Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

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

Summary of Contents: This composite manuscript features one Persian and three Arabic texts, collectively entitled Majmū‘ah-i ‘Uṣūl-i Fiqh (Compendium on the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence). A scribe named al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī completed the first two texts at the end of 29 Ramaz̤ān 1244 AH (late Mar.–early Apr. 1829 CE), while another named Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad ibn Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī copied the last two undated works. Subsequent owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) acquired the two manuscripts, then evidently had them repaired and rebound together in one volume.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 125 folios, 1 flyleaf (ff. 125 + i).
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 140 mm.
Foliation: Modern pencilled 1b, 4b, 84a–b, and 126a–b blank.
Additions:
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

Summary of Contents: Author Shihāb al-Dīn b. Shams al-Dīn b. ‘Umar al-Zāvalī Dawlatābādī (d. ca. 1445) composed this treatise Dar Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Uṣūl-i ‘Ilm-i Fiqh (On Expressions on the Fundamentals of Islamic Juridprudence), in the form of questions and answers arranged in 55 chapters, derived other commentaries that he authored. Originally from the Deccan, he studied at Delhi until Tīmūr’s invasion when he settled at Jaunpur Sultanate. There, ruler Ibrāhīm Shāh Sharqī (r. 1401–1440) made him Chief Justice and bestowed on him the title of Malik al-ʿUlamāʾ (King of Scholars), to whom he dedicated this work, hence some copies refer to him in the title.
5b–26b
Dedicatee: Sulṭān Ibrāhīm Shāh Sharqī, r. 1401–1440
Rubric: هو المستعان. رب یسر و تمم بالخیر
Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۵پ (folio 5b): حمدی که اصول محکمه آن باحکام احکام انفام ایزدی استحکام گیرد و فروع ممتشابهه آن باثمار اثمار احسان احدی استنما پذیر
Explicit: برگ ۲۶پ (folio 26b): و همچنین جمله صورت اسقاط چون مسیح هیچ موزه مانند آن و صلی الله علی خیر خلقه محمد و اله و اصحابه اجمعین.
Colophon: برگ ۲۶پ (folio 26b): تمت في تاريخ ٢٦ شهر رمصان المبارک بيد الفقير الحقير السيد محمد علي بن المولولي احمد علي اللهم اغفر لي و لوالدي و لقاريه و لناظره ولجميع المؤمنين والمؤمنات برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين .
Rubric: تمت تمام شد
Colophon: Completed by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī, on 24 Ramaz̤ān with the year ommitted, but presumably circa 1244 given the date he provides in the colophon following, hence 30 Mar. 1829 CE.
Language(s): Persian

References

C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. IV, Pt. 1.1 Law (1) no. 32.
‘Ārif Nawshāhī, Fihrist-i Nuskha'hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Fārsī-yi Pākistān (Ganjīna-yi Muftī Faḍl ʿAẓīm Bhīravī) (Tehran: Mīrās̱-i Maktūb, 1398 SH [2019 CE]), p. 414 [National Archives of Pakistan, Islām 109].

Physical Description

Support: Text of medium-weight, cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 22 folios (ff. 22).
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 140 mm.
Dimensions (written): 230 × 100 mm.

Collation

Two quaternions and a ternion 2IV(20)1III(26) Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Handle text with caution. In fair condition, with extensive damage and historical repairs throughout.

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.

Additions:
Table of Contents: listed on 4a.

History

Origin: Completed by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī, possibly in the Indian subcontinent; ‘24 Ramaz̤ān’ with the year ommitted, but presumably 1244 AH (30 Mar. 1829 CE).

Persian MS 758B

Contents

Summary of Contents: This copy of a popular Arabic treatise attributed to Niẓām al-Dīn al-Shashī (fl. 8th c.) or alternatively Badr al-Dīn Shīrwānī (fl. mid-8th to mid-9th c) concerns Uṣūl al-Fiqh, or core principles of Islamic jurisprudence according to the Ḥanafī school. He divided the work into four books on God, the Prophet Muḥammad, ijmā‘ (consensus), and qiyās (analogical reasoning). The extensive marginal notes, probably made by the copyist, al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī, feature numerous Arabic and Persian glosses.
28b–83b
Incipit: (basmalla) الصفحة ٢٨ظ (folio 28b): الحمدالله الذی اعلی منزله المومنین بکریم خطابه و رفع درجه العالمین بمعانی کتابه و خص المستنبطین منهم بمزید الاصابه و ثوابه و الصلوه علی النبی محمد...
Explicit: الصفحة ٨٣ظ (folio 83b):
Colophon: الصفحة ٨٣ظ (folio 83b): تمت الكتاب بعون لله الملك الوهاب و حسن توفيقه في وقت نصف الليل في شهر رمضان المبارك في تاريخ ٢٩ في سنة ١٢٤٤ بيد الفقير الحقير السيد محمد علي بن المولوي المرحوم السيد احمد علي غفر الله له ولوالديه و لقاريه ولناطره و لمصححه و لجميع المؤمنين والمؤمنات برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين.
Rubric: الصفحة ٨٣ظ (folio 83b): يلوح الخط في القرطاس ذهرا و عمابته يراميم في الرابي نعر هر كه خواند دعا طمع دارم زانكه من بند کند کارم. قاریا بر من مکن چندسناعتات گر خطائی رفته باشد در کتاب.
Colophon: Completed by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī on 29 Ramaz̤ān 1244 AH (4 Apr. 1829 CE).
Language(s): Arabic

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

al-Shāshī, Uṣūl Ash-Shāshī: Principals of Islamic Jurisprudence Translated by Mansur Ali. Turath Publishing, 2017.
C. Brockelmann, Brockelmann in English: The History of the Arabic Written Tradition Online. Book 2, Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language | Section 1, The Classical Period from ca. 750 until ca. 1000: The Hanafis (Leiden: Brill 2018), p. 158, no. 8.
N. Calder, 'Uṣūl al-Fiḳh', Encyclopædia of Islam, Second Edition, Vol. 10 (2000), pp. 931–934.
F. Sezgin and Joep Lameer, trans, The Arabic Writing Tradition, an Historical Survey, Vol. 1, (Leiden: Brill, 2023), p. 438 .
F. Sezgin, Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums, Vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2023), p. 498 .

Physical Description

Support: Text of medium-weight, cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 56 folios (ff. 56).
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 140 mm.
Dimensions (written): 196 × 90 mm.
Foliation: Red Hindu-Arabic numeral appear on the upper-left corners of the a sides.

Collation

Primarily quaternions. 7IV(82)1I(84) Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition, with extensive water and insect damage and historical repairs and remargining throughout.

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.

Additions:
Marginalia: Extensively annotated in various hands throughout, including the copyist al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī.

History

Origin: Completed by al-Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī bin al-Mawlavī Aḥmad ‘Alī, possibly in the Indian subcontinent; 29 Ramaz̤ān 1244 AH (4 Apr. 1829 CE).

Persian MS 758C

Contents

Summary of Contents: This incomplete Arabic text, here entitled Aṣl al-Uṣūl al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-Ma‘qūl wa-al-Manqūl (Origins of the Principles of the Assembly Between the Rational and the Recounted), is better known as the al-Īmāḍāt wa-al-Tashrīqāt (The Eternal and the Accidental). Authored by Safavid-era thinker, Mīr Muḥammad Bāqir Dāmād (d. ca. 1631), it outlines his concept of ḥuduth dahrī (perpetual creation). The entire work contains a preface and four chapters termed siqāyāt (irrigations), but this manuscript abruptly ends part way through the second.
85b–100b
Editor: Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad ibn Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī;
امين الدين احمد ابن حافظ سعدالله الصديقي القرشي
Incipit: (basmalla) الصفحة ٨٥ظ (folio 85b): سبحانك اللهم رب الخلق والامر لك الملك ولك الحمد ومنك البدو [البداية] واليك العود وانت بكل [لكل] شئ عليم فاطر الملك والملكوت عالم الغيب والشهادة يسبح لك ما في السموات وما في الارض وانت العزيز الحكيم... في مسائل الحدوث و السرمدیه
Explicit: الصفحة ١٠٠ظ (folio 100b): و هي في المادة التبته ثم تبدل اشكال جسم يعنيه كالتكعيب والتدوير على الشمعة الواحدة ليس سيتوحب بتدل الجسم التعليمي بشحيه [كما بسش...].
Colophon: الصفحة ٨٥و (folio 85a): كتبه العبد المذنب امين الدين احمد ابن محمد سعدالله القرشي الصديقي ضياهما الله تعلى
Colophon: الصفحة ٩٧ظ (folio 97a):لكاتبه امين الدين ابن محمد سعد الله القرشي الصديقي غفر الله هما ٥٥٥
Colophon: Copied vertically on 85a and again on 97a. Completed by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
Language(s): Arabic

References

B. Ansari, 'al-Dāmād', Encyclopædia of Islam, Second Edition, Vol. 2 (1991), pp. 103–105.
C. Brockelmann, Brockelmann in English: The History of the Arabic Written Tradition Online. Vol. 2, Book 3: The Decline of Islamic Literature | Sect. 2, From the Conquest of Egypt by Sultan Selīm I in 1517 to the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798: Iran and Tūrān 3 Shīʿī Fiqh and Kalām. Translated by J. J. Witkam. (Leiden: Brill 2018), p. 580, no. 3.8.
I. Ḥusayn al Kinturī Kashf al-Ḥujub wa-al-Āstār ‘an Asmā’ al-Kutub wa-al-Asfār. Edited by M. Hidayat Husain. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1911), pp. 74–75, no. 354.
A. J. Newman, 'Dāmād, Mīr(-e) Sayyed Muḥammad Bāqer', Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 6 (1993), pp. 623-626.
Āghā Buzurg Ṭihrānī and Muḥammad Muḥsin Āghā Buzurg Ṭihrānī al-Dharīʻah ilá taṣānīf al-Shīʻah, 3rd ed., Vol. 2 (Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʼ, 1402 AH [1983 CE]) p. 509, no. 1999.

Physical Description

Support: Text of comparatively thin-weight, straight-grained, externally sized and polished, buff-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~9 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 16 folios (ff. 16).
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 140 mm.
Dimensions (written): 182 × 86 mm.

Collation

Two quaternions 2IV(100). Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides, some trimmed.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition, with extensive damage and historical repairs throughout, particularly along the top edges. Folio 97a–b written on a detached sheet adhered into place, signed by the same copyist.

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.

Additions:
Marginalia:Extensively glosses, probably in the hand of the copyist Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
Seal(s):

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

Origin: Completed by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī, possibly in the Indian subcontinent; , undated, but probably late 18th to early 19th centuries CE.

Provenance

Subsequently owned or inspected by somone named Muḥammad as per his namesake seal impressed on folio 85a.

Persian MS 758D

Contents

Summary of Contents: Famed philosopher Avicenna (980-1037) composed this brief Arabic text entitled Ishārāt wa-al-Tanbīhāt (Pointers and Reminders) towards the end of his life. The entire work contains two parts: the first on logic (omitted in this manuscript), and the second which discusses physics, metaphysics, and mysticism. This volume bears an alternative title Ishārāt ilà al-Uṣūl (Remarks upon the Princples), derived from the first line. A scribe named Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī copied this work together with the preceding text.
101b–125b
Editor: Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad ibn Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī;
امين الدين احمد ابن حافظ سعدالله الصديقي القرشي
Incipit: (basmalla) الصفحة ١٠١ظ (folio 101b): صلي الله علی محمد و اله هذه اشارات الی اصول و التنبيهات على جمل...
Explicit: الصفحة ١٢٥ظ (folio 125b): و عاهده بالله و بإيمان لا مخارج لها ليجري فيما يأتيه مجراك متأسيا بك فإن أذعت هذا العلم أو أضعته فالله بيني و بينك و كفى بالله وكيلا.
Colophon: الصفحة ١٢٥ظ (folio 125b): تمت الاشارات بفضل و اهب العطيات على يد العبد الجاني امين الدين احمد بن حافظ محمد سعدالله الصديقي القرشي الكو القاسمي(؟)
Colophon: Completed by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad ibn Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī.
Language(s): Arabic

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.

1. 101b
Title: Namaṭ 1
2. 104b
Title: Namaṭ 2
3. 107a
Title: Namaṭ 3
4. 110b
Title: Namaṭ 4
5. 112a
Title: Namaṭ 5
6. 114a
Title: Namaṭ 6
7. 117a
Title: Namaṭ 7
8. 119b
Title: Namaṭ 8
9. 121a
Title: Namaṭ 9
10. 122b
Title: Namaṭ 10
11. 101b
Title: Khātimah wa Waṣīyah

References

Sh. B. Abed, 'Avicenna iii. Logic', Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 1 (1982), pp. 70–73.
Avicenna, Remarks and Admonitions: Part One: Logic. Translated by S. C. Inati. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1984.
Avicenna, Ibn Sīnā and Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions, Part Four. Translated by S. C. Inati. London: Kegan Paul International, 1996.
Avicenna, Ibn Sina's Remarks and Admonitions, Physics and Metaphysics: An Analysis and Annotated Translation. Translated by S. C. Inati. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.
Avicenna, Kitāb al-Ishārāt wa-al-tanbīhāt. Edited by Jacques Forget. Leiden: Brill, 1892.
Avicenna, al-Ishārāt wa-al-Tanbīhāt. Edited by Mujtabá Zāriʻī. Qum: Bustān-ī Kitāb Qum, 1423 AH/1381 SH (2002–2003 CE).
Avicenna, al-Ishārāt wa-al-Tanbīhāt. Edited by Sulaymān Dunyà. [Cairo] Egypt: Dār al-Maʻārif, 1957–1968.
Avicenne, Livre Des Directives et Remarques = Livre des Directives et Remarques Kitāb al-‘Išārāt wa l-tanbīhāt. Traduction par A. M. Goichon. Vrin: Commission internationale pour la traduction des chefs-d’oeuvre, 1951.
A. M. Goichon, 'Ibn Sīnā' Encyclopædia of Islam, Second Edition Vol. 3 (1986), pp. 941–947.
D. Gutas, 'Avicenna v. Mysticism', Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 1 (1982), pp. 623-626.
J. Lameer, 'Towards a New Edition of Avicenna’s Kitāb al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbīhāt'. Journal of Islamic Manuscripts Vol. 4, No. 2 (2013):199–248
M. E. Marmura, 'Avicenna iv. Metaphysics', Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 1 (1982), pp. 73–79.

Physical Description

Support: Text of comparatively thin-weight, cross-grained, heavily flocked, externally sized and polished, buff-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~9 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 25 folios (ff. 25).
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 140 mm.
Dimensions (written): 191 × 96 mm.

Collation

Primarily quaternions 4IV+1(125). Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition, with extensive damage and extensive historical repairs, gutter margins extended or replaced, then loosely sewn into place, so this portion now protrudes from the binding along the fore-edge. throughout.

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

Origin: Completed by Amīn al-Dīn Ahmad bin Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘d Allāh al-Ṣadīqī al-Qarshī, possibly in the Indian subcontinent; , undated, but probably late 18th to early 19th centuries CE.

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

    M. Kerney, Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Handlist of Oriental Manuscripts, Arabic, Persian, Turkish. ([Aberdeen]: Privately printed, 1898), p. 231, no. 758.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Persian Heritage Foundation

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation


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