[RARE BOMBAY EDITION OF YOUSSEF AND ZULEIKHA] يوسف وزليخا / Yusef wa Zulaikha [i.e., Youssef and Zuleikha]

JAMI, MOLLA MAWLÂNÂ NUR AL-DÎN ‘ABD AL-RAHMÂN (1414-1492).

Matbaa-yi Haydârî wa Safârî on behalf of Sheikh Nureddin b. Jiwahan, Bombay, 30 Cemaziyelevvel 1301 = [March 1884].

Contemporary quarter black morocco. Five raised bands to the spine, title and decorations gilded to the compartments. Large roy. 8vo. (25 x 18 cm). In Persian. 230 p. Repaired spine skilfully, a small period label written on “684” in Arabic numbers on the spine. Minor stains on some pages and marginalia and underlined couplets in red ink at the very beginning of the text. Overall, a very good copy.

Lithographed edition. Early Bombay edition in Persian, of the story of Yousuf and Zuleikha, which forms the medieval Islamic version of the narrative of the prophet Yousuf and Potiphar's wife. Developed primarily from the account in Sura twelve of the Qur'an, a distinct story of Yousuf and Zuleikha seems to have developed in Persia around the tenth century CE.

The fine nasta’liq text is given in quatrains in two columns which is specific to Islamic mathnawis besides in very calligraphic marginalia. These texts in margins are also usually spread across two different columns throughout the book.

In 1483 AD, the renowned poet Jami wrote his interpretation of the allegorical romance and religious texts of Yousuf and Zuleikha. It became a classic example and the most famous version of the Sufi interpretation of Qur’anic narrative material. Jami's example shows how a religious community takes a story from a sacred text and appropriates it in a religious-socio-cultural setting that is different from the original version. Therefore, it is known as a masterpiece of Sufi mystical poetry.

Jami's adaptation of the famous tale served as a model for many writers across Asia and resonated with the story of Yousuf and Zuleikha, as Islam continued to spread in the continent.

As of April 2024, we couldn’t trace any copies in OCLC and KVK.