New edition of Maḥāsin al-maŷālis by Ibn al-‘Arīf

Abstract

In 1933 Asín Palacios published a first edition of Maḥāsin al-majālis (Excellencies of the sessions) by the Almeria Sufi Ibn al-‘Arīf. This work deserves to be republished. It can be noted that the editor did not rely on the manuscript closest to the author's time, giving more preference to the longer document as the basis of his critical text. This new edition of the consulted manuscripts presented here is more rigorous, reliable and closer to the author's ideal. It responds, in fact, to the need to correct the defects of the previous edition and other less successful attempts, and to publish Maḥāsin in accordance with the reality of the text handled by medieval scholars. Therefore, we have turned to the oldest manuscript, in addition to the Sufi commentators which serve as essential support for the determination of the text. Furthermore, the critical apparatus does not only consider the variants presented by the manuscripts as reflected in previous editions, but also their different religious, mystical and literary sources.