Hidden Lantern
← Back to catalog
The Kashf al-Maḥjúb cover

The Kashf al-Maḥjúb

The Oldest Persian Treatise on Ṣúfiism
Ali al-Hujwiri
Translated by R. A. NicholsonOriginal translation published 1911425 pages

Al-Hujwiri's 11th-century treatise surveys the early masters of Sufism, their doctrines, and their sayings, including extensive material on Al-Junayd of Baghdad, whose own writings have no public-domain English translation. Until Hidden Lantern can commission an original translation of Al-Junayd's letters, this is the most authoritative public-domain window into his teaching.

Get this book

The complete text is free to read online. Print and ebook editions are newly typeset, with corrected text and linked notes.

Read it freePaperback $24.99Kindle $2.99Ebook $2.99

Ebook includes EPUB and PDF. For Kindle, send the EPUB with Amazon's free Send to Kindle tool.

Public domain in the US (published 1911). Source text: Project Gutenberg #64786. Source

About this edition

This Hidden Lantern edition of The Kashf al-Maḥjúb is set from R. A. Nicholson’s translation, re-typeset for readability with corrected text, modernised layout, and endnotes linked in the digital editions. It runs to 425 pages in print.

Reynold A. Nicholson (1868–1945) was Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge and the most influential English translator of Sufi literature of his generation. His editions remain standard reference points a century later.

Contents

All 29 sections are free to read online, in full, with no signup.

  1. About This Edition
  2. Translator's Preface
  3. Author's Introduction
  4. Chapter I ON THE AFFIRMATION OF KNOWLEDGE
  5. Chapter II ON POVERTY
  6. Chapter III ON ṢÚFIISM
  7. Chapter IV ON THE WEARING OF PATCHED FROCKS ( Muraqqa`át )
  8. Chapter V ON THE DIFFERENT OPINIONS HELD CONCERNING POVERTY AND PURITY
  9. Chapter VI ON BLAME ( Malámat )
  10. Chapter VII CONCERNING THEIR IMÁMS WHO BELONGED TO THE COMPANIONS
  11. Chapter VIII CONCERNING THEIR IMÁMS WHO BELONGED TO THE HOUSE OF THE PROPHET 1. ḤASAN B. `ALÍ.
  12. Chapter IX CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF THE VERANDA ( Ahl-i Ṣuffa )
  13. Chapter X CONCERNING THEIR IMÁMS WHO BELONGED TO THE FOLLOWERS ( al-Tábi`ún ) 1. UWAYS AL-QARANÍ.
  14. Chapter XI CONCERNING THEIR IMÁMS WHO LIVED SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE FOLLOWERS ( al-Tábi`ún ) DOWN TO OUR DAY 1. ḤABÍB AL-`AJAMÍ.
  15. Chapter XII CONCERNING THE PRINCIPAL ṢÚFÍS OF RECENT TIMES
  16. Chapter XIII A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE MODERN ṢÚFÍS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
  17. Chapter XIV CONCERNING THE DOCTRINES HELD BY THE DIFFERENT SECTS OF ṢÚFÍS
  18. Chapter XV THE UNCOVERING OF THE FIRST VEIL: CONCERNING THE GNOSIS OF GOD ( ma`rifat Allah )
  19. Chapter XVI THE UNCOVERING OF THE SECOND VEIL: CONCERNING UNIFICATION ( tawḥíd )
  20. Chapter XVII THE UNCOVERING OF THE THIRD VEIL: CONCERNING FAITH ( ímán )
  21. Chapter XVIII THE UNCOVERING OF THE FOURTH VEIL: CONCERNING PURIFICATION FROM FOULNESS
  22. Chapter XIX THE UNCOVERING OF THE FIFTH VEIL: CONCERNING PRAYER ( al-ṣalát )
  23. Chapter XX THE UNCOVERING OF THE SIXTH VEIL: CONCERNING ALMS ( al-zakát )
  24. Chapter XXI THE UNCOVERING OF THE SEVENTH VEIL: ON FASTING ( al-ṣawm )
  25. Chapter XXII THE UNCOVERING OF THE EIGHTH VEIL: CONCERNING THE PILGRIMAGE
  26. Chapter XXIII THE UNCOVERING OF THE NINTH VEIL: CONCERNING COMPANIONSHIP, TOGETHER WITH ITS RULES AND PRINCIPLES
  27. Chapter XXIV THE UNCOVERING OF THE TENTH VEIL: EXPLAINING THEIR PHRASEOLOGY AND THE DEFINITIONS OF THEIR TERMS AND THE VERITIES OF THE IDEAS WHICH ARE SIGNIFIED
  28. Chapter XXV THE UNCOVERING OF THE ELEVENTH VEIL: CONCERNING AUDITION ( samá` )
  29. Notes

Start reading