Arabic MS 840 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Arabic Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: A richly illuminated Ottoman collection of Qurʼānic suras, prayers and passages of popular religious interest, including tables of holy names and illustrations of the Ka'ba and the Prophet's tomb. It is of Turkish origin, with a typical Muṣḥaf-style flapped binding.
Title: Anʿām-i sharīf
Title: انعام شريف
Title: Mecmū'a
Title: مجموعه
Language(s): Arabic and Turkish
1b-61a
Title: A selection of Qur'anic suras
Language(s): Arabic
61a-68b
Title: Prayers, composed of Qur'anic verses, for various occasions
Language(s): Arabic
68b-70b
Title: The Most Beautiful Names of God
Language(s): Arabic
70b-74b
Title: The Names of the Prophet
Language(s): Arabic
75a-112a
Title: Various prayers.
Language(s): Arabic, some with headings in Turkish
112b-114a
Title: Description of the physical attributes of the Prophet
Language(s): Arabic
114b-114b
Title: On the blessedness of the seal of the Prophet.
Language(s): Turkish
115a-139a
Title: Tables of the names and descriptions of the prophets, illustrations of the Ka'ab and the Prophet's tomb at Medina, and ornamental designs built around Muhammad's staff, sandals, etc.
Language(s): Turkish
139b-157b
Title: Various prayers in Arabic and Turkish, the last one, a prayer for reading when one has finished the Qur'an (folio 157b), in a different, more careless hand.
Language(s): Arabic and Turkish
Physical Description
Form: codex
Support: Brown, glazed paper.
Extent: 159 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 162 × 110 mm.
Layout
1 column, 11 written lines
Hand(s)
Naskh
Decoration
Richly illuminated: gold rules round script areas, gold fleurons between verses, illuminated headings, and finely drawn borders for folios 139b-157b.
Contains an illustration of the Kaʿba and the Prophet's tomb at Medina (folios 125b-126a) and ornamental designs built around Muḥammad's staff, sandals, etc. and ʿAlī's sword Dhū l'Faqār (folios 126b-139a).
History
Origin: circa 1804-1805 CE; Turkey, apparently by the same scribe as Arabic MS 827 (839), Ibn Mushteji-zade, fl 1804-1805..
Provenance and Acquisition
Douanes, bureau d' Algers stamped inside the cover.
Presented to the John Rylands Library In 1954 by G.P. Young (R104383).
Record Sources
Catalogue information compiled by Elizabeth Gow from C.E. Bosworth, A catalogue of accessions to the Arabic manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 56 (1973–74), pp. 34-73.
Availability
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