An illustrated manuscript page on thin paper, with fabulous header, Chapter heading and decorative gold floral border, copied in AD1600, from the Mathnawi by Jalal al-Din Rumi, a great Sufi Muslim poets. The Mathnawi (Arabic: مثنوي mathnawī) or masnavi (Persian: مثنوی Mas̲navī), is regarded as the greatest and most influential poetic work of muslim mysticism, taking Rumi 25 years to dictate, although the 6th and final book was never completed before he died. It was composed for the benefit of a group of Rumi’s disciples in the Sufi order better known as the whirling dervishes. The Mathnawi (or Masnavi as it is often referred to) is a series of six books of poetry that together amount to around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines. It is poetic text derived from the Quran that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God. This wonderful folio, is divided into 3 distict sections. The illuminated header and Surat in White Thuluth; a middle section of 12 lines of script in nasta'liq (miniature form) black ink, pillowed by gold clouds; and a lower section divided into 4 columns of script, all set within a highly decorative arabesque floral gold border with commentary in the right hand margins. There is some damage to the bottom right corner of the manuscript and to the frame of the illuminated headpiece (see image 2i) but this has been structurally repaired with archival paper on the rear of the manuscript. However, if mounted and framed you would not see many of the repairs of this pleasing piece. Please note that shipping costs are not solely the cost of the postal delivery service itself. Included within the shipping price is the work undertaken to prepare the article, for photography, for uploading to Catawiki, for preparation and packaging the article securely and for transporting the article to the postal delivery agent for processing. Please consider when bidding on this lot that this artwork is shipped from the UK. Import duties will now have to be paid by the recipient to the Postal Service when the parcel arrives in your country. This will likely vary between 5% and 20% of the sale price depending on your country's Import Rate. This is a Tax collected on behalf of your Government and is not an additional delivery fee charged by me.