Arabic MS 232 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Arabic Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Commentary by Aḥmad ibn Abī Saʿīd Ǧīwan the a 13th-century Islamic legal work Manār al-Anwār by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad Nasafī, copied in India in 1224 AH (1809 CE).

Author: Aḥmad ibn Abī Saʿīd Ǧīwan أحمد بن علي سعيد جيون

Title: Nūr al-anwār fī sharḥ al-manār

Title: نور الانوار في شرح المنار

Title: Light of Lights in a Commentary on the Manār

Commentary on the Manār ul-Anwār.

The work was composed in 1105 AH (1693 CE) and the author died in 1130 AH (1718 CE). The date of the composition, the place, and the author of the work are found in a note on folio 210a, from line 12: يقول العبد المفقر الئ الله الشيخ احمد المدعو يشيخ جيون بن ابي سعد بن عبدالله بن عبد الرزاق بن خاصة الحنفي المكي الصالحي ثم الهندوي وقد فرغت من تسويد نور الانوار في شرح المنار في التاريخ السابع من شهر جمادي الاول في سنة الف ومائة وخمس من هحرة النبي صلعم في الحرم الشريف المدينة المنورة والبلدة المطهرة وكان ابتباءه في غرة شهر المولد من ربيع الاول في السنة المذكورة في مدة كان عمري ثمانية وخمسين سنة.

The commentary comprises all the text in clauses and has no headings. The sentences explained are overlined in red.

Colophon at the end of the manuscript on folio 210b gives the date Shawwal 1224 AH (November/December 1809) but does not mention the name of the copyist.

Incipit: الحمد لله الذى جعل اصول الفقه منبى الشرايع والاحكام واساسا لعلم الحلال والحرام ... وبعد فلما كان كتاب المنار اواخر كتب الاصول ... وسميته كتاب نور المنار في شرح المنار

Explicit: اللهم ادخلني في زمرة الشهداء واسلكني في عدة السعداء يوم لا ينفع مال ولا بنون الخ

Colophon: شهر شوال سنة ٤٢٢١ هجرية.

Language(s): Arabic

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Paper

Extent: 210 folios (ii+210+ii)

Dimensions (leaf): 240 × 150 mm.

Dimensions (written): 165 × 75 mm.

Foliation: Foliation in Eastern Arabic numerals in ink, most probably by the scribe.

Collation

Catchword on every verso.

Condition

Very tight binding. Last few pages (from folio 193 on) are almost detached from collation. Worm damage, historic repairs.

Layout

Uniform layout; broad margins.

Hand(s)

Indian Naskh script.

Binding

Red leather binding; gold-tooled edges and floral centrepiece.

Seal(s):

Three library seals of the kings of Awadh (Oudh), intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, impressed in vermillion ink.

1: Rectangular seal of the library of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh:

خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴

Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244 (The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244).

17 × 37 mm.

2: Rectangular seal surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847) dated 1260 AH (1844–45 CE):

ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠

Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260 (Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260).

53 × 45 mm.

3: Rectangular seal surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh, of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (1822–1887), King of Awadh (r. 1847–1856) dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):

خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲

Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262 (‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’).

41 × 26 mm.

History

Origin: It was produced in the 1224 AH (1809 CE) in ; India.

Provenance and Acquisition

Folio 1a: three large red rectangular seals (see description above) and a smaller black rectangular seal with the note تحویل (delivered) above. The latter bears the name ‘Ḥusain’ and dated 1230 AH (1814 CE).

Folio 210b: the same three large red rectangular seals as on folio 1a.

Previously in the collection of Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner of Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum selected 352, now held in the British Library; his ownership inscription on flyleaf ia: كرنيل جارج وليم هملتن صاحب بهادر and description of the contents: جلد اول قانون في الامور الكلية من علم الطب. His label on back paste-down: Hamilton MSS 27

Formerly in the collection of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) Crawford, Alexander Crawford Lindsay, 1812-1880. His bookplate on back paste-down: Bibliotheca Lindesiana 3/F

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) Rylands, Enriqueta, 1843–1908 in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913) Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847–1913 .

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, for the John Rylands Library.

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to John Rylands Library.

Record Sources

Catalogue information compiled by Abdullah al-Rashidi from Alphonse Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester University Press, 1934. Revised and expanded by Zsófia Buda. Description of seals was prepared by Dr Jake Benson.

Availability

The item is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Using Special Collections at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

For further information on the availability of the item, please contact the Special Collections Reader Services.

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