(fols. 8–16), which is not in the copyist’s hand. The manuscript also has omissions: two sheets are missing after fol. 12.
It extends from the beginning of the book to the words: “Thus, the prescribed limits were revealed to confirm them, not to abolish them. Allah knows best.” This corresponds to (p. 337) of the third volume of our edition. This indicates that the manuscript originally comprised three volumes. It was copied in 766 AH, as the copyist states at the end of the first part.
It is a good manuscript, although omissions occur in places because the copyist’s eye skipped passages and for other reasons. Termites have also eaten away its edges, causing the loss of some words in the lines at the top of certain pages. Poor photographic reproduction has also left some pages too faint to read.
Its text generally agrees with that of the Egyptian manuscript (م) and the Rabat manuscript (ب), though it sometimes differs from both.
- The Bayezid manuscript (ز)
It originally comprised four parts, of which the last three have been located. These extend from the beginning of “Section on his guidance concerning jihad and military expeditions”—the beginning of the third volume of our edition—to the end of the book. They are preserved in the Waliyy al-Dīn Library, within the Bayezid Public Library, under shelfmarks (878, 879, 880).
The title page of the second part bears the inscription: “The second part of Zād al-Ma‘ād fī Hady Khayr al-‘Ibād (Provisions for the Hereafter in the Guidance of the Best of Servants), peace and blessings be upon him, also called al-Hady (The Guidance), by Shaykh Shams al-Dīn Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah Most High encompass him with His mercy. Amen.”