Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 959 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: The Tuḥfat al-Muʼminīn (Gift of the Believers), a medical anthology by Muḥammad Muʼmin Ḥusaynī (d. 1698) which he dedicated to his patron, the Safavid ruler S̲h̲āh Sulaymān I (b. 1648 r. 1666–1694). The author aims to correct innaccuracies found in the then-prevailing pharmacopoeia at that time, Ik̲h̲tiyārāt-i Badīʿī, and refers to several other medical works to formulate his own. He divides the work into two major divisions: the first entitled Tashkhīṣ consists of five chapters, and the second part, Dastūrāt, contains three further subdivisions. A scribe named ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya completed the volume in Makhdum Nūḥ, Matiari, Sind on 14 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1276 AH (3 June 1860 CE) and also appears to have impressed his seal by the colophon as well.
Scribe: ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya عبد‌ الغنی بن فقیر عـبد الرزاق بـن فـقیر‌ زکریه‌
Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): سبحانك اللهم يا قدوس و يا طبيب النفوس اتمم لنا انوار معرفتك و اذقنا حلاوة مغفرتك شكر شيرين شربت حياة حكيمي را جل شأنه ...
Explicit: برگ ۴۴آر (folio 44Aa): طیوری که‌ بر آن نشیند پای‌بند‌ شود‌ و الله اعلم بالصواب‌،.
Colophon: برگ ۴۴آر (folio 44Aa): تمت الکتاب بعون الملک الوهاب من ید الحقیر الضعیف فقیر عبد الغنی بن فقیر عبد الرزاق بن فقیر زکریه غفر اللهما وله و لجمیع المسلمین فی التاریخ جهارم ماه ذی القعده سنه ۱۲۷۶ در شهر ماتنری [متیاری] نو در ملک سند در شهر مخمدم نوح رحمة الله علیه بحمد الله تعالی‌ ...دام اقـباله حـسن تـحریر‌ یافت
Colophon: Completed by ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya in Makhdum Nūḥ, Matiari, Sind on 14 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1276 AH (3 June 1860 CE).
Language(s): Persian

For three other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 77, 569, and 966. For a description of 238 other manuscripts of this work, see FANKHĀ.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 268 folios, 6 flyleaves (ff. iii + 224 + 44 + iii).
Dimensions (leaf): × mm.
Dimensions (written): × mm.

Layout

Written primarily in 1 column with 29 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in small, hasty black nasta‘līq with occasional shikastah ligatures and red markings by ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya.

Binding

Covered in two pieces of red goatskin leather over pasteboards that overlap upon the spine, cut flush with the edges, and without a flap. Flyleaves of

× × mm.

Handle with caution. Binding in fair but stable condition.

Seal(s):

Folio 44Aa bears three partially legible rectangular seal impressions, two red and one black, all from the same matrix, intaglio-carved in two nasta‘līq script lines, double-ruled, with the name ‘‘Abd al-Ghanī’ and dated 1276 AH (1859–1860 CE), the year of the manuscript's completion, hence very likely that of the scribe, ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya.

History

Origin: Completed by ‘Abd al-Ghanī bin ‘Abd al-Razzāq bin Zakariya in Makhdum Nūḥ, Matiari, Sind; 14 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1276 AH (3 June 1860 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently inspected or acquired by someone possibly named ‘Abd Allāh al-Jīlī as per his inscription on the second to last flyleaf b side (f. vb).

While the circumstances under which this manuscript arrived in Britain remain unclear, Manchester bookseller J. E. Cornish subsequently acquired it from an unidentified source.

Purchased by the John Rylands Library in July 1926 J. E. Cornish.

Record Sources

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023, with reference to the volume, an unpublished handlist, accession registers, and a Persian description of the volume published by Tawfiq Subhani in 1993.

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Bibliography

    M. Dirāyatī and M. Dirāyatī, Fihristgān: Nuskhahʹhā-yi Khaṭṭī-i Īrān (FANKHĀ) (Union Manuscript Catalogue of Iran), Vol. 7 (Tehran: Sāzmān-i Asnād va Kitābkhānah-i Millī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān, 1391 SH [2012–13 CE]), pp. 379–387 [Yazd, Ṣudūqī Yazdī no. 164 &c.].
    H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. 1 (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. 1271–1273, nos. 2328–2335 [British Library, IO Islamic 337, 636, 1416, 1524, 2226, 2246, 2696, &c.].
    K. Mushār, Fihrist-i Kitāb'hā-yi Chāpī-yi Fārsī, Vol. 1 (Tehran: Chāpkhānah-ʼi Urzhang, 1350– SH [1971– CE]), p. 1202.
    C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp.476-467 [British Library Add 23557].
    E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 966–968, nos. 1605–1608 [Bodleian Ouseley 378 &c.].
    C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2 Pt. 5.1 Medicine no. 448.
    Tawfīq Subḥānī, 'Kitāb'hā-yi khaṭṭī-i Fārsī fihrist nashudah dar Kitābkhānah Jān Rāylāndz, Manchistir' Majallah-'i Dānishkadah-i Adabiyāt va ‘Ulūm-i Insānī n.s., Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3 (1372 SH [1993 CE]): pp. 175, 178, nos. 18, 26.

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation


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