Details
Object numberMS 1496 [Handlist 67]
CreatorAbū ‘Īsā al-Murshid (Author), al-Sulṭān al-Khaṭṭāb (Author), al-Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān (Author)
DescriptionThis is a collection of four treatises all copied in the same hand. The same four works are contained (in the same order) in a manuscript in the Fyzee collection catalogued by Goriawala.
(1) pp. 1-60:
Ghāyat al-mawālīd
by al-Khaṭṭāb
This is a very important work on the imamate and the ranks of the hierarchy, with much historical information, defending the Imamate of al- Ṭayyib. It is summarised in Poonawala (1999), pp. 162-164. The work consists of five chapters: bāb 1 begins here on p. 10; bāb 2 on p. 26; bāb 3 on p. 36; bāb 4 on p. 40; bāb 5 begins on p. 51 and ends on p. 60. The author quotes (among many other works) the Kitāb al-sarā’ir by Ja‘far b. Manṣūr on p. 45 and gives the names of the hidden imams on p. 48. This work is not included in al-Majdū‘’s Fihrist.
Extracts published and translated in: lvanow, Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise of the Fatimids, pp. 35-39 of the Arabic section and pp. 20-23 of the English section.
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1933), no. 184; Ivanow (1963), no. 195; Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (ii); Poonawala (1977), p. 135-136, no. 5; Gacek (1984), no. 25 (4 copies).
(2) pp. 60-79:
The second work in the manuscript begins in the middle of a line on p. 60 with the words: (inred) faṣl (then in black) ‘an mawlānā wa sayyidinā Ja‘far b. Manṣūr. It seems to be an assemblage of quotations from various
works ascribed to Ja‘far (al-Kashf: p. 63; Asrār al-nuṭaqā’: p. 63, 65), to al-Nu‘mān (al-Manāqib wa’l-mathālib: p. 78), to al-Kirmānī (p. 71), and to al-Mu’ayyad (munājāt: p. 61; his poems: p. 64).
REFERENCES: Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (iii); Poonawala (1977), p. 74, no. 15.
(3) pp. 79-90
Risālat jāmi‘at al-jawāhir
By Abū ‘Īsā al-Murshid.
This is ostensibly a work by the Caliph al-Mu‘izz, transmitted by (bi riwāyat) Abū ‘Īsā al-Murshid. Here, as in the copy catalogued by Goriawala (1965), there is a short lacuna at the beginning (here, a blank space after the basmala), the first word being al-Mu‘izz. S. M. Stern, in his posthumous paper 'The Earliest Cosmological Doctrines of Ismāʿīlism’, published in Stern (1983), pp. 3-29, edited this very interesting treatise from the Fyzee manuscript and appended a partial translation and paraphrase, with some valuable remarks.
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1933), no. 400b; Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (iv); Poonawala (1977), p. 70, no. 7.
(4) pp. 90-93
Risālat al-ḥayāt wa’l-nūr
Here, as in the manuscript in the Fyzee collection, there is no indication of the author of this fragment, but Stern, on p. 6 of the above-mentioned article, pointed out that it is actually an extract from al-Risāla al-mudhhiba ascribed to al-Qāḍī an-Nuʿmān, which had been published by ʿĀrif Tāmir in his Khams rasāʼil, pp. 27-87, and which seems to have been preserved (apart from this fragment) only by the Nizaris in Syria. The fragment identified by Stern corresponds to page 40 line 7 to page 42line 5 of Tāmir's edition. Among other things, it contains (in our copy on p. 92) a quotation from the Kitāb al-ibtidā’ ascribed here to the early Ismaili (Qarmatian) leader ‘Abdān (this title is mentioned in Poonawala (1977), p. 32, no. 10, but no copies are listed).
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1963), no. 776 (‘ar-R. al-Mudhniba’ - sic); Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (v); Poonawala (1977), p. 341, no. 183 (for Risalat al-bayat wa 'l-nur) and p. 67, no. 54 (for Risālat al-ḥayāt wa’l-nūr) and p. 67 no. 54 (for al-Risāla al-mudhhiba); Daftary (2004) p. 145.
DESCRIPTION: marbled cloth binding with leather trim; 47 folios (93 numbered pages); the beginning of al-juz’ al-awwal is indicated on p. 0, but the other quires are not signed; catchwords; 18.5 x 14.5 em (11.5 x 10 em); 17 or 18lines; black ink with titles and chapter headings in red; neat naskh; some marginal corrections; no indication of scribe and date; title and author of the first treatise only indicated on the label on the front cover; a note on the verso of the first folio says that it is one of the books donated by the late Mullā Sulṭān-‘Alī (b.) Hibat Allāh as a waqf for the students of the Madrasah Muḥammadiyyah to read in 1316 (1898-1899); contains seals of the said Sulṭān-‘Alī inscribed in 1278.
(1) pp. 1-60:
Ghāyat al-mawālīd
by al-Khaṭṭāb
This is a very important work on the imamate and the ranks of the hierarchy, with much historical information, defending the Imamate of al- Ṭayyib. It is summarised in Poonawala (1999), pp. 162-164. The work consists of five chapters: bāb 1 begins here on p. 10; bāb 2 on p. 26; bāb 3 on p. 36; bāb 4 on p. 40; bāb 5 begins on p. 51 and ends on p. 60. The author quotes (among many other works) the Kitāb al-sarā’ir by Ja‘far b. Manṣūr on p. 45 and gives the names of the hidden imams on p. 48. This work is not included in al-Majdū‘’s Fihrist.
Extracts published and translated in: lvanow, Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise of the Fatimids, pp. 35-39 of the Arabic section and pp. 20-23 of the English section.
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1933), no. 184; Ivanow (1963), no. 195; Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (ii); Poonawala (1977), p. 135-136, no. 5; Gacek (1984), no. 25 (4 copies).
(2) pp. 60-79:
The second work in the manuscript begins in the middle of a line on p. 60 with the words: (inred) faṣl (then in black) ‘an mawlānā wa sayyidinā Ja‘far b. Manṣūr. It seems to be an assemblage of quotations from various
works ascribed to Ja‘far (al-Kashf: p. 63; Asrār al-nuṭaqā’: p. 63, 65), to al-Nu‘mān (al-Manāqib wa’l-mathālib: p. 78), to al-Kirmānī (p. 71), and to al-Mu’ayyad (munājāt: p. 61; his poems: p. 64).
REFERENCES: Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (iii); Poonawala (1977), p. 74, no. 15.
(3) pp. 79-90
Risālat jāmi‘at al-jawāhir
By Abū ‘Īsā al-Murshid.
This is ostensibly a work by the Caliph al-Mu‘izz, transmitted by (bi riwāyat) Abū ‘Īsā al-Murshid. Here, as in the copy catalogued by Goriawala (1965), there is a short lacuna at the beginning (here, a blank space after the basmala), the first word being al-Mu‘izz. S. M. Stern, in his posthumous paper 'The Earliest Cosmological Doctrines of Ismāʿīlism’, published in Stern (1983), pp. 3-29, edited this very interesting treatise from the Fyzee manuscript and appended a partial translation and paraphrase, with some valuable remarks.
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1933), no. 400b; Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (iv); Poonawala (1977), p. 70, no. 7.
(4) pp. 90-93
Risālat al-ḥayāt wa’l-nūr
Here, as in the manuscript in the Fyzee collection, there is no indication of the author of this fragment, but Stern, on p. 6 of the above-mentioned article, pointed out that it is actually an extract from al-Risāla al-mudhhiba ascribed to al-Qāḍī an-Nuʿmān, which had been published by ʿĀrif Tāmir in his Khams rasāʼil, pp. 27-87, and which seems to have been preserved (apart from this fragment) only by the Nizaris in Syria. The fragment identified by Stern corresponds to page 40 line 7 to page 42line 5 of Tāmir's edition. Among other things, it contains (in our copy on p. 92) a quotation from the Kitāb al-ibtidā’ ascribed here to the early Ismaili (Qarmatian) leader ‘Abdān (this title is mentioned in Poonawala (1977), p. 32, no. 10, but no copies are listed).
REFERENCES: Ivanow (1963), no. 776 (‘ar-R. al-Mudhniba’ - sic); Goriawala (1965), no. 80 (v); Poonawala (1977), p. 341, no. 183 (for Risalat al-bayat wa 'l-nur) and p. 67, no. 54 (for Risālat al-ḥayāt wa’l-nūr) and p. 67 no. 54 (for al-Risāla al-mudhhiba); Daftary (2004) p. 145.
DESCRIPTION: marbled cloth binding with leather trim; 47 folios (93 numbered pages); the beginning of al-juz’ al-awwal is indicated on p. 0, but the other quires are not signed; catchwords; 18.5 x 14.5 em (11.5 x 10 em); 17 or 18lines; black ink with titles and chapter headings in red; neat naskh; some marginal corrections; no indication of scribe and date; title and author of the first treatise only indicated on the label on the front cover; a note on the verso of the first folio says that it is one of the books donated by the late Mullā Sulṭān-‘Alī (b.) Hibat Allāh as a waqf for the students of the Madrasah Muḥammadiyyah to read in 1316 (1898-1899); contains seals of the said Sulṭān-‘Alī inscribed in 1278.
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