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The thesis comprises a critical introduction and complete translation into English of the Chinese Buddhist text 'Chung-lun' (Middle Treatise), T. 1564, Kumärajiva's translation of a commentary on Nägärjuna's mülamadhyamakakarikä (Middle Stanzas) by Vimaläksa (or Pingala), dated 409AD. The translation consists of twenty-seven chapters corresponding to the divisions of the kärikä. The notes to the translation discuss ideas, arguments and allusions in the Treatise as well as textual issues and points of translation.

`Aziz Nasafi is among the most important Islamic mystics of the medieval period. His achievement was to integrate various ideas, including those of Ibn `Arabi and Najm al-Din Kubrä into a coherent whole, providing Persian speaking Sufis with an introduction to the speculative and practical dimensions of Sufism. This thesis is an attempt to present Nasafi's main teachings. After introducing his life, times and works, the second chapter focuses upon ontology. This is the spine of Nasafi's treatises and it is based upon the Sufi interpretation of God's incomparability and similarity (tanzih wa tashbih) and His infinite self-disclosure which occurs within a form processed by the imagination. The second chapter investigates the different forms of knowledge available to Sufis, which includes sense perception, reason and mystical knowledge. Nasafi's presentation depicts all three in a hierarchical structure with Sufi knowledge at the pinnacle. Having discussed the theoretical nature of Sufism, chapter four deals with the practical element of Sufism and how it is able to contribute to felicity in this life. Having followed the Sufi path, it is possible that a wayfarer may experience unity with God. This is examined in chapter five, and Nasafi's description is compared with that of other Sufis in an attempt to show his "orthodox" position within Sufism. It is also argued that modern models of mystical experience do not fit Nasafi's depiction of tashbih-tanzih, and that one also needs to re-think the idea of perennial philosophy. Finally, the perfection of man is considered through examining the relationship between Prophecy and Friendship of God. Sufis interpreted Friendship as the interior element of Prophecy and were able to offer new insights to Islamic doctrine.

This study examines the customs and origins of three spring festivals at the shrine of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan; namely Nauroz, Janda Bala and Gul-i Surkh. Since these festivals are not part of the Islamic religious calendar, we seek to locate their origins in the pre-Islamic religions of Iran and record the contemporary traditions of these festivals. Since the festivals are assimilated to a shrine dedicated to the fourth Caliph of Sunni Islam, we examine the processes which gave rise to this juxtaposition and how it came about that this shrine came to be considered a rival to Najaf. The Sa1juq and Timurid discovery narratives are examined (Chapters 1-2) in their wider religious and cultural context, followed by an examination of Afghan folklore related to Nauroz and the pre-Islamic religious traditions of Bactria (Chapters 3-4). We conclude that an important impetus for the founding of this shrine is the fact that, until the arrival of Islam, Bactra had been the paramount pilgrimage and cult centre of the region. Over the millennia, whilst the dominant religious tradition had changed, Bactra adapted to such ideological fluctuations in order to maintain its dominance of the. lucrative pilgrimage traffic. Marginalised by Islam, whose heroes and foci of pilgrimage lay in the Arab world, the alleged discovery of the body of Hazrat 'Ali at the site, provided an acceptable Islamic framework for the revival, or continuation, of indigenous Bactrian New Year customs. Our examination of Gul-i Surkh, or 'Red Rose', festival (chapters 5-6) finds a parallel in the Annenian Vardavar festival. Originally this festival appears to have been derived from a blending of Iranian and Babylonian religion in Bactria, namely the cults of Anahita, Adonistrammuz and custoins associated with the Iranian hero, Siyawush. Janda Bala (Chapter 7), on the other hand, appears to be rooted in ancient Vedic and Shamanistic tradition. All three festivals, though, we argue, also represent different aspects of ancient Indo-Aryan and Babylonian fertility rites connected with the spring and vernal equinox.

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