A critique of the translation of the Resale-ye Qoshairiyeh

Al-Resalat ila al-Sufiya or Resale-ye Qoshairiye by Abu al-Qasem Qoshairi
(d. 465/1073)¡ is one of the most important Arabic works in the domain of Islamic scholastic Sufism¡ written in the 5th/11th century. Shortly after its compilation¡ it was translated into Persian¡ thus enabling Persian speaking community often to learn about Qoshairi’s thoughts from an early time up until now.
The authors of the present article have endeavored to assess the degree of precision and accuracy of this old translation by comparing it with its Arabic original. This assessment has been administered by a line-by-line comparison of the first chapter of the old translation against its Arabic original. The study concludes that the old translation suffers from very many imperfections¡ and that the scholars can hardly do without consulting the Arabic original of the Resaheh. Therefore¡ it all points to the necessity of correcting the old translation or doing a new rendering of the Resaleh-ye Qoshairiyeh.