The Codicological Analysis of the Testament and the Mystical Teachings of Abdul Khaliq Ghajdwani, the Founder of Khajegan Mystical School

Abdul Khaliq, the famous mystic of the 12th century CE and the founder of Khajegan mystical school”, has written a testament to Khajeh Awliyah. Although several manuscripts of the testament are available, academia has not studied it in its researches and scholarly pursuits. The testament can be regarded as one of the oldest manuscripts about the characteristics of Khajegan mystical school, explaining the ethical principles of this mystical school in its founder's words. Unfortunately, numerous sources and catalogues are mistaken in attributing several works to Ghajdwani, and introducing the testament under inauthentic titles. These two mistakes result in wrongful parsing of the testament, and its introduction in a series of abridged, decontextualized and scattered works. Through studying various manuscripts of the testament, it becomes evident that some of the manuscripts have given either an abridged or annotated account of the original testament. Such manuscripts have both misled scholars to attribute ideas and concepts which did not belong originally to the testament in the first place, and bereft scholars of studying some of its redacted parts. Through its editions and corrections, the present study amends the common scholarly mistakes of the registered testament in numerous catalogues and sources. In order to achieve this objective and eliminate inauthentic attribution of unoriginal manuscripts to Ghajdwani, the study reviews the existing manuscripts of the testament, and analyzes their styles and contents.