Persian Sufiism

The following is a translation of the preface to the late Professor Zhukovsky's edition of the Persian text of Hujwīrī's Kashf al-Maḥjū b, which was published posthumously in Leningrad in 1926. Professor Zhukovsky was already at work on this critical edition when Professor R. A. Nicholson brought out his well-known translation (Gibb Memorial Series, vol. xvii, 1911) which was based on the Lahore edition of 1903. This translation was also provided with an admirable introduction, but seeing that it is out of print and that Zhukovsky's work is inaccessible to those who do not know Russian, the editor thinks he will be rendering a service to students of Persian Ṣūfḥsm in publishing an English translation of Zhukovsky's preface. The translation, which has been made by Mr. Sidney Jerrold, contains only the literary portions of the Russian original. A considerable amount of textual criticism and discussion of sources have been omitted as being of no interest to those who have not the text before them.