Persian MS 966 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

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 Shāh 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 Mīr Ḥusayn Shāh completed this manuscript in Lucknow on 21 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1210 AH (28 May 1796 CE).

Author: Ḥusaynī, Muḥammad Muʼmin, d. 1698;
Tunukābunī Daylamī, Muḥammad Muʼmin bin Mīr Muḥammad Zamān;
حسيني، محمد مؤمن بن مير محمد زمان تنكابني ديلمي

Dedicatee: Shāh Sulaymān I, b. 1648 r. 1666–1694;
شاه سلیمان اول

Scribe: Mīr Ḥusayn Shāh;
مير حسين شاه

Title: Tuḥfat al-Muʼminīn

Title: تحفة المؤمنين

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 ۴۰۰ر (folio 400a): ببکوکی اسم ترکی جزر است که بـه فـارسی زردک نامند. قد تم بحمد الله تعالی‌ ...دام اقـباله حـسن تـحریر‌ یافت‌.

Colophon: قد تم بحمد الله تعالی‌ ...دام اقـباله حـسن تـحریر‌ یافت

Colophon: Completed by Mīr Ḥusayn Shāh in Lucknow on 21 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1210 AH (28 May 1796 CE).

Language(s): Persian

For three other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 77, 569, and 959. For a description of 238 other manuscripts of this work, see FANKHĀ.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of paper probably handmade in Awadh

Extent:

Dimensions (leaf):

Dimensions (written):

Foliation: Hindu-Arabic numbers

Condition

Handle with caution. Manuscript in very poor condition. Folio 126 protrudes at the fore-edge. Extensively remargined oversewn

Layout

Written primarily in 1 column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures and red markings by Mīr Ḥusayn Shāh.

History

Origin: Completed by Mīr Ḥusayn Shāh in Lucknow; 21 Zī-al-Qa‘dah 1210 AH (28 May 1796 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired from an unidentified source by either Sir Gordon Fraser, OBE (1873–1834) of Manchester, who lived in Madras (Chennai) Madras (Chennai) from 1895, or his wife (married Columbo 1908) Lady Gordon Fraser [Rachel Ellis neé Leech] (1876–1953), who then presumably returned to Britain with the volume after his death.

Gifted, together with Persian MS 963, to the John Rylands Library by Lady Gordon Fraser; received October, 1938.

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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