"A Lantern for the Soul": a Translation and Study of Quṭb al-Dīn Nayrīzī’s Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-ṣabāḥ
This article offers an English translation of a Persian commentary (sharḥ) on a Shiʿi supplication (duʿāʾ) by Sayyid Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad Nayrīzī, thirty-second leader of the Shiʿi-Sufi Ẕahabiyya order. Nayrīzī’s commentary on "The Morning Supplication" (Duʿāʾ al-ṣabāḥ), traditionally attr...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal of Sufi studies
Year: 2025, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 217-267 |
| Further subjects: | B
supplication (duʿāʾ)
B Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad Nayrīzī B Sufism B Ẕahabiyya B Shiʿism B commentaries (sharḥ) |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article offers an English translation of a Persian commentary (sharḥ) on a Shiʿi supplication (duʿāʾ) by Sayyid Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad Nayrīzī, thirty-second leader of the Shiʿi-Sufi Ẕahabiyya order. Nayrīzī’s commentary on "The Morning Supplication" (Duʿāʾ al-ṣabāḥ), traditionally attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, recasts the Arabic text into a sequence of Persian quatrains, retaining its sacred authority while giving it new life in the poetic and didactic world of Persian verse. I begin with an overview of Nayrīzī’s background and influences before examining the main themes of his commentary. I then explore how core Sufi concerns - above all the supplicant’s absolute dependence on God’s mercy - are woven into an established genre of Shiʿi devotion. For Nayrīzī, duʿāʾ is a "door of entreaty," a portal to mercy and a bulwark against the caprice of the self. In his verses, prayerful utterance and mystical insight converge to convey a devotional vision grounded in the sanctified speech of a Shiʿi Imam. Supplication commentaries such as this thus function as acts of theological reflection and as poetic works that heighten the emotional and aesthetic registers of Islamic piety. |
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| ISSN: | 2210-5956 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Sufi studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22105956-bja10044 |
