Correction of Some Errors in the First Turn of the Holy Qur'an in Kashf al-Asrār wa 'Uddat al-Abrār (With an Examination of Evidence from Volume III)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Professor of Persian Language and Literature at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz،Ahvaz،iran.

2 Ph.D. student of Persian language and literature at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz،Ahvaz، Iran.

Abstract

The first-stage Persian translation of Kashf al-Asrār — originally a revised version of an early translation and commentary attributed to Khwāja ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī—constitutes one of the earliest Persian translation-commentaries of the Qur’an. From a linguistic typology perspective, this translation belongs to the Heravi dialectal tradition. In his redaction of the work, Maybudī preserved most of the archaic features of his source manuscript. Accordingly, the text examined in this study, following the Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, treatises and extant manuscripts of Anṣārī’s exegesis, represents the fourth most significant and complete source for the study of the Heravi variety. Alī-Asghar Ḥekmat (and in the third volume in collaboration with Ja'far Sho’ar) prepared the first—and so far the only—critical edition of this work between 1952 and 1960 (1331–1339 SH), which resulted in ten volumes. Despite the editor’s substantial efforts, the edition contains numerous minor and major inaccuracies due to the textual-critical limitations of that period, the vastness of the text, typographical and printing issues, and the dispersed nature of the available manuscripts of Kashf al-Asrār.The authors of the present article seek to correct certain definite errors made by the editor in the first Persian translation stage, with a particular focus on the third volume of the work. These errors, amounting to twenty-seven cases, generally stem from the editor’s inattention to his base manuscript or from typographical and inadvertent mistakes that have subsequently found their way into other sources as well.

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Main Subjects

Textual Criticism of Persian Literature

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 28 January 2026

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