Abū Bakr 'Abdollāh b. Moḥammad b. Šahāvar b. Anūšervān al-Rāzī commonly know by the laqab, or sobriquet, of Najm al-Dīn Dāya, meaning "wetnurse". Hamid Algar, translator of the Persian Merṣād to English, states the application of "wetnurse" to the author of the Merṣād derives from the idea of the initiate on the Path being a newborn infant who needs suckling to survive (573 AH/1177 - 654 AH/1256) was a 13th century Sufi Persian from Khwarezmia. Dāya followed the Sufi order, Kubrawiyya, established by one of his greatest influences, Najm al-Dīn Kubrā. Dāya traveled to Kārazm and soon became a morīd (pupil, one who follows the shaykh master and learns from him, undergoing spiritual training) of Najm al-Dīn Kubrā. Kubrā then appointed Shaikh Majd al-Dīn Bagdādī as the spiritual trainer who also became Dāya's biggest influence. Dāya constantly refers to al-Dīn Bagdādī as "our shaikh."

When his master, Najm al-Dīn Kubrā, was murdered in 618/1221, Dāya fled to Hamadan

Hamadan

-Culture:Hamadan is home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The city is also said to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.Handicrafts: Hamadan has always been well known for handicrafts like leather, ceramic, and beautiful carpets....

, then to Ardabil

Ardabil

Ardabil is a historical city in north-western Iran. The name Ardabil probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of "Artavil" which means a holy place. Ardabil is the center of Ardabil Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 412,669, in 102,818 families...

, and then to Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 where he finally settled with a fellow contemporary master Rumi.

There he put the teachings of his master Najmeddin Kubra

Najmeddin Kubra

Najmuddīn-e Kubrā or Najm al-Din Kubra, was a 13th-century Persian Sufi from Khwarezmia, the founder of the Kubrawiyya or Kubraviyah Sufi order, influential in the Ilkhanid and Timurid. His method, exemplary of a "golden age" of sufi metaphysics, was related to the Illuminism of Shahab al-Din...

 into a writing in Persian called Merṣād al-ʻebād men al-mabdāʼ elāʼl-maʻād (Persian: مرصاد العباد من المبدا الی المعاد) which is shortly known as Merṣād al-ʻebād, and has gained prominence as a major reference text on Sufism

Sufism

Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...

 and Islamic theology. The critical edition of Merṣād al-ʻebād by Mohammad-Amin Riahi

Mohammad-Amin Riahi

Mohammad-Amin Riahi was a prominent Iranian literary scholar of Persian literature, a historian, writer and statemens. Apart from being one of the authors of Dehkhoda Dictionary and Encyclopædia Iranica, he was the author and editor of several well-known scholarly books...

 was published in 1973 in Tehran and since then has been continued to be in print. This is a closely annotated scholarly edition, along with a comprehensive introduction on the life and works of Najmeddin Razi, which has been the major reference for later studies on Najmeddin Razi and Sufism. Merṣād al-ʻebād was translated by Hamid Algar into English as The Path of God's Bondsmen: From Origin to Return.

Biography

Najm al-Dīn Rāzī lived at a time when the Islamic Middle East was going through a turbulent period of its history, marked by may disruptions and calamities, culminating in the Mongol invasion. The Crusaders descended on the Islamic world from the west, and the Mongols from the east. But Rāzī, who like Ghazālī adhered to the Sunnite branch of Islam and followed the Ash'arite theology, focused his attention on the exploration and analysis of the visionary states experienced by the Sufis in the course of their mystical journey.

Dāya was born in Rey

Rey, Iran

Rey or Ray , also known as Rhages and formerly as Arsacia, is the capital of Rey County, Tehran Province, Iran, and is the oldest existing city in the province....

, then one of the major centers of urban life and culture in pre-Mongol Iran, in 1117. At the age of 26, Rāzī travelled through Syria, Egypt, Ḥejāz, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. He finally settled in Kārazm and soon become a morīd to Najm al-Dīn Kubrā, a mystical Sufi and founder of the Kubrawiyya Order. Rāzī wasthen tutored by Shaikh Majd al-Dīn Baḡdādī, who Rāzī often refers to as "our shaikh." Rāzī then flees Kārazm due to Kubrā’s prophecy of a Mongol invasion. Finally, Rāzī fled Rey as well, willingly abandoning his family to the Mongol invasion. Traveling via Hamadān, Erbīl, and Diyarbekir, he reached Kayseri in central Anatolia in Ramadān 618/October 1221. Thanks to Seljuq patronage, Anatolia was a center for the cultivation of Persian literature.

At Malatya

Malatya

Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...

, Razi met Shaikh Sehab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Omar al-Sohravardi, nephew of the founder of the Sohravardi order. In October 1221 he reached Kayseri

Kayseri

Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...

. He completed the Merad at Sivas in August 1223.

The Path of God's Bondsmen: From Origin to Return

The term Merṣād refers to the path from Qur'anic verse 89:14; "Verily thy Lord watches over the path". The divine vigilance implied here is generally taken as referring to God's omniscience of men's deeds, but it is plain that Dāya takes it in a slightly different sense, that of a protective and guarding vigilance. The second part of the title, men al-mabda' elā' l-ma'ād ("from origin to return") is to be found in the titles of many works that purport to treat in comprehensive fashion both cosmogony and eschatology and all that lies between.

The comprehensiveness promised in this title of the work is amply fulfilled in its text. It deals, in a systematic manner, with the origins of the various realms and orders of creation, prophethood and the different dimensions of religion, the ritual practices, mores, and institutions of Sufism, the destinations that await different classes of men in the hereafter, and the fashion in which different professions and trades may come to yield spiritual benefit and heavenly reward.

A particular virtue of the book is its clear demonstration of the Qur'anic origins of Sufism. The numerous quotations from the Qur'an are not to be regarded as mere ornament, nor even as scriptural proofs adduced in support of various statements. Rather, they bear witness to the fact that for Dāya, as for other Sufis, the Qur'an constitutes a well-structured , seamless, and coherent universe. The Qur'anic verses encountered throughout the book are the loom on which it is woven, a particular sense for each verse being implied by the context in which it occurs.

Another prominent feature of the book is the frequency with which it draws parallels between the inner and the outer worlds, particularly with references to processes of growth and development i.e. seed, tree, branch, fruit; the emergence of the hen from the egg. Dāya says in his commentary of the Qur'an, "Verily all that God created in the world of form has its like in the world of meaning; all that He created in the world of meaning- this being the hereafter- has its true essence in the world of reality, which is the uttermost unseen. Know too that of all that God created in all the worlds, a specimen and sample is present in man." It follows, then, that inner and unseen processes may be accurately described in terms of their outer counterparts.

The literary importance of the Merṣād is considerable: it ranks among the masterpieces of Persian literature, and certain sections - particularly the narrative of the creation and appointment of Adam - bear comparison with the best prose written in Persian. Dāya's choice of illustrative verses- both those of his own composition and those of his predecessors -is judicious, and makes of his work an incidental anthology of Sufi poetry, particularly quatrains.

Chapters

• First Part
  • First Chapter: The Utility of Composing This Work
  • Second Chapter: The Reason fro Writing the Book
  • Third Chapter:The Manner and Methond the Book is Written
• Second Part
  • First Chapter: The Creation of Spirits and the Degrees of Knowledge
  • Second Chapter: The World Of Dominion
  • Third Chapter: The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
  • Fourth Chapter: The Creation of the Human Frame
  • Fifth Chapter: The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
• Third Part
  • First Chapter: The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit
  • Second Chapter: The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
  • Third Chapter: The Need for Prophets
  • Fourth Chapter: The Abrogation of Previous Religions
  • Fifth Chapter: The Cultivation of the Human Frame
  • Sixth Chapter: The Refinement of the Soul
  • Seventh Chapter: The Purification of the Heart
  • Eight Chapter: The Adornment of the Spirit
  • Ninth Chapter: The Need for a Shaikh
  • Tenth Chapter: The Conditions and Attributes of the Shaikh
  • Eleventh Chapter: The Conditions, Attributes, and Customs of the Morīd
  • Twelfth Chapter: The Need for Zekr
  • Thirteenth Chapter: The Method of Zekr
  • Fourteenth Chapter: The Transmission of Zekr
  • Fifteenth Chapter: The Need for Seclusion
  • Sixteenth Chapter: Visions Deriving from the Unseen
  • Seventeenth Chapter: The Witnessing of Lights
  • Eighteenth Chapter: Manifestation of the Divine Essence
  • Twentieth Chapter: Attaining to the Divine Presence
• Fourth Part
  • First Chapter: The Return of the Oppressive Soul
  • Second Chapter: The Return of the Inspired Soul
  • Third Chapter: The Return of the Foremost Soul
  • Fourth Chapter: The Return of the Most Wretched Soul
• Fifth Part
  • First Chapter: The Wayfaring of Kings
  • Second Chapter: Kings and Their Conduct
  • Third Chapter: The Wayfaring of Minister and Deputies
  • Fourth Chapter: The Wayfaring of Different Classes of Scholar
  • Fifth Chapter: The Wayfaring of the Holders of Wealth
  • Sixth Chapter: The Wayfaring of Farmers
  • Seventh Chapter: They Wayfaring of Merchants
  • Eight Chapter: The Wayfaring of Tradesmen and Craftsmen

Other works

• His most famous was Merṣād al-'ebād men al-mabdā' elā'l-ma'ād or The Path of God's Bondsmen: From Origin to Return.
• Marmūzāt-e Asadī dar mazmūrāt-e Dā'ūdī or The Symbolic Expressions of Asadī Concerning the Psalms of David. Also known as the "special edition" of the Merṣād because it includes much of the same material while diminishing the strictly Sufi portion and expanding the section on kingly power.
• Dāya's own Arabic version of the Merṣād, Manārāt al-sā'erin elām'llāh wa maqāmāt al-ṭā'erīn be 'llāh or Light Towers for Those Voyaging to God. and the Stations of Those Plying with God.
• Tafsīr
  Tafsir
  Tafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
  
  al-Ta'wīlāt al-najmīya, Ayn al-ḥayāt, or Baḥr al-ḥaqā'eq.
• A brief allegory in Persian called Resālat al-ṭoyūr or Treatise of the Birds.
• Me'yār al-ṣedq fī meṣdāq al-'ešq or The Criterion of Veracity Concerning the Touchstone of Love.

Sources

• Najmeddin Razi, Merṣād al-ʻebād men al-mabdāʼ elāʼl-maʻād, Edited by Mohammad-Amin Riahi, (first published by Bongahe Tarjome va Nashre Ketab), Tehran, 1973
• Daya, Naim-al-Din in Encyclopædia Iranica by Mohammad-Amin Riahi http://www.iranica.com/articles/daya-najm-al-din
• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K