Details
Object numberMS 1486 [Handlist 69]
TitleNo titles
CreatorYaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik (Author), ‘Alī b. Ḥātim al-Ḥāmidī (Author)
DescriptionThis manuscript contains two Yemeni works from the 12th century; the same two works are found in succession also in the manuscript described by Gacek in his catalogue entries 21A and 111.
(1) fols 1b-4a
An untitled work; ascribed to Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik. The first work in the manuscript is preceded (in the same handwriting as the rest) by the title Risālat rawḍat al-ḥikam, but this belongs not to this work, but to the second treatise in the manuscript. It begins with the words ‘sayyidunā Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik said’ and is thus ostensibly the work of the leading religious authority in the Ṣulayḥid kingdom after the death of his father, the qāḍī Lamak b. Mālik. This Yaḥyā is reported to have died in 520/1126. This work is evidently the same as the one which al-Majdū‘ found in his copy of the Tadhkira of Muḥammad al-Ḥārithī and begins with the same words as in the manuscripts described by Gacek. It is the only recorded work by Yaḥyā b. Lamak. The discussion of the composition of the world continues until the penultimate line on folio. 2b, where it is followed without a break by the rubric faṣl fi’l-qawl fi’l-shahāda (the first word is in red); I am not sure whether what follows is part of the same work or not. It discusses the esoteric meaning of the shahāda and its bearing on the speakers and the imams.
Ivanow reports, in one copy he examined, this work is not only given the same title as the one described below, but is also attributed to ‘Alī b. Ḥātim, while in another it is ascribed to an apparently fictitious Ḥātim b. Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik.
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, p. 200; Ivanow (1963), no. 232; Poonawala
(1977), p. 130, no. 1; Gacek (1984), no. 21 (2 copies).
(2) fols 4b-24a
Risālat rawḍat al-ḥikam al-ṣāfiya wa bustān al-‘ulūm al-wāfiya Elsewhere ascribed to ‘Alī b. Ḥātim al-Ḥāmidī.
The title appears, as mentioned, not here, but at the beginning of the first work. The name of the author is not mentioned in this copy, but al-Majdū‘, pp. 242-244 ascribes this book to Sayyidunā ‘Alī b. Ḥātim (sc. al-Ḥāmidī, the 4th da‘i), which is probably correct. In his introduction (here fol. 5a) the author mentions Ḥātim b. Ibrāhīm, though without explicitly saying that this worthy is his own father. Poonawala reports that in the manuscript in the Wakīl collection this work is ascribed to Ibrāhīm; this results perhaps from a misunderstanding of the passage to which I have just alluded.
The treatise consists of 17 questions and answers, mostly relating to obscure passages in the works of al-Sijistānī, among them his lost Kitāb al-bishāra. It ends with an evocation of the imam al-Ṭayyib as the amīr al-mu’minīn, but in the introduction (fol. 5a) we find a benediction on al- Ṭayyib, but also on 'his most noble sons'; I assume that this last phrase is a scribal interpolation.
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, pp. 242-244; Ivanow (1933), no. 219; Ivanow (1963), no. 231; Gacek (1984), no. 111; Poonawala (1977), p. 156, no.1; Cortese (2003), no. 116.
DESCRIPTION: red leather binding, tooled; 24 folios, preceded by an unnumbered fol. 0; 3 numbered quires of 8 folios each, plus a 4th quire of 4 folios, only the first of which (fol. 24a) is inscribed; catchwords; 21 x 13.5 em ( 13 x 8 em); variable number oflines; black ink with rubrics in red; naskh; a few marginal corrections; completed on 22 Jumāda I of an unspecified year; scribe not indicated; title of the second treatise only indicated in the handwriting of the scribe on fols 1a and 1b, by a different hand on fol. Oa and on a label on the spine; seals inscribed 1284.
(1) fols 1b-4a
An untitled work; ascribed to Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik. The first work in the manuscript is preceded (in the same handwriting as the rest) by the title Risālat rawḍat al-ḥikam, but this belongs not to this work, but to the second treatise in the manuscript. It begins with the words ‘sayyidunā Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik said’ and is thus ostensibly the work of the leading religious authority in the Ṣulayḥid kingdom after the death of his father, the qāḍī Lamak b. Mālik. This Yaḥyā is reported to have died in 520/1126. This work is evidently the same as the one which al-Majdū‘ found in his copy of the Tadhkira of Muḥammad al-Ḥārithī and begins with the same words as in the manuscripts described by Gacek. It is the only recorded work by Yaḥyā b. Lamak. The discussion of the composition of the world continues until the penultimate line on folio. 2b, where it is followed without a break by the rubric faṣl fi’l-qawl fi’l-shahāda (the first word is in red); I am not sure whether what follows is part of the same work or not. It discusses the esoteric meaning of the shahāda and its bearing on the speakers and the imams.
Ivanow reports, in one copy he examined, this work is not only given the same title as the one described below, but is also attributed to ‘Alī b. Ḥātim, while in another it is ascribed to an apparently fictitious Ḥātim b. Yaḥyā b. Lamak b. Mālik.
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, p. 200; Ivanow (1963), no. 232; Poonawala
(1977), p. 130, no. 1; Gacek (1984), no. 21 (2 copies).
(2) fols 4b-24a
Risālat rawḍat al-ḥikam al-ṣāfiya wa bustān al-‘ulūm al-wāfiya Elsewhere ascribed to ‘Alī b. Ḥātim al-Ḥāmidī.
The title appears, as mentioned, not here, but at the beginning of the first work. The name of the author is not mentioned in this copy, but al-Majdū‘, pp. 242-244 ascribes this book to Sayyidunā ‘Alī b. Ḥātim (sc. al-Ḥāmidī, the 4th da‘i), which is probably correct. In his introduction (here fol. 5a) the author mentions Ḥātim b. Ibrāhīm, though without explicitly saying that this worthy is his own father. Poonawala reports that in the manuscript in the Wakīl collection this work is ascribed to Ibrāhīm; this results perhaps from a misunderstanding of the passage to which I have just alluded.
The treatise consists of 17 questions and answers, mostly relating to obscure passages in the works of al-Sijistānī, among them his lost Kitāb al-bishāra. It ends with an evocation of the imam al-Ṭayyib as the amīr al-mu’minīn, but in the introduction (fol. 5a) we find a benediction on al- Ṭayyib, but also on 'his most noble sons'; I assume that this last phrase is a scribal interpolation.
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, pp. 242-244; Ivanow (1933), no. 219; Ivanow (1963), no. 231; Gacek (1984), no. 111; Poonawala (1977), p. 156, no.1; Cortese (2003), no. 116.
DESCRIPTION: red leather binding, tooled; 24 folios, preceded by an unnumbered fol. 0; 3 numbered quires of 8 folios each, plus a 4th quire of 4 folios, only the first of which (fol. 24a) is inscribed; catchwords; 21 x 13.5 em ( 13 x 8 em); variable number oflines; black ink with rubrics in red; naskh; a few marginal corrections; completed on 22 Jumāda I of an unspecified year; scribe not indicated; title of the second treatise only indicated in the handwriting of the scribe on fols 1a and 1b, by a different hand on fol. Oa and on a label on the spine; seals inscribed 1284.
DocumentationBlois, François de. Arabic, Persian and Gujarati Manuscripts: The Hamdani Collection. London: I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2011.
Object typemanuscript