Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19، number In Volume 5، August 2026 ، issue Number 123

A Stylistic Analysis of the Manuscript Asās al-Maʿrifah by Kamāl al-Dīn Ṣiddīqī (10th Century AH)

Mehran Mohebbi , Maryam Mahmoodi (Author in Charge), Parisa Davari , Hossein Aghahosseini

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The manuscript Asās al-Maʿrifah by Kamāl al-Dīn Ṣiddīqī, a 10th-century AH mystic and disciple of Jāmī, is an unknown work preserved in a single copy at the Āyatullāh Gulpāygānī Library in Qom. The objective of this study is to examine the codicology of the work and to analyze its stylistic features at three levels: linguistic, rhetorical, and intellectual.

METHODOLOGY: This research is conducted using a library-based, descriptive-analytical method. Data were collected through repeated reading and careful examination of the manuscript, and then the stylistic features were analyzed at the three mentioned levels.

FINDINGS: The prose of Asās al-Maʿrifah is influenced by the artificial prose of the Safavid era, employing sajʿ (rhymed prose), puns, and repetition. At the lexical level, there is a high frequency of archaic words (such as sufār, darīvzah-garī, ghashāvah), Arabic terms (broken plurals, artificial infinitives), feminine adjectives for plural nouns, and inverted attributive compounds. The syntactic structure is marked by the use of archaic verb forms (past continuous with "-ī", subjunctive instead of indicative present), the object marker mar, and anastrophe (inversion of sentence elements). In the rhetorical domain, the author employs simile (especially similes in the form of possessive constructions), metaphor, extensive quotation of Qur"anic verses, hadiths, and poetry (particularly from Rūmī and Jāmī), as well as devices such as laf wa nashr (dispersed synthesis) and paradox. Intellectually, the author is influenced by the school of Ibn ʿArabī (unity of existence, immutable archetypes, predispositional determinism) and the Naqshbandī order (heartfelt dhikr, solitude within society, vigilance).

CONCLUSION: This work, while introducing an unknown commentary on Ibn ʿArabī"s ideas, represents an important link in the chain of transmission of Ibn ʿArabī"s mysticism to the Safavid period and India. Given that only a single manuscript exists and there is no reliable critical edition, its critical editing is essential.

Keyword
Manuscript , Stylistics , Asās al- Maʿrifah , Kamāl al-Dīn Ṣiddīqī , Safavid prose , Naqshbandiyyah