Ris le-i Ir d (also known as Mürîdü?l-Müteehhilîn) [A Sufi Disciple's Guide]. (SUFIS) IZNIKI, Kutbeddin

First printed edition. Small octavo. 79, [1] pp. Lithographed Ottoman Turkish text. Contemporary quarter roan over marbled boards, yellow endpapers. Over-opened in a few places, short splits to upper and lower spine joints. A fragile binding but original and with clean text.The colophon states ?Scribed by La f b. usayn; completed by his son asan? but this almost surely means he copied the text unto a lithograph stone. Kutbeddin znikî (d. ca. 1380) was a 14th-century Ottoman scholar and mystic and his book, presented here, is one of the earliest Sufi instructional texts written by an Ottoman scholar. The original manuscript dates to the late 1300s and very few copies of it were known to circulate among Ottoman scholars. This is a Sufi instructional manual written within the Nak ibandî (Sufi Order) spiritual tradition. One tends to associate Sufism with mysticism but this is an instructional text on practical Sufism: it instructs the believer on how they can turn ordinary life into a continuous remembrance of God through discipline, love, and humility. To accomplish this Sufic ideal Izniki addressed all manner of everyday life; child rearing, marital life, control of emotions, disciplining the ego. etc. The text teaches that true Sufism does not demand withdrawal from society but rather a transformation of daily life into spiritual practice ? how to live as a lay Sufi while still being actively involved with one?s community. The author, Kutbeddin znikî, was a respected Naqshband scholar of znik (14th?15th c.), whose moral treatises were frequently printed in the 19th century. The Naqshband Order takes it name from that of its founder; Bah al-D n Naqshband al-Bukh r (1318?1389), from Bukhara (now Uzbekistan). It was is one of the oldest, most influential, and most ?sober? Sufi orders in the Islamic world and is sometimes referred to the ?Silent Sufism? as it emphasizes how do live properly within society and plays down the ecstatic and mystical forms of Sufism. While the Sufi movement originated in Iraq and Persia, in the 13th century, Anatolia {Turkey] became a major Sufi center, particularly through Jalal al-Din Rumi , founder of the Mevlevi (Whirling Dervish) order. But Sufism was dealt a near-death blow with the rise to power of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his obsessive desire to modernize Turkey and make it a secular country. In 1925 he enacted the Law on the Closure of Dervish Lodges, Tekkes, and Zawiyas, and the Prohibition of Titles Such as Sheikh, Dervish, and Caliph (Tekke ve Zaviyelerin Kapat?lmas? Hakk?nda Kanun). In practice this meant the closure all Sufi lodges, convents, and monasteries in Turkey, the confiscation their property (many buildings were converted into schools, museums, or government offices), the outlawing of all public Sufi ceremonies and the the banishment of all Sufi religious titles.