ʿABD-AL-NABĪ B. QĀŻĪ ʿABD-AL-RASŪL ʿOṮMĀNĪ AḤMADNAGARĪ, 12th/18th century Gujerati scholar. Little is known about his life history, although he was allegedly affiliated with the discipline of the famous Šaṭṭārī saint and scholar, Shah Vaǰīh-al-dīn ʿAlavī. A number of books have been ascribed to him. Among those extant are: 1. Jāmeʿ al-gomūż manbaʿ al-foyūż, a Persian commentary, written in 1144/1731-32, on Ebn al-Ḥāǰeb’s Kāfīa. Several editions of it were published (2nd ed., Cawnpore, 1881; 4th ed., Cawnpore, 1896), and Mawlavī ʿAbd-al-Ḡanī published an Urdu translation (Cawnpore, 1298/1881). 2. The first fann of an encyclopedic work titled Dostūr al-ʿolamāʾ ǰāmeʿ al-ʿolūm, comprising a dictionary of Arabic terms. It was published at Hyderabad in 1329/1911. 3. Montaḵab-e tavārīḵ-e Baḥrī, an extract from another fann of the same comprehensive work, containing historical and geographical notices about the Deccan. A manuscript is preserved in the Royal Asiatic Society collection. Also attributed to ʿAbd-al-Nabī is a commentary, no longer extant, on the commentary of Tahḏīb-e Yazdī, possibly identical with the Šarḥ-e tahḏīb of Loṭfallāh b. Aḥmad Mohandes, which also is no longer extant (Marshall, Mughals in India, no. 1283, VIII).
Bibliography:
Storey, I, pp. 741-42.
Raḥmān ʿAlī, Taḏkera-ye ʿolamāʾ-e Hend, Lucknow, 1914, p. 135.
(M. Baqir)
Originally Published: December 15, 1982
Last Updated: July 14, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 131
M. Baqir, “'Abd-Al-Nabi Ahmadnagari,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 131; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-nabi-ahmadnagari-18th-century-gujerati-scholar (accessed on 16 January 2014).