RSPA 93 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Jones Collection
Royal Society Arabic and Persian
Miscellany of Muhammadan Law
Contents
Compilation of Ḥanafī legal opinions and judgements taken from many sources.
Language(s): Arabic
The hand is the same as MSS RSPA 82, 83 and 92, this being al-Ḥajj ʿAbd Allāh al-Makkī, who was in Jones's employ. Dennison Ross and Browne suggest that Jones himself may have selected the extracts, although there is no manuscript evidence for this. The manuscript operates like an abridged text book for Ḥanafī law and legal opinion.
Abū Ḥanīfah is consistently written by the scribe as one word.
The material for the compilation comes from a variety of sources, including the Fatāwā ʿĀlamgīrī, the Mukhtaṣar of al-Qudūrīand the Kitab al-Farāʾiḍ al-Sirājiyyah.
Whilst the MS is composed out of a mixture of contents and has many blank folios between chapters, it does operate as one complete manuscript, rather than two MSS bound together. The contents are as follows:
ff.1v-26r Bāb al-Kafālah(on deposits).
ff.27v-32r Bāb al-Qirḍ wa-l-Dayn(on loans and debts).
ff. 36v-44r Bāb al-Ḥawālah(on debt transference).
ff. 45v-52r Bāb al-ʿĀriyah(on the 'free' loan).
ff. 53v-65v Bāb al-Wadīʿah(on trusts).
ff. 67v-82r Bāb al-Rahn(on mortgaging and pledging).
ff. 83v-106r Bāb al-Hibbah(on gifts).
Physical Description
European numerals in pencil.
Condition
Excellent condition. Very little wear and tear.
Layout
Layout of thirteen lines in one column per page.
Hand(s)
Clear, stylised black-ink naskh with rubrications.
Decoration
Catchwords are present on every page.
Binding
Standard India Office half-leather brown binding.
Accompanying Material
History
Provenance and Acquisition
RSPA 1-118 were presented to the Royal Society in January 1792 by Sir William and Lady Jones. According to Wilkins' Catalogue, this MS was presented to the Royal Society by Lady Jones.
The Royal Society's collection of 280 Persian and Arabic, and 86 Sanskrit manuscripts were transferred to the India Office Library in 1876.
1876
India Office Library
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.
Surrogates
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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