Edward Henry Palmer put together this work that was based on a Persian manuscript, Maksad i Aksá by Azíz bin Mohammed Nafasí. The work sheds some light on Sufis, a Islamic mysticism, which is often characterized as offering the internalization and intensification of Islamic faith.As a child, Palmer enjoyed the benefit of a private teacher, although he was sadly orphaned at a young age. He began a job as a clerk, but his love was always for learning languages and different cultures. He learned Romani culture and language, and then went on to learn French and Italian. Influenced by Sayyid Abdallah, a professor at Cambridge, and a new lease on life, having successfully recovered from tuberculosis, Palmer went on to study at St. John's College in 1863. Later, he worked on Persian, Turkish, and Arabic manuscripts held by the university.

Afterwards, he was asked to join a survey of the Middle East, including Sinai. He returned, wrote about the experience, married, sadly became widowed, became a professor, left and became writing for the Standard. In 1882, an opportunity came up to join an Egyptian expedition. Unfortunately, Palmer and his group were ambushed and murdered.