SIGNED AHMAD AL-NASRATI, OTTOMAN CAIRO, DATED 24 JUMADA AL-THANI AH 1061/14 JUNE 1651 AD

Ibn al-Farid was an Arab poet born in Cairo in 1181. He lived in Mecca for around fifteen years, and on his return to Cairo was treated as a Sufi saint though he refused the patronage of wealthy members of the ruling class which would have required him to produce poetry in praise of them. He died in Cairo and he was buried in the al-Azhar Mosque where he used to be a teacher. The Diwan of Ibn al-Farid is considered by many the pinnacle of Arabic mystical poetry. His two masterpieces, the “Wine Ode” and the “Sufi Way”, have inspired many spiritual commentaries through the centuries and they are still reverently memorized by Sufis and other devout Muslims today. According to his son, Ibn Farid’s trances lasted for ten consecutive days without eating, drinking, moving and speaking. Cairenes still gather every Friday at his tomb to listen to recitations of his poetry. The scribe of our copy was a teacher of children in the Qaitbay Library in the al-Azhar Mosque. The Papal Emblem found in our manuscript indicates that it has been in an Italian collection since at least the 18th Century.

Two other copies of Ibn al-Farid's Diwan - one 13th century, the other dated 1491, are in the Chester Beatty Library (A. Arberry, A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, volume III, Dublin, 1958, p.55, no. 3643 and volume VII, Dublin, 1964, p.137, 5473). Nine copies dated between the 14th century to 1860 are in the British Library (Colin Baker (ed.), Subject Guide to the Arabic Manuscripts, London, 2001, L.1, p.309).