Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl
THE ASCENSION OF THE INTELLECTS Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame

Sayyid Murtaḍā Nawnahrawī Ghāzīpūrī

Considered to be greatest work by the South Asian sage Sayyid Muḥammad Murtaḍā al-Nawnahrawī Ghāzīpūrī (d. 1336/1917), Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame) is a comprehensive and recondite treatment of the issues relating to the Divine Attributes, presented in the form of a commentary on a well-known supplication of the first Shia Imām, ʿAli b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661), peace be upon him. Ghāzīpūrī was a scholar of singular erudition from Nawnahra, near Ghāzīpūr in Uttar Pradesh. Following his education at the Firangi Maḥall Seminary, Ghāzīpūrī went on to excel in the mystico-philosophical tradition of ḥikmah associated with Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1050/1641) and his teacher Mir Dāmād (d. 1041/1631). Although he never left British India during his lifetime, Ghāzīpūrī produced a masterpiece to equal any work of Arabic language and literature composed in the Muslim world, and one which demonstrates a superlative command of transcendent philosophy (al-ḥikmah al-mutaʿāliyah). Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl constitutes an extraordinarily learned summa of the Ṣadrian school, as well as a key engagement with the work of Mīr Damād, Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī (d. 587/1191), Sayyid Dildār ʿAlī Naṣīrābādī, also known as Ghufrān Maʾāb (d. 1235/1820), and the Ashʿarī and Muʿtazilī schools.

The second volume in the Shīʿah Heritage of South Asia Series, Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame) is a high-quality, digitally enhanced edition prepared by painstakingly clarifying and enlarging the first lithographic facsimile edition published in Kantur, Uttar Pradesh, in 1329/1914. Since its original publication, this profoundly important work was largely neglected and forgotten until meetings in the Summer of 2012 and the Spring of 2013, the latter at The Shīʿah Institute office in London, between the late trustee of The Shīʿah Institute, the Raja of Mahmudabad, Muhammad Amir Muhammad Khan (1943–2023), and the Dean of the Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi. The late Raja praised the project as a fine example of scholarship in the intellectual sciences, subsequently provided Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi with the original facsimile, and was eager to see a new edition of Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame) to preserve this heritage for posterity.

Through Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi’s efforts and expertise in initiating the Shīʿah Heritage of South Asia Series, and his close supervision of the preparation of this edition, Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame) offers an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers alike. This meticulous new edition will finally introduce this seminal theological, philosophical, and mystical work to the wider world of scholarship and grant it the audience it deserves. Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame) includes a foreword by Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, which mentions the importance and contribution of South Asian religious, literary, and architectural traditions to Islam and Shia intellectual history, as well as a preface by S. Rizvi, and an introduction by S. Ahmad.

Miʿrāj al-ʿUqūl Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Mashlūl (‘The Ascension of the Intellects: Commentary on the Supplication of the Lame’) is available to purchase, please email the institute to order your copy.

ISBN: 978-0-993-588-40-2 (Hardback)