Persian MS 758 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Majmū‘ah-i ‘Uṣūl-i Fiqh (Compendium on the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence), a composite volume of four texts.
Contents
Physical Description
Marginalia: Extensively annotated in various hands throughout.
Table of Contents: A list of the four items appears on 1a.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/F’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 675’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘758’ written aside.
Binding
Probably repaired, compiled, and rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Unsupported resewing at two stations. Edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands worked in black and white silk threads over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather, tight-backed, with squares at the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Internal pastedowns of ochre-coloured paper, with hinges of the same leather, adhered over the joints and onto the flyleaves to attach the cover to the textblock.
Title labels adhered to the spine and right board mentions the title of the second work.
261 × 151 × 22 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with exterior scuffed and abraded and cracked head and tail.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The second two treatises subsequently owned or inspected by somone named Muḥammad as per his namesake seal impressed on folio 85a.
Subsequently acquired by or repaired, compiled into one volume, and rebound for, 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 purchased 352 from his widow, Charlotte Logie Hamilton (1817–1893), now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder of Hamilton's collection in 1868 for his Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
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.
Persian MS 758A
Contents
References
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a hasty but legible black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī.
Table of Contents: listed on 4a.
History
Persian MS 758B
Contents
A prior record misattributed this work to a later author Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Shashī (d. ca. 956). Concerning debates over authorship, see Brockelmann, Sezgin, and the Egnlish translation by Mansur Ali.
References
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 14 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a hasty but legible black naskh with subheaders in red by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī.
Marginalia: Extensively annotated in various hands throughout, including the copyist al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī.
History
Persian MS 758C
Contents
امين الدين احمد ابن حافظ سعدالله الصديقي القرشي
References
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a combination of black angular naskh and clear nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
Marginalia:Extensively glosses, probably in the hand of the copyist Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
Folio 85a bears a black square seal impression intaglio-carved in three stacked thuluth script lines, read from top down, bears an Arabic blessing upon the Prophet Muḥammad, hence likely a pious namesake seal for a former owner by that name.
‘اللهم بارك علينا بالا محمد العلي’
15 × 16 mm.
History
Provenance
Subsequently owned or inspected by somone named Muḥammad as per his namesake seal impressed on folio 85a.
Persian MS 758D
Contents
امين الدين احمد ابن حافظ سعدالله الصديقي القرشي
For an overview of varous manuscripts and editions, see J. Lameer. For a French translation, see A. M. Goichon. S. Inati published translations of Part One in 1984, Part Four in 1996, and Parts Two and Three in 2014.
References
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 26 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
History
Provenance
Subsequently owned or inspected by somone named Muḥammad as per his namesake seal impressed on folio 85a.
Additional Information
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 2024 with reference to the manuscript in hand, and in consultation with Dr Joep Lameer with regards to 758B and 758D.
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
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Persian Heritage Foundation
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
Subjects
- Arab Logic
- Islam and philosophy--Early works to 1800
- Islamic law
- Islamic law--Dictionaries--Arabic.
- Islamic law--Early works to 1800.
- Islamic law--Interpretation and construction.
- Islamic law--Interpretation and construction--Early works to 1800.
- Islamic learning and scholarship.
- Islamic Philosophy
- Islamic philosophy--Early works to 1800
- Islamic philosophy--Greek influences
- Jurisprudence
- Logic
- Logic, Medieval
- Logic--Early works to 1800
- Medieval Philosophy
- Philosophy
- Philosophy, Arab
- Philosophy, Iranian
Please fill out your details.