Ascertaining the attribution of some verses to Sheikh Bahā’i

Sheikh Bahā’I’s poetry has been in focus since his own time and some of his verses have been recorded in certain poets’ biographies and other references. However, the principal sources of the Sheikh’s actual poetry are his undisputable works, the most important being his Kashkool. The emending of the collection of the Sheikh’s poetical compositions that have been attempted several times during the recent decades, have hardly been executed according to critical methods, being thus of insignificant credibility. For identifying Sheikh Baha’i’s real poetry, if we set his Kashkool as our criterion, the status of a number of the verses ascribed to him will be clear in the best way possible, and will most probably be removed from his collected poems. Then, it is especially important that dealing with the Kashkool be in a critical manner and proceed with the study of the numerous manuscripts of this work. As no scholarly redaction of this valued work has hitherto been undertaken, for ascertaining the Sheikh’s poems, even those in his Kashkool, reference should be made to its old MSS. In the present study, some of the well-known poems ascribed to Sheikh Baha’i will be examined and their attribution to his determined.