British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

Sufi Symbolism: The Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia of Sufi Terminology (Farhang-E Nurbakhsh).Vol. II: Love, Lover, Beloved, Allusions and Metaphors by Javad NurbakhshReview by: Annemarie SchimmelBulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 16, No. 1 (1989), p. 106Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/195366 .

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wide range of subject-matter. Folk law, local poems and proverbs are recorded. There are accounts of the history and formation of the villages, local conflicts, the structure of families, the social life and the methods of agricultural production. For example, one sample from a man from Igdir, Melekli village, called Ekber (ankaya, tells how he cultivates sugar-beet: 'Pencer ekimi. Payizdan yollarin surerih. Trehdornen kotannan suruf hazirllyanh ... Cepe samani pancarl teh teh cepeliyereh su zamani pancanmizi suvaranh ...' One learns by reading this not only that a tractor is used for cultivation and hand labour is used to control weeds, but also how he sells the crop.

Despite the fact that this book follows the linguistic tradition of research based on historical analysis, it fails to exploit the interesting data gathered. However, the linguist does provide insights for sociologists and anthropologists and, in this case, for those interested in pursuing research in Kars.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY, BEHRUZ MORVARIDI MERSIN

SUFI SYMBOLISM: THE NURBAKHSH ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUFI TERMINOLOGY (FARHANG-E NURBAKHSH). Vol. II: LOVE, LOVER, BELOVED, ALLUSIONS AND METAPHORS. By JAVAD NURBAKHSH. London, Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications (distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul), 1987. 193pp.

We are happy to record the appearance of the second volume of the Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia in English, which is devoted to Love and all its corollaries, that is, it covers the most important aspect of Persian mystical poetry. As in the first volume, every concept is explained not only by verses from classical Persian poetry, but also by prose treatises, and even a scholar who has worked in this field for a long time will appreciate the subtle nuances of apparently synonymous words. The author begins, as appropriate in this context, with the concepts of 'seeking' and 'finding', and passes then to the degrees of Love and the terminology used for Lover and Beloved. It is interesting to note how some Arabic terms take on a new meaning in Persian, such as mawaddat, which, in classical Arabic love theories, was a rather sober expression while here it denotes 'ardent love'. In one or two cases one would have liked an even more detailed interpretation, e.g. for the term shahid, which, in its different aspects, offers so many difficulties to a translator who is not completely aware of its metaphysical roots, and has therefore contributed largely to a wrong understanding of Persian poetry. In the case of siydhru'i, 'shame-facedness' one could refer to its connection withfaqr, 'poverty' as mentioned in a hadlth.

Like the first volume, this one will be very helpful for all lovers of Persian and Persianate poetry. It is to be hoped that-once the series is completed-someone will undertake a phenomenological approach to the Sufis' way of seeing and symbolizing the world. We now eagerly await the next volumes of the Encyclopedia.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL CAMBRIDGE, USA

ARMENIAN ILLUMINATED GOSPEL-BOOKS. By V. NERSESSIAN. London, The British Library, 1987. xi, 100pp. Ill., map. ?14.95.

Dr Vrej Nersessian is the Curator for manuscripts and books of the Christian Middle East, in the Oriental Collections of the British Library. Among his many bibliographic works is the 1980 publication, again by the British Library, of the Catalogue of Early Armenian Books (1512-1850). The present work deals exclusively with those Armenian gospel manuscripts which are in the collection of the British Library and which contain full-paged and marginal illuminations. The book was accompanied by an exhibition and is, according to the work's preface by Albertine Gaur, 'but one of a long list of similar research projects which include work on an exhibition and a catalogue presenting the Christian Orient and a Union catalogue of Armenian manuscripts in the

wide range of subject-matter. Folk law, local poems and proverbs are recorded. There are accounts of the history and formation of the villages, local conflicts, the structure of families, the social life and the methods of agricultural production. For example, one sample from a man from Igdir, Melekli village, called Ekber (ankaya, tells how he cultivates sugar-beet: 'Pencer ekimi. Payizdan yollarin surerih. Trehdornen kotannan suruf hazirllyanh ... Cepe samani pancarl teh teh cepeliyereh su zamani pancanmizi suvaranh ...' One learns by reading this not only that a tractor is used for cultivation and hand labour is used to control weeds, but also how he sells the crop.

Despite the fact that this book follows the linguistic tradition of research based on historical analysis, it fails to exploit the interesting data gathered. However, the linguist does provide insights for sociologists and anthropologists and, in this case, for those interested in pursuing research in Kars.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY, BEHRUZ MORVARIDI MERSIN

SUFI SYMBOLISM: THE NURBAKHSH ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUFI TERMINOLOGY (FARHANG-E NURBAKHSH). Vol. II: LOVE, LOVER, BELOVED, ALLUSIONS AND METAPHORS. By JAVAD NURBAKHSH. London, Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications (distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul), 1987. 193pp.

We are happy to record the appearance of the second volume of the Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia in English, which is devoted to Love and all its corollaries, that is, it covers the most important aspect of Persian mystical poetry. As in the first volume, every concept is explained not only by verses from classical Persian poetry, but also by prose treatises, and even a scholar who has worked in this field for a long time will appreciate the subtle nuances of apparently synonymous words. The author begins, as appropriate in this context, with the concepts of 'seeking' and 'finding', and passes then to the degrees of Love and the terminology used for Lover and Beloved. It is interesting to note how some Arabic terms take on a new meaning in Persian, such as mawaddat, which, in classical Arabic love theories, was a rather sober expression while here it denotes 'ardent love'. In one or two cases one would have liked an even more detailed interpretation, e.g. for the term shahid, which, in its different aspects, offers so many difficulties to a translator who is not completely aware of its metaphysical roots, and has therefore contributed largely to a wrong understanding of Persian poetry. In the case of siydhru'i, 'shame-facedness' one could refer to its connection withfaqr, 'poverty' as mentioned in a hadlth.

Like the first volume, this one will be very helpful for all lovers of Persian and Persianate poetry. It is to be hoped that-once the series is completed-someone will undertake a phenomenological approach to the Sufis' way of seeing and symbolizing the world. We now eagerly await the next volumes of the Encyclopedia.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL CAMBRIDGE, USA

ARMENIAN ILLUMINATED GOSPEL-BOOKS. By V. NERSESSIAN. London, The British Library, 1987. xi, 100pp. Ill., map. ?14.95.

Dr Vrej Nersessian is the Curator for manuscripts and books of the Christian Middle East, in the Oriental Collections of the British Library. Among his many bibliographic works is the 1980 publication, again by the British Library, of the Catalogue of Early Armenian Books (1512-1850). The present work deals exclusively with those Armenian gospel manuscripts which are in the collection of the British Library and which contain full-paged and marginal illuminations. The book was accompanied by an exhibition and is, according to the work's preface by Albertine Gaur, 'but one of a long list of similar research projects which include work on an exhibition and a catalogue presenting the Christian Orient and a Union catalogue of Armenian manuscripts in the

wide range of subject-matter. Folk law, local poems and proverbs are recorded. There are accounts of the history and formation of the villages, local conflicts, the structure of families, the social life and the methods of agricultural production. For example, one sample from a man from Igdir, Melekli village, called Ekber (ankaya, tells how he cultivates sugar-beet: 'Pencer ekimi. Payizdan yollarin surerih. Trehdornen kotannan suruf hazirllyanh ... Cepe samani pancarl teh teh cepeliyereh su zamani pancanmizi suvaranh ...' One learns by reading this not only that a tractor is used for cultivation and hand labour is used to control weeds, but also how he sells the crop.

Despite the fact that this book follows the linguistic tradition of research based on historical analysis, it fails to exploit the interesting data gathered. However, the linguist does provide insights for sociologists and anthropologists and, in this case, for those interested in pursuing research in Kars.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY, BEHRUZ MORVARIDI MERSIN

SUFI SYMBOLISM: THE NURBAKHSH ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUFI TERMINOLOGY (FARHANG-E NURBAKHSH). Vol. II: LOVE, LOVER, BELOVED, ALLUSIONS AND METAPHORS. By JAVAD NURBAKHSH. London, Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications (distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul), 1987. 193pp.

We are happy to record the appearance of the second volume of the Nurbakhsh Encyclopedia in English, which is devoted to Love and all its corollaries, that is, it covers the most important aspect of Persian mystical poetry. As in the first volume, every concept is explained not only by verses from classical Persian poetry, but also by prose treatises, and even a scholar who has worked in this field for a long time will appreciate the subtle nuances of apparently synonymous words. The author begins, as appropriate in this context, with the concepts of 'seeking' and 'finding', and passes then to the degrees of Love and the terminology used for Lover and Beloved. It is interesting to note how some Arabic terms take on a new meaning in Persian, such as mawaddat, which, in classical Arabic love theories, was a rather sober expression while here it denotes 'ardent love'. In one or two cases one would have liked an even more detailed interpretation, e.g. for the term shahid, which, in its different aspects, offers so many difficulties to a translator who is not completely aware of its metaphysical roots, and has therefore contributed largely to a wrong understanding of Persian poetry. In the case of siydhru'i, 'shame-facedness' one could refer to its connection withfaqr, 'poverty' as mentioned in a hadlth.

Like the first volume, this one will be very helpful for all lovers of Persian and Persianate poetry. It is to be hoped that-once the series is completed-someone will undertake a phenomenological approach to the Sufis' way of seeing and symbolizing the world. We now eagerly await the next volumes of the Encyclopedia.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL CAMBRIDGE, USA

ARMENIAN ILLUMINATED GOSPEL-BOOKS. By V. NERSESSIAN. London, The British Library, 1987. xi, 100pp. Ill., map. ?14.95.

Dr Vrej Nersessian is the Curator for manuscripts and books of the Christian Middle East, in the Oriental Collections of the British Library. Among his many bibliographic works is the 1980 publication, again by the British Library, of the Catalogue of Early Armenian Books (1512-1850). The present work deals exclusively with those Armenian gospel manuscripts which are in the collection of the British Library and which contain full-paged and marginal illuminations. The book was accompanied by an exhibition and is, according to the work's preface by Albertine Gaur, 'but one of a long list of similar research projects which include work on an exhibition and a catalogue presenting the Christian Orient and a Union catalogue of Armenian manuscripts in the

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This content downloaded from 195.78.109.180 on Fri, 9 May 2014 18:06:16 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions