The centre of Islamic piety is the Prophet Mohammed whose perfection was eternal from pre-existence and who stands completely within God's grace. For the believers he occupies the most important role of intermediary between themselves and God. The Prophet's intercession is accepted, and through his intercession the believers hope their prayers will be heard and their wishes fulfilled. Invoking blessings on Mohammed is a means for attaining the effective help of the Prophet. Along with expressing thanks for the benefits mankind has received from Mohammed, it constitutes a preliminary to the...

The Romance of Mahsatī and Amīr Aḥmad - written in a mixture of prose and quatrains - deals with the adventures of the legendary Persian poetess and her lover, the son of the ḫatīb of Ganğa. The present volume completes Fritz Meier's former study on the Diwan of Mahsatī. An appendix contains the quatrains of the oldest dated manuscript of the romance, which at the time was not available to Meier. This contribution to Persian literary history includes valuable folklore material allowing new insight into medieval Iranian material culture and evaluates...