Delhi Persian 253 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Delhi Persian 253(a), ff. 1v-3v.

Excerpt from the Arabic theological treatise Naqd al-muḥaṣṣal by Naṣīr Ṭūsī, selected by an unnamed compiler.

The paper, dimensions, script, scribe, patron, and accuracy of the original manuscript serving as a basis for this copy, sent by the farzand or protégé Mawlavī Javād Shīʿī, is described in a note at the beginning.

Not dated at end.

Rough shikastah āmīz, frequently omitting diacritics.

Delhi Persian 253(b), ff. 3v-4v.

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise selected by an unnamed compiler.

Not dated at end.

Rough shikastah āmīz, frequently omitting diacritics.

Delhi Persian 1208(c), f. 5r-9v.

Untitled Arabic polemic treatise on the subject of Shīʿah zealotry by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Neat nastaʿlīq on pale orange tinted paper.

Delhi Persian 253(d), ff. 10v-28r.

Excerpt from the Arabic theological treatise identified as Ghurar va durarby an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Neat nastaʿlīq on pale orange tinted paper.

Collation notes.

Delhi Persian 253(e), ff. 29r-65r.

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

At the end is a Persian note attributing the present text, entitled Ghurar al-farāʾid va durar al-qalāʾid, to Sharīf Murtaz̤á, that is, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn Abū Aḥmad Ḥusayn al-Mūsavī(d. 436/1044), with descriptions of the quantity of volumes and fascicules, script, illumination, and rubrication in the original manuscript serving as a basis for this copy, supplied by Mawlavī Sanāʾ al-Dīn, but originally from the collection of Mīrzā Muḥammad Bakhsh.

Neat nastaʿlīq on pale orange tinted paper alternating with plain buff paper.

Collation notes.

Delhi Persian 253(f), ff. 29r-65r.

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise by an unnamed author.

According to a Persian note the present text is an excerpt from the Nafḥat al-muḥaddis̲īn va minnat al-jāhilīn, with descriptions of the quantity of volumes and fascicules, and script in the original manuscript serving as a basis for this copy, dating from the reign of Ghāzī al-Dīn Ḥaydar, King of Avadh, supplied by Ghulām Ḥaydar Khān ṣāḥib.

Not dated at end.

Nastaʿlīq gradually declining to a bolder and slacker hand.

Collation notes.

Delhi Persian 253(g), ff. 78r-96v.

Excerpt from an untitled theological treatise by an unnamed author.

According to a note at the beginning the text is an excerpt from a Persian translation of the Biḥār [al-anvār], the great work on Shīʿah traditions by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī al-Iṣfahānī(d. 1110/1698).

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(h), ff. 97r-112v.

Excerpt from an untitled theological treatise on the subject of Caliph Abū Bakrby an unnamed author.

According to a note at the beginning the text is a second excerpt from a Persian translation of the Biḥār [al-anvār], the great work on Shīʿah traditions by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī al-Iṣfahānī(d. 1110/1698), by the mujtahid of the Dār al-muʾminīnof Lucknow, with descriptions of the fine calligraphy and illumination in the original manuscript serving as a basis for this copy, obtained through Mawlavī Fatḥ ʿAlī ṣāḥib.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(i), ff. 113r-195v.

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise by an unnamed author.

According to a Persian note at the beginning the text is an excerpt from the Riyāz̤ al-sālikīn, a commentary on the Ṣaḥīfah Sajjādīyah, with descriptions of the dimensions, volumes, and script of the autograph copy serving as a basis for this copy based on a volume received at the end of Ṣafar 1253/May-June 1837 from the library of Subḥān ʿAlī Khān.

Not dated at end.

Lengthy Arabic note at the end, in the same rough shikastah āmīz as other annotations, apparently completes the excerpt.

Delhi Persian 253(j), ff. 196r-206r.  

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise on the subject of revelation by an unnamed author.

Dated colophon (f. 206r): completed by Sayyid Ḥamzah ʿAlī, 3 Jumādá al-S̲ānī 1253/4 September 1837.

Note at the end indicates this copy was collated with the author’s autograph, and completed mid Jumādá al-Ukhrá in the aforementioned year.

Delhi Persian 253(k), ff. 208r-212r.  

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic theological treatise by an unnamed author.

According to a Persian note at the beginning the text is an excerpt or intikhāb from an antique manuscript of the Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq, with descriptions of the script, replacement folios, and their relative quality, obtained through the intermediation of Muḥammad Ḥasan the dallāl.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(l), ff. 212v-262v.  

Excerpts in Persian and Arabic from a treatise identified in a separate note as the Manāqib-i Murtaz̤avī, a hagiographic work on Imam and Caliph ʿAlī by Mīr Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Niʿmat Allāhī al-Ḥusaynī(d. 1060/1651), with the takhalluṣ Kashfī, a master calligrapher, musician, poet and religious scholar, later appointed librarian to the Timurid (Mughal) Emperor Shāh Jahān I (d. 1076/1666).

The excerpt or intikhāb is identified in a note at the beginning, but authorship is attributed to various extremist Rāfiz̤ī inclined to Sufism and quoting the words of Sufi masters, citing associated wonders, but without order. See item m.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(m), f. 236v.  

Untitled extended codicological and philological note taking up the subject of the note in item l, describing the volume of the Manāqib-i Murtaz̤avī. Accordingly, the source manuscript is characterised as a foreign or vilāyatī calligraphic copy, endorsed at the beginning as the Shamʿ al-yaqīn, with further annotations subsequently.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(n.), ff. 264v-275v.  

Untitled apologetic treatise, endorsed in a note at the beginning as Risālah-'i qirṭās, reconciling Shīʿah doctrines with those of the Sunnī sect, written by Mawlavī Muḥammad Ḥasan ṣāḥib, at the request of Mīrzā Ḥusayn ʿAlī Bayg ṣāḥib.

Dated colophon (f. 275v): completed 28 Rabīʿ al-S̲ānī 1254/21 July 1838.

Delhi Persian 253(o), ff. 276r-282v.  

Untitled Arabic treatise on points of Shīʿah tradition, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Awkward nastaʿlīq tending to taʿlīq in watery ink.

Delhi Persian 253(p), ff. 282v-308v.  

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic treatise on the imams and imamate, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(q), ff. 309v-318r.  

Excerpt from an untitled treatise on Shīʿah apologetics, by an unnamed author.

The excerpt ends abruptly without formal conclusion.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(r), f. 318v-381r.  

Excerpt from an untitled treatise on Shīʿah doctrine, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(s), ff. 381v-392r .

Untitled devotional treatise on the shoes or naʿlayn of Prophet Muḥammad, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Note at the end identifies the work as the Ṣamṣāmby Sayyid Muḥammad.

Rough nastaʿlīq.

Delhi Persian 253(t), ff. 393v-399v.  

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic treatise on aspects of Shīʿah jurisprudence or fiqh, by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(u), ff. 401r-404r.

Excerpt from an untitled Arabic treatise on approaches to the Qurʾānby the imams, written by an unnamed author.

Not dated at end.

Delhi Persian 253(v), ff. 406r-508r.  

First volume of the Arabic treatise on ʿAlavī genealogy and tradition, by Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṣafāʾ.

Dated colophon (f. 508r): completed 12 Rajab 1257/30 August 1841.