Details
Object numberMS 1498 [Handlist 100]
TitleRisālat al-na‘īm
Creatoral-Khaṭṭāb (Author)
DescriptionThe treatise entitled al-Na‘īm is an incomplete esoteric work by al-Khaṭṭāb. A description of it can be found in Poonawala (1999), pp. 166-167, based on the manuscript in the ‘Abd al-Qayyūm collection in Mumbai: this contains an introduction stating that the work is to contain ten chapters (sing. bāb), plus an 11th supernumerary
chapter (khārij min al-‘idda), then the text of the first three chapters, followed by the three sections (sing. faṣl) of the fourth chapter. This is followed by a note to the effect that the extant portion of the treatise ends here, the author having died a martyr, and then the transcript of a notice by Sayyidunā Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥāmidī stating that for the remainder of the work there were only 'scattered notebooks'. The implication is thus that it was al- Ḥāmidī (the 2nd dā‘ī) who edited the fragments of this work after his teacher's death.
Al-Majdū‘ knew this work evidently in the same form, stating somewhat imprecisely that 'what has come down to us is half of the composition'.
The present manuscript (as yet the only copy in the library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies) is even more incomplete than the one described by Poonawala (1977), and some of the pages are out of order. As far as I can ascertain, the correct order of the folios is 1, 2, 3, then: 7, 8, then: 4, 5, 6, then: 9 to 27. These pages contain the introduction, then the first bāb (begins on folio Sa), the second bāb (begins on fol. 20b, with the space for the chapter number left blank), and then just the beginning of the third bāb (begins on fol. 26a, again with a blank
where the chapter number should be), breaking off abruptly on fol. 27b (with the catchword for the following missing folio).
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, p. 204; Ivanow (1933), no. 182; Ivanow (1963), no. 192; Poonawala (1977), p. 136, no. 7 (lists five Mss., including this one).
DESCRIPTION: brown cloth binding; 27 folios; catchwords (do not always match the following page); 15 x 9.5 em (10 x 5.5 em); 13 lines; black ink with very few rubrics in purple (and many more blank spaces for rubrics), and some punctuation in red (on the first two pages only); naskh, with cursive features; a few marginal corrections; title, author, scribe and date are not indicated in the first hand, but an owner's note on fol. 1a states that it is an incomplete (nāqiṣa) copy of Risālat al-na‘īm in the hand of sayyidī Yūsuf-bhā’ī al-Walī al-Ḥakīmī, and this information is repeated on the label on the front cover.
chapter (khārij min al-‘idda), then the text of the first three chapters, followed by the three sections (sing. faṣl) of the fourth chapter. This is followed by a note to the effect that the extant portion of the treatise ends here, the author having died a martyr, and then the transcript of a notice by Sayyidunā Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥāmidī stating that for the remainder of the work there were only 'scattered notebooks'. The implication is thus that it was al- Ḥāmidī (the 2nd dā‘ī) who edited the fragments of this work after his teacher's death.
Al-Majdū‘ knew this work evidently in the same form, stating somewhat imprecisely that 'what has come down to us is half of the composition'.
The present manuscript (as yet the only copy in the library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies) is even more incomplete than the one described by Poonawala (1977), and some of the pages are out of order. As far as I can ascertain, the correct order of the folios is 1, 2, 3, then: 7, 8, then: 4, 5, 6, then: 9 to 27. These pages contain the introduction, then the first bāb (begins on folio Sa), the second bāb (begins on fol. 20b, with the space for the chapter number left blank), and then just the beginning of the third bāb (begins on fol. 26a, again with a blank
where the chapter number should be), breaking off abruptly on fol. 27b (with the catchword for the following missing folio).
REFERENCES: al-Majdū‘, p. 204; Ivanow (1933), no. 182; Ivanow (1963), no. 192; Poonawala (1977), p. 136, no. 7 (lists five Mss., including this one).
DESCRIPTION: brown cloth binding; 27 folios; catchwords (do not always match the following page); 15 x 9.5 em (10 x 5.5 em); 13 lines; black ink with very few rubrics in purple (and many more blank spaces for rubrics), and some punctuation in red (on the first two pages only); naskh, with cursive features; a few marginal corrections; title, author, scribe and date are not indicated in the first hand, but an owner's note on fol. 1a states that it is an incomplete (nāqiṣa) copy of Risālat al-na‘īm in the hand of sayyidī Yūsuf-bhā’ī al-Walī al-Ḥakīmī, and this information is repeated on the label on the front cover.
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