Lot 26 AN ILLUMINATED IJAZET ( CERTIFICATE) SCROLL, EGYPT AND DATED 1232 AH/1816 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 95 lines, written in black and red ink, with polychrome illumination at the head.
This Ijazat (teaching diploma) was conferred by Aḥmad al-Sawi al-Maliki al-Ḥanafawi al-Khalwati (1761–1825), a distinguished Egyptian scholar and Sufi of the Khalwati order. Al-Sawi pursued his studies at al-Azhar University, where he became a disciple of Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad al-Dardir al-Maliki, one of the foremost late jurists of the Maliki school of law. In the later years of his life, al-Sawi relocated to Madinat al-Ḥijrah (Medina), where he passed away.
The name of the recipient of this Ijazat has been erased, although traces of the original inscription remain faintly visible. The document certifies authorization to teach and to engage in Khilwa (“solitude”), a spiritual discipline of seclusion and meditation that requires initiation and guidance under a qualified master.
The text affirms that the teachers within this lineage are bound by both genealogical and spiritual connection to the Prophet Muḥammad. It includes a detailed chain of transmission (isnad), recording the succession of scholars through whom this knowledge was transmitted back to the Prophet, via ʿAli ibn Abi Ṭalib.
According to the document, al-Sawi received his teachings from Aḥmad al-Dardir al-ʿAdawi al-Maliki, who in turn studied under Muḥammad ibn Salim al-Ḥafanawi, who had himself been a disciple of Muṣṭafa al-Bakri, and so on through an unbroken chain extending to the Prophet.
Size: 22 by 120 cm.
Provenance: Private London family collection; formed between 1970-2008.