Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 421 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: Originally compiled in Arabic by Aḥmad ibn ‘Abdullāh, translated into Persian by more than one translator, here given as Muḥammad Maḥmūd Muḥammad. The present manuscript contains the original Arabic with a paraphrased Persian translation divided into forty chapters, with each chapter containing ten traditions. However, chapter 3 contains eleven traditions, while chapters 19 and 38 have nine traditions each, whereas the heading sequence in chapter 12 appears inconsistent.
Author, Bibliographic antecedent and Compiler: Aḥmad ibn ‘Abdullāh احمد ابن عبد الله
Incipit: (beginning) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): الحمد لله رب العالمین و العاقبة للمتقین و الصلوة و السلام علی رسوله محمد و آله اجمعین...لباب الخبار که چهل بابست و در هر باب ده حدیث در نظر آورده این گنه کار بفارسی ترجمه کرده از برای مبتدیان و کسانی که بر عربی اطلاع ندارند...
Colophon: برگ ۹۴ر (folio 94a): تمت الرساله المبارکة الشریفه برسم لاخزانة العامرة العلیه...
Colophon:
Language(s): Persian
Folio 3a
Title: Chapter 1
Title: در فضیلت علم و علما
Folio 5b
Title: Chapter 2
Title: در فضیلت کلمۀ طیب لا اله الا الله
Folio 8b
Title: Chapter 3
Title: در فضیلت بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Folio 12b
Title: Chapter 4
Title: در فضیلت صلوات
Folio 14b
Title: Chapter 5
Title: در فضیلت ایمان:
Folio 17b
Title: Chapter 6
Title: در فضیلت وضو:
Folio 19b
Title: Chapter 7
Title: در فضیلت تخلیل و مسواک
Folio 22a
Title: Chapter 8
Title: در فضیلت بانک نماز
Folio 25a
Title: Chapter 9
Title: در فضیلت نماز جماعت
Folio 27a
Title: Chapter 10
Title: در فضیلت روز جمعه
Folio 29b
Title: Chapter 11
Title: در فضیلت مسجد
Folio 31b
Title: Chapter 12
Title: در فضیلت دستار
Folio 33a
Title: Chapter 13
Title: در فضیلت روزه
Folio 35b
Title: Chapter 14
Title: در فضیلت نمازهای فرضیه
Folio 37b
Title: Chapter 15
Title: در فضیلت نماز سنی
Folio 40a
Title: Chapter 16
Title: در فضیلت زکوة
Folio 41b
Title: Chapter 17
Title: در فضیلت صدقه:
Folio 43b
Title: Chapter 18
Title: در فضیلت سلام کردن
Folio 45b
Title: Chapter 19
Title: در فضیلت دعا
Folio 47b
Title: Chapter 20
Title: در فضیلت استغفار
Folio 49a
Title: Chapter 21
Title: در فضیلت ذکر
Folio 51b
Title: Chapter 22
Title: در فضیلت تسبیح
Folio 53b
Title: Chapter 23
Title: در فضیلت توبه
Folio 53b
Title: Chapter 24
Title: در فضیلت درویشی
Folio 57a
Title: Chapter 25
Title: در فضیلت نکاح
Folio 59a
Title: Chapter 26
Title: در عقوبت زنا
Folio 60b
Title: Chapter 27
Title: در عقوبت لوطی
Folio 63a
Title: Chapter 28
Title: در عقوبت خمر خوردن
Folio 65a
Title: Chapter 29
Title: در فضیلت تیر انداختن
Folio 67a
Title: Chapter 30
Title: در حق مادر و پدر بر فرزندان
Folio 69a
Title: Chapter 31
Title: در حق فرزند بر مادر و پدر
Folio 71b
Title: Chapter 32
Title: در فضیلت تواضع
Folio 73b
Title: Chapter 33
Title: در فضیلت خاموشی
Folio 75b
Title: Chapter 34
Title: در منع بسیار خورد و خوابیدن
Folio 75b
Title: Chapter 35
Title: در منع خندۀ قهقهه
Folio 79b
Title: Chapter 36
Title: در پرسیدن بیمار
Folio 79b
Title: Chapter 37
Title: در ذکر موت
Folio 84a
Title: Chapter 38
Title: در ذکر کور و احوال آن
Folio 87a
Title: Chapter 39
Title: در منع نوحه
Folio 89b
Title: Chapter 40
Title: در فضیلت صبر

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ~8 and 42.
Extent: 94 folios, 4 fly leaves (ff. ii + 94 + ii).
Dimensions (leaf): 253 × 143 mm.
Dimensions (written): 185 × 90 mm.
Foliation: Unfoliated

Collation

Undetermined.

Condition

Handle text with caution. Insect damaged and water stained throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 11 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Copied in bold and clear black nasta‘līq, with Arabic quotations and rubrics in naskh.

Additions:
Table of Contents: List of chapters on the opening flyleaves.
Marginalia: Notes in various hands in the margins throughout. Inscriptions:
  • first right fly leaf a side (f. ia) bears the title in nasta‘līq:
    ‘ترجمه لب الاخبار... موسوم برسم الخزانة ’
  • Folio 1a bears an inspection and endowment notices. ‘کتاب احادیث: ترجمۀ لب الاخبار: ترجمه حدیث: ۱۰۸ ورق: ۱۰۲ (ناخوانا): پنجم ربیع الاول ۱۲۶۲ (ناخوانا): اقول انا العبد الضعیف محمد مومن بن نجف قلی بانی قد وقفت هذا الکتاب وقفیا شرعیا لوجه الله تعالی لاولادی و من: بعد اولادی للمؤمنین لا یجوز بیعه و شراره لعن الله بایعه و شاریه’
Bookplates: The left pastedown: Bibliotheca Lindesiana with pencilled shelfmark 1/J, and Hamilton MSS No. 328, with the name and number crossed out and Persian and 421 written aside.

Binding

Probably repaired and rebound in Multan between 1858 and 1861 for former owner George William Hamilton.

Resewn at two stations, unsupported. Endpapers of comparatively rough and heavy, cross-grained, buff-coloured sized and polished paper ~ 8 ll per cm and a pair of faint chain lines ~ 46 mm apart evident on the first right flyleaf. Edges trimming, with chevrons of red and green silk threads twined over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full red goatskin over pasteboards, with internal doublures of the same, excess widths put down at hinges. Vertical strips disguise the joins.

Exterior margins, title in yellow.

261 × 153 × 21 mm.

Good condition.

Seal(s):
Three types of rectangular vermilion library seal impressions, intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, of the kings of Awadh (Oude) appear on the first and last folios of the volume, 3a and 145a and b.

1: A library seal impression of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh within two stacked, single-ruled cartouches:
‘ خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴’
Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244 ’(‘The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244’).
17 × 37 mm.

2: A library seal impression surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), with beaded ruling and dated 1260 AH (1844–45 CE):
‘ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠’
Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260’ (‘Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260’).
53 × 45 mm.

3: A library seal impression, surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856), single-ruled and dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):
‘ خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲ ’
Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262’(‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’).
41 × 26 mm.

History

Origin: Copied on 25 Shavvāl 1064 or 1006 AH

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum selected 352, now held in the British Library.

Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder of Hamilton's collection in 1868.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.

Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2023 with reference to the manuscript in hand.

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

    MS. in India Office (see Ethe, IO 2639) paraphrased by Muhammad b. Mahmud. At least two lithographs in India, both translated by Yahya b. Sharaf; 1- Lubab al- Akhbdr, Lahore A. D. 1871 (see BME, 86), 2- Lubdb al-Akhbar dar Bayan-i Ahadis̲-i Sayyid al-Mukhtār, Lahore A. D. 1896 (see Mushar, 2798). Another translation, entitled Muvāzib-i Khayr al-Kalam-i Sayyid al- Abrdr al-Musammā bi-Libab al-Akhbār, in Arabic with Persian and Hindustani translation, lith Bombay A. D. 1863 (see BME, 86). The headings of the present collection in the JR suggest that it is a different translation from the MS, held in the India Office Liberary.
    Lithograph Lubāb al-Akhbār, Lahore 1871
    Lithograph Lubāb al-Akhbār dar bayān-i Aḥādis̲i Sayyid al-Mukhtār, Lahore 1896
    C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. IV, Pt. 2 Tradition no. 339(18).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects


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