Gulshan-i tawḥīd

Tauhid (the belief in the unity of God) is a central tenet of Islam that also serves as one of the main inspirations of the Masnavi (The spiritual couplets) of Maulana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-73). This principle also appears in the title of Ibrahim Shahidi Dadah's book Gulshan-i Tauḥīd (Garden of Unitarianism), a work that was inspired by Rumi's well-loved Masnavi. Shahidi Dadah (died 1550 or 1551) was born in Mughlah (Muğla, present-day Turkey) and was a Sufi of the MaulawI, or Mevlevi, order. In Gulshan-i Tauḥīd, Dadah chose from the 25,000 verses of the Masnavi 600 verses and appended to each of them five of his own verses, inspired by and amplifying the original. He completed this work in 937 AH (1530-31). The work has had at least one modern printing (Istanbul, 1881). The manuscript copy presented here was completed in 1233 AH (1817-18), probably in Afghanistan. Each Rumi original verse appears in red ink, followed by the Shahidi Dadah verses in black. The copyist has signed his name as Mir ʻAzim ibn Mulla Muhammad Rajab Balkhi. The manuscript is written in a nastaʻliq script on a light-cream paper. World Digital Library. Versified criticism and interpretation of the classical Mas̲navī of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī.