Direct and indirect sources in Osman Yahya’s catalogue

Osman Yahya based his classification on different sources, divided into direct and indirect sources. The direct sources are Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi’s own books, foremost among them the Fihrist and Ijaza mentioned above, together with references in his other works. The indirect sources are earlier studies and articles on the subject, particularly those of Brockelmann, Sarkis Awwad, Tahir Rifaat, al-Safayihi and others. These were supplemented by his painstaking research in manuscript collections and their catalogues. He examined many manuscripts and attached critical notes to each work concerning its subject, its catalogue numbers in libraries of the East and West, the audition records entered on it, and the dates of its composition and copying.