[ARABIAN PENINSULA / PILGRIMAGE] Sharh al-maslak al-mutaqassit âlî al-mansak al-mutawassit شرح المسلك المتقصة علي المنسق المتوسط. [i.e. Description of the shortened path of the rites and routes of Hajj]

ALI AL-QÂRÎ (Nur ad-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Hirawi al-Qari), (?-1605), Matbaat al-Bahiyyat al-Amirah, [Cairo], [AH 1303] = 1887.

Complete title: Sharh al-Imam al-'âlim al-'allâmah al-habr al-bahr al-fahhâmah wahîd dahrihi wa-farîd 'asrihi Mullâ 'Alî Qârî al-musamma al-Maslak al-mutaqassit fî al-mansik al-mutawassit 'alâ Lubâb al-manâsik lil-Shaykh al-Imâm Rahmat Allâh al-Sindhî. Wa-bi-hâmishihi Kitâb Ad'iyat al-hajj wa-al-'umrah wa-mâ yata'allaqu bi-himâ.

Contemporary fine calf with traditional flap, decorative papers in flower design covered boards. 4to. (27,5 x 20 cm). In Arabic. 4, [1], 299 p. Framed text with second work of Al-Qârî on the margins.

Chipped extremities on the boards, cracked lines on the front panel, foxing on papers, several markings in red ink, and contemporary repair of a minimal tear on the last page; overall a good copy.

Complete title: Sharh al-Imam al-'âlim al-'allâmah al-habr al-bahr al-fahhâmah wahîd dahrihi wa-farîd 'asrihi Mullâ 'Alî Qârî al-musamma al-Maslak al-mutaqassit fî al-mansik al-mutawassit 'alâ Lubâb al-manâsik lil-Shaykh al-Imâm Rahmat Allâh al-Sindhî. Wa-bi-hâmishihi Kitâb Ad'iyat al-hajj wa-al-'umrah wa-mâ yata'allaqu bi-himâ.

Early Cairo edition of this exceedingly rare commentary to Al-Sindhi's celebrated book of the rites, routes, and ceremonies of Islamic pilgrimage (hajj) and the descriptions of Mecca, Medina, Haramayn, and Jerusalem with surrounding areas in the Arabian Peninsula and the Holy Land by Hanafi scholar Ali al-Qârî (known as Mulla), including a particular travel account by annotator and over whose medium-sized "Lubâb al-Manâsîk" in marginalia. Qârî traveled to Mecca and studied under the scholar Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Hajar al-Haytami Maqqî after he received his basic Islamic education in Herat. He decided to stay in Mecca where he taught, died, and was buried.

This book is a fundamental reference for the Islamic pilgrimage based on the Hanafi view. It consists of twenty-five bâbs [i.e. chapters] with over hundreds of fasls [i.e. subheads] describing complete Muslim pilgrimage rites from fiqh [i.e. Islamic law] with historical examples and Al-Qârî's travel account of Hajj.

Ali al-Qârî (?-1605) was a polymath Hanafî Islamic scholar. After being born in Herat and receiving his classic Islamic education at an early age, he traveled to Mecca and studied under the scholar Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Hajar al-Haytami Maqqî. He was "one of the forerunners of learning and the peerless scholar of his time, most remarkable in his analyses and elucidation of language" (Al-Muhibbî), and "the encyclopaedist of the sciences of transmission and reason, imbued with the Prophetic Sunna, one of the foremost erudite scholars and great memorizers [of hadith]" (Al-Shawkânî). He lived in Mecca until his death in the year 1014 (Al-Laknâwî), and was buried in al-Ma˒lât cemetery.

Haddad 13 & 55.; This edition is not located in OCLC. For the 1870/71 edition, we can trace seven copies in the US libraries according to the OCLC: 780208843. (Source: Mullâ ˒Alî b. Sulṭân al-Qâr'i and his Work: A Descriptive Bibliography., Haddad, Gibril Fouad).