Ɵ Ignatius of Loyola, Kitab al-Riyadat al-Ruhiya ..., manuscript on paper [Jerusalem, 1703 AD]

Ɵ Ignatius of Loyola, Kitab al-Riyadat al-Ruhiya ... (The Spiritual Excercises of Ignatius of Loyola), translated from the Latin original Exercitia Spiritualia into Arabic, decorated manuscript on paper [Jerusalem, dated 10 August 1703 AD]single volume, 170 leaves, apparently complete, single column, 17 lines cursive naskh with headings in red, a few scattered spots and stains, some faint finger-soiling, overall clean and presentable condition, 145 by 90 mm.; contemporary leather over pasteboards, covers tooled in blind, spine with raised bands, spine ends worn, covers rubbedIgnatius of Loyola (1491-1556 AD) was a Spanish Basque Catholic priest who co-founded the Jesuit Order. He is best known for producing this treatise, the Spiritual Exercises, a practical text containing meditations, prayers and mental exercises for the reader, originally in Spanish, but then translated into Latin for the first edition published in 1548 (during the author's lifetime). The present Arabic translation was presumably produced for an itinerant Jesuit resident in the Holy Land, who used it during his attempts to convert Muslims there, hence its small pocket-sized format. Other Jesuit translations of this work into Arabic are recorded throughout the eighteenth century, and the Maronite author Gabriel Farhat (1670-1732) also composed an Arabic spiritual handbook based on Ignatius' work.