Mahmud ibn 'Ali al-Sarai

Maḥmūd ibn ʿAlī al-Sarāī was a fourteenth-century CE scholar, known from one of the main surviving works composed in Khwārazm Turkish. This was entitled نهج الفراديس (Nahjatü l-farādīs), is known in Turkish today as Nehcü’l-ferâdîs or Nehcü'l-feradis, and has also been known as Fezâilü’l-mu‘cizât. This appears to have been composed in 1358 and is similar in both language and content to the more widely attested Qiṣaṣ-i Rabghūzī by Nāṣir al-Dīn Rabghūzī. The text contains four sections, each divided into ten chapters. The first section describes the life of Muḥammad; the second gives information about founding figures of Islam, including four caliphs and Fāṭima; the thirds discusses good deeds; and the fourth discusses bad deeds. As of 2006, over ten manuscripts were known.

Editions of the Nahjatü l-farādīs

 * Nehcü’l-ferdis (tıpkıbasım), ed. by János Eckmann (Ankara 1956). Facsimile of a manuscript of the text. The introduction promises further volumes, but none appeared.