The study and edition of Alā’ al-Dawla Simnānī's Risāla-yi Dhikr-i Khafī

‘Alā’ al-Dawla Simnānī has a treatise entitled Bayān dhikr al-khafī al-mustajlib li-l-ajr al-wafī, in which, in addition to thoroughly delineating the superiority of inaudible recollection over audible dhikr as the primary topic, he has also briefly discussed certain other issues related to some other Sufi practices. Both on account of the centrality of the concept of dhikr in the mystical thought of ‘Alā’ al-Dawla as well as the Kubrawīyya as a whole, and from the standpoint of the significant differences between the Kubrawīyya and some other Central Asian orders of Simnānī's time in terms of the manner of performing Sufi dhikr,this treatise is worthy of serious attention and adequate investigation.At least five manuscripts of Simnānī's Dhikr-i khafīhave so far been identified in various MS depositories around the world. Additionally, there is also a mention of another witness of this work in the catalogue of the University of Tehran's Library which, based on our research, has nothing to do with Simnānī's Dhikr-i khafī,but is in fact a copy of Sayyid Muḥammad Nūrbakhsh’s Risāla-yi nūrīyya.In the present article, after outlining some brief points concerning the contents and the attribution of this treatise, we have offered an edition of the text established based on the oldest extant manuscript and two other witnesses of the work.