The author's preface to the glosses

Bism Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm

Ammā baʻda al-ḥamd li-walīhi wa-al-ṣalāh ʻalá nabīhi fa-innī lammā faraghtu min tahdhīb al-risālah al-mawsūmah bi-al-Zawrāʼ al-mushtamilah ʻalá nubadh min al-ḥaqāʼiq wa-zubad min al-daqāʼiq wa-hiya min khaṣāʼiṣ al-zamān idh qad iḥtawat ʻalá asrār lam takun makshūfat al-qināʻ ilá al-ān bal ʻalá abkār «lam yaṭmithhunna insun qablahum wa-lā jānn» wa-kānat mujmalah muʻḍalah yastaʻṣī ʻalá baʻḍ al-ṭālibīn abīyātuhā wa-yakhtafī ʻalá jull al-nāẓirīn khabīyātuhā iltamasa minnī baʻḍ al-ṣādiqīn fī al-ṭalab al-mutaḥallīn bi-daqāʼiq ḥusn al-adab mimman ḥamidtu sīratahu wa-dhakat sarīratuhu wa-tazakkat baṣīratuhu jaʻalahu Allāh ka-ismihi ʻAlīyan ʻalá marāq al-maʻālī wa-khallaṣahu najīyan ʻan al-ʻazāʼim al-qāṭiʻah ʻan al-ʻawālī an aktuba ʻalayhā ḥawāshī tarfaʻ ʻanhā al-ghawāshī fa-ajabtuhu ilá masʼūlihi wa-aʻantuhu ʻalá maʼmūlihi wa-iktafaytu bi-al-qadr al-ḍarūrī fī tafhīm mā fīhā wa-mā aqdamtu illā ʻalá sabīl al-nadrah ʻalá tafṣīl mā fī maṭāwīhā fa-inna dhālika khaṭb ʻaẓīm yastadʻī tawajjuhan al-atqā wa-tajarrudan fāʼiqan wa-ʻasá an yatayassara fī thānī al-ḥāl ʻalá farāgh al-bāl wa-sharaṭtu ʻalá nafsī fī tilka al-ḥawāshī ʻalá minwāl al-aṣl an aktafī bi-al-wāridāt al-jadīdah wa-lā ataʻaqqab al-mawrūdāt al-baʻīdah wa-Allāh al-hādī ilá sawāʼ al-ṭarīq wa-bi-yadihi azimmah min al-taḥqīq wa-huwa bi-taḥqīq rajāʼ al-rājīn ḥaqīq fa-awwal mā aqūl inna li-hādhihi al-risālah shaʼnan wa-huwa annī raʼaytu fī ẓāhir Dār al-Salām ʻalá qarīb min shāṭiʼ al-Zawrāʼ Amīr al-Muʼminīn wa-yaʻsūb al-muwaḥḥidīn ʻAlīyan raḍiya Allāh ʻanhu wa-karrama Allāh wajhahu fī mubashsharah ṭawīlah muḥaṣṣaluhā annahu karrama Allāh wajhahu kāna multafitan ilayya bi-naẓar al-ʻināyah wa-muʻtanīyan bi-shaʼnī bi-ṭarīq al-kilāyah fa-ṣāra dhālika bāʻithan lī ʻalá an uʻalliqa risālah maʻnūnah bi-ismihi al-ʻālī mutabarrikan bihi wa-atluwahā ʻalá rawḍatihi al-muqaddasah waqt al-tasharruf bi-ziyāratihi wa-al-iktiḥāl bi-dharūr turāb ʻatabatihi wa-kuntu mutaraddidan fī taʻyīn al-maqṣad fī tilka al-risālah fa-tāratan kuntu aʻzimu an aktubahā fī taḥqīq māhīyat al-ʻilm li-munāsabat qawl al-Nabī ʻalayhi al-salām «Anā madīnat al-ʻilm wa-ʻAlīyun bābuhā» wa-ukhrá yakhṭuru bi-bālī ghayr dhālika wa-lam yataʻayyan shayʼ min al-khawāṭir ilá an waffaqanī Allāh taʻālá li-al-istisʻād bi-lathm al-ʻatabah al-qudsīyah al-Ghazwīnīyah wa-al-mashhad al-muqaddas al-Ḥaydarī ʻalá al-Nabī wa-ʻalá sākinihā al-ṣalāh wa-al-salām thumma baʻd al-murājaʻah saʼalanī wāḥid min aṣḥābī al-mustaʻiddīn li-dark al-ḥaqāʼiq mimman kāna lahu dark rāʼiq wa-dhihn fāʼiq karīm al-shiyam wa-al-sajāyā ḥusn al-ism wa-al-musammá wa-qad kāna qaraʼa ʻalayya kitāb Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq li-al-Shaykh al-ajall wa-al-ḥakīm al-abjal Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī wa-kuntu uqarriru lahu athnāʼ mabāḥith hādhā al-kitāb ṭarafan min al-sawāniḥ wa-umlī ʻalayhi baʻḍan min al-lawāyiḥ an ajmaʻahā lahu fī risālah fa-ṣāra suʼāluhu bāʻithan li-al-iqdām ʻalá hādhihi al-risālah fa-ijtamaʻa maqāṣiduhā fī khāṭirī fī aqrab min sāʻah wa-kuntu dhāhilan ʻan al-qaṣd al-awwal ilá an atmamtuhā fa-lammā naẓartu fīhā baʻd al-tamām wajadtuhā bi-ʻaynihā hiya allatī kānat turām fa-tayaqqantu anna nafaḥāt al-imdād