Vol.1 (al-nisf al-awwal)

The first volume of a well known anthology of Ismaili literature. It includes: (1) Extracts on the allegorical meaning of the salat form the Majalis [cat. no. 76] by al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi  and from Kitab al-Mas’ala wa’l-jawab. (2) Quotations from the works of al-Qadi al-Nu‘man. (3) Extracts from al-Shawahid wa’l-bayan [cat. no.153] by Ja‘far b. Mansur al-Yaman. (4) Texts on the esoteric interpretation of the basmala and the shahada. (5) Extracts from Risalat Tarkib al-jasad.  (6) Extracts from the Rasa’il of the Ikhwan al-Safa’. (7) Risala fi’l-radd by the 5th/11th century da‘i  Shahriyar b. al-Hasan. (8) Risalat al-Matbakh by Muhammad b. ‘Ali b. Abi Yazid who lived at the time of the Imam-caliph al-Åmir. (9) Risala fi ma‘rifat al-awjudat by al-Dhu‘ayb b. Musa al-Wadi‘i. (10) Risalat al-Mabahith al-tis‘a. (11) Risalat Mulhiqat al-adhhan by ‘Ali b. Muhammad b. al-Walid. (12) Risalat Tuhfat al-talib by ‘Ali b. al-Husayn b. al-Walid. The anthology also contains short works by al-Harithi himself like Risalat al-Jawharayn, Kalam fi’l-tarbiya, a treatise quoting the letter sent by  al-Åmir to the Sulayhid al-Sayyida al-Hurra (d.532/1138) in Yemen, announcing the birth of al-Tayyib and Risalat al-Mabahith. Miscellaneous material includes works on God, designation of the imams, soul and body, eschatology, value of education, the esoteric meaning of the pillars of Islam and legal matters, and Greek philosophy.