Or 16781 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

A historical account of the caliphate of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, the first caliph of the Muslims (d. 13/634), on whom see e.g. W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Abū Bakr’, EI2, I, pp. 109-111. This work was composed by the Afghan scholar Mawlavī ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq and completed in 1352/1312/1923, as is shown by the title page (f. 1r) and colophon.

This is the autograph manuscript of a text which appears never to have been published. Included at the end (f. 117r-v) is a table of contents. The author cites among his sources Ibn Khaldūn (Kitāb al-'Ibar), Ibn Khamīs (unidentified: not, presumably, the famous Tilimsanī poet), Tārīkh al-khulafā’ (by al-Suyuṭī), Kitāb al-Imāma va l-Siyāsa (formerly misattributed to Ibn Qutayba), Vāqidī (al-Waqidī’s al-Maghāzī), and ‘Aṭā’ Ḥasan Bayg (not identified).

Begins: Basmala Ḥamd-i bīḥadd va sanā’-i bī‘add Ma‘būd-i ins va jānn va Khāliq-i har dū jahān, Zāt-i kāmil al-ṣifātī-rā sazāst ki ba-manṭūqa-’i ‘Mā khalqt al-jinn va l-ins illā li-ya‘budūn’ Jinn va ins-rā barā-yi ‘ibādat va ma‘rifat-i khwīshtan az katm-i ‘adam...

Ends: Ḥaẓrat-i ‘Umar rẓ namāz-i janāza-’i ū-rā khwānd va ‘Umar va ‘Usmān va Ṭalha va ‘Abd al-Raḥmān pisarash ū-rā dar qabr nihādand va sar-i ū nazd-i shāna-’i Rasūl Allāh ṣ nihāda shud va qabr-i ū-rā laḥd karda būdand Raẓiya Allāh ta‘ālà ‘anh va ‘anhum ajma‘īn

Colophon, f. 116r. Completed on Wednesday 18 Asad 1312, or 17 Rabī‘ al-sānī 1352/9 August 1933, by the author.

Clear, though amateurish, cursive quasi-naskhī in blue ink. 19 lines. Off-white laid paper. 117 folios, paginated as 234 pages. 211 x 168 mm.; text lines ca. 170 x 124 mm. Red half leather with worn boards covered with patterned black paper.

Purchased from Mr. N. Madjnun, 8 January 2010.