصادفه in both Arabic books that have quoted it, and since there is a discussion, مصادفه in a sudden sense is in complete harmony with the subject of the speech. .
9-3.Quotation 43/240
The second part of this statement is confused and ambiguous in the text of the book.The correct form of the sentence should be as follows: الفقر بحر البلاء وبلاؤه کلّه عزّ.
10-3.Quotation 50/59
According to the Arabic origin of this quotation, هیچ چیز is the converted form of هیچ خیر.
11-3.Quotation 55/27
In this quotation, as we saw in paragraphs 2-6, the word نشست is relatively misreaded to نسبت.
12-3.Quotation 62/14
This statement, as stated in the book, has a semantic contradiction because in it, ادب is opposed to مداومت بر ادب. According to its Arabic origin, it is clear that the second ادب has replaced خدمت.
13-3.Quotation 75/110
In this quotation, the verb صورت نبندد , which the correct form of it is  صورت ببندد.
14-3.Quotation 75/160
In both cases, instead of the word نقد in the book, the word وقت is used in Arabic sources, and this is true.
 
4.Conclusion
Carefully in the Arabic sources of Tazkerat al-Awliya, the contents of this book can be better edited and understood. In this article, we have dealt with the fourteen quotations mentioned in the Tazkareh, and according to their Arabic sources, we have noticed Attar's misreading of his sources. The conclusion obtained from the correlation of Tazkerat al-Awliya with its Arabic sources indicates that in the text of Tazkerat al-Awliya, there have been alterations to its Arabic sources. In the text of the article, by mentioning the documents, the misreaded cases are mentioned and the correct form of the word is given.