Ms. 40.
65 folios; 12×19 cm; ± 13 lines; vocalized naskhi. Single words are written in red ink. The text is within a red frame. Yellowish, spotted paper, in part repaired. Original leather binding, covers and flap with golden centre-medallion. Copied 1142/1729-30.
[2081] fols. 1v-62r: Ali Ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Qari' al-Herewi علي بن سلطان محمد القارئ الهروي : al-Hizb al-a'zam wa-al-wird al-afkham الحزب الأعظم والورد الأفخم .
On the author (died 1014/1605) and his collection of prayers → GAL II 396 no. 51 and S II 540f. no. 51. The text was printed in the 19th century seven times, in two cases with Hindustani translation (Delhi 1310/1892-3) and Turkish paraphrase (Istanbul 1278/1861-2).
[2082] fols. 62v-65v: Some short personal prayers (du'a' دعاء ) .
Ms. 41.
40 folios; 16,5×24 cm; 24-25 lines; regular nasta'liq. Single words and sentences are written in red ink. Smooth, yellowish paper. Original marbled pasteboard binding with red leather spine. Copied by Umar Fadil Efendi Jamal al-Din, also called Jamal al-Din Umar Fadil al-Ardrumi, teacher in the madrasa al-sultaniya (fol. 40r), during 1276/1859-1860 (fol. 39r) and 1277/1860-61.
[2083] fols. 1v-39r: Mustafa Ibn Kamal al-Din Ibn Ali al-Bakri al-Siddiqi مصطفى بن كمال الدين بن علي البكري الصديقي : al-Matlab al-tamm al-sawi ala Hizb al-Imam al-Nawawi المطلب التام السوي على حزب الإمام النووي .
On al-Bakri al-Siddiq (died 1162/1749) → GAL II 349 and S II 477. He wrote his commentary on al-Nawawi (died 676/1278), al-Hizb (a prayer; in our Ms. written in red ink and also separately on fols. 39v-40r), at the request of his friend Hasan حسن . In the introduction al-Bakri gives a survey of al-Nawawi's life and works; then he informs the reader of the effects of prayers and gives a list of those authorities on whom his text is based. On al-Nawawi's Hizb (printed) and on the unpublished commentary by al-Bakri al-Siddiqi → GAL I 397 no. XXII and S I 685 no. XXII. According to the colophon the commentary was written in 1140/1727. The commented text, al-Nawawi's Hizb, is separately copied, also on the following two pages:
[2084] fols. 39v-40r: al-Nawawi النووي : Hizb حزب .
The text is also included in the commentary by al-Bakri al-Siddiqi البكري الصديقي (→ preceding text).
Ms. 42.
47 folios; 16,2×22,3 cm; 17 lines; carefully written naskhi. Smooth paper. Cloth covers with flap and red leather spine. Copied by Muhammad Hasan Ibn al-Shaykh Ahmad, the son of al-Alim al-Allama (= Muhammad Najib al-Qala'i) on 14 Sha'ban 1290/22 September 1873 and collated with the original by another scholar on 13 Dhu al-Qa'da 1290/2 January 1874.
[2085] fols. 1v-46v: Muhammad Najib al-Qala'i محمد نجيب القلعي : Fath al-ilah bi-tahqiq sujud al-salat فتح الإله بتحقيق سجود الصلاة .
Author and text on prostration during the prayer are mentioned neither in Brockelmann (GAL) nor in Kahhale or in Bursali. The author is perhaps identical with the father of Muhammad Rashid Ibn Najib al-Qala'i محمد رشيد بن نجيب القلعي , who in approximately 1215/1800 copied Ms. Berlin 4451, a copy of Quduri's القدوري Mukhtasar fi furu' al-Hanafiya مختصر في فروع الحنفية . According to the colophon of our Ms., the copyist (Muhammad Hasan) is a descendant of Muhammad Najib al-Qala'i; he is the son of Ali, a son of Ahmad, who is said to be the son of Muhammad Najib al-Qala'i. In view of these observations the author may have written in the second half of the 12th/18th century.
Beginning (after the Basmala):
الحمد لله المحمود بجميل الصفات وجليل المحامد الحميد المجيد الذي شهدت سائر الكائنات أنه الربّ الواحد ... أما بعد فيقول الفقير ... محمد نجيب : هذه نبذة لطيفة وزبدة بعيدة ..
End:
ويقيس عليه سائر ما صدر عنه من مقاله. انتهت عبارته بجملتها وهنا وقف قلم مؤلفها الإمام الفاضل والهمام الكامل كنز العلم والذخيرة وتنوير الأبصار لذي البصيرة صدر الشام ورئيس العلماء الأعلام محمد نجيب تغمده الله وغفرانه آمين ،
Other mss. on religious duties: → text nos. [2002], [2003], [2029], [2119], [2123], [2124], [2125], [2201], [2295], [2297], [2323], [2336], [2355], [2377], [2378], [2380], [2383], [2387], [2392], [2453] and[2454].
Ethics
Ms. 43.
168 folios; 16,7×26 cm; 21 lines; carefully written naskhi, in part vocalized. Single words and sentences are written in red ink. The Arabic text is interspersed with Syriac (Serto), which in part is written in red ink. The text is within a red frame. Yellowish paper; the edges, especially at the top, are damaged. The centre-ornament on both covers is damaged and scarcely visible. Reader's remark on fols. 1 mentions Aleppo, apparently the place of origin of this Ms. Copied during 1591 by Ubayd Allah Gregorius "on behalf of the bishop (mutran) of Karkar", apparently in the year of translation (→ below).
[2086] fols. 2v-166v: Barhebraeus (= Gregorius Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Ibri غريغوريوس أبو الفرج ابن العبري ): Kitab al-Ithiqun كتاب الإيثيقون = Ethikon.
Barhebraeus (died A.D. 1286), Ethikon was originally written in Syriac. This Syriac version was first edited in 1898 by P. Bedjan: Ethicon, seu Moralia Gregorii Barhebraei (Paris and Leipzig). A new edition of Memra I with English translation by G.B. Teule appeared in 1993 in the Series Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium [Lovanii] no. 534.535 (= Scriptores syri 218.219). - The book is a work on ethics which is heavily based on Ghazzali's الغزالي Ihya' ulum al-din إحياء علوم الدين ; → Baumstark 315f. and Teule (Corpus no. 535) pp. 112ff.
According to the colophon of our Ms. (fol. 166v), it was translated into Arabic on behalf (bi-rasm برسم ) of the deacon (shammas شماس ) Safar Ibn Maqdisi Mansur سفر بن مقدسي منصور (on him → CGAL IV 15) at the beginning of Adhar 1909 (Seleucid era) /1591. Therefore, the attribution of the translation to Yuhanna Ibn al-Jarir al-Shami يوحنا بن الجرير الشامي (end of the 17th century; → CGAL II 275; 278; 281; 283) must be wrong. The available sources mention as translator of Barhebraeus' Ethikon also Daniel Ibn al-Khattab دانيال بن الخطاب (born A.D. 1327); s. CGAL II 281f. and 283f. According to Jean-Maurice Fiey (Bibliographie de Bar Hebraeus, in: Parole de l'Orient 13, Kaslik/Liban 1986, pp. 279-312) p. 292, however, the translation attributed to Daniel Ibn al-Khattab is in fact by Da'ud al-Himsi داوود الحمصي (died 1500?). Teule (Corpus no. 535, p. XIVf.) attributes this translation to Daniel of Mardin from the14th century and assumes at least three different Arabic translations. A comparison shows the identity of our version with that of two mss. in Oxford which is anonymous and classified by Teule as "translation B".
Our Ms. was translated in 1591 on behalf of Safar Ibn Maqdisi Mansur; as the colophon mentions this year as date of the copy and as copyist Ubayd Allah Gregorius, who copied the text "on behalf of the bishop of Karkar كركر ", - we can conclude that the copyist is also the translator and that the Ms. is an autograph. Confirmation of this may be the fact that the version contains single sentences in Syriac which are not translated. The bishop of Karkar (perhaps a district of Baghdad; → Yaqut, Mu'jam al-buldan, ed. F. Wüstenfeld IV, Leipzig 1869, p. 262, 7) may have ordered the translation and the deacon of Aleppo, Safar Ibn Maqdisi Mansur, may have delegated it to Ubayd Allah Gregorius.
Ms. 44.
9 folios; 12,9×17 cm; 19 lines; clearly written naskhi. Single words are written in red ink. Thick, brownish paper. Copied 10 Rabi' II 912/30 August 1505 by Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Iwardi al-Maliki.
[2087] fols. 1v-9r: Ibn al-Jawzi ابن الجوزي : Kitab Hifz al-umr كتاب حفظ العمر .
On the author (died 591/1200) → GAL II I 501ff.; S I 914ff. The title of these considerations on life and its dignity is mentioned neither in GAL nor in Abd al-Hamid al-Alushi عبد الحميد العلوشي , Mu'allafat Ibn al-Jawzi مؤلفات ابن الجوزي (Baghdad 1965). The text is different from Ibn al-Jawzi, Tanbih al-na'im al-ghumr ala mawasim al-umr تنبيه النائم الغمر على مواسم العمر (GAL I 505 no. 55; S I 919 no.55); → Sheshen, Nawadir I 58.
The text consists of three chapters:
1) Fi bayan sharaf al-umr wa-al-hathth ala ightina'ihi fi al-khayr في بيان شرف العمر والحث على اغتنائه في الخير (fols.2r-3r);
2) Fi dhikr man kana yubadiru al-umr wa-yubalighu fi hifz lahazatihi في ذكر من كان يبادر العمر ويبالغ في حفظ لحظاته (3r-6r);
3) Fi dhikr sabab tadyi' al-umr في ذكر سبب تضييع العمر (6r-9r).
Beginning (after the Basmala):
الحمد لله الذي جعل عمر الآدمي سفرا إلى الأخرى طويلا وقصيرا. فسار الناس ببضائع الأعمال فربح الميقظون ربحا كثيرا... أما بعد : فإني رأيت العمر بضاعة للآدمي فعجبت من تفريط الناس فيه وكأنهم ما علموا أن الدنيا ميادين سبّاق على مقدار الهمم وتفاوت الهمم على قدر الإيمان باللغو ...
End:
ونسأل الله سبحانه وتعالى توفيقا يحرسنا به من الزلل ويحثنا على الجدّ والإخلاص في العمل بمنه وكرمه وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم. آخر كتاب حفظ العمر. تأليف الشيخ الإمام جمال الدين أبي الفرج عبد الرحمن بن الجوزي الحنبلي،
In the colophon the copyist informs us that he omitted the chain of transmitters (isnad إسناد ) of reported traditions.
On fol. 9v follows a short poem ascribed to Abu Yusuf أبو يوسف (died 182/798; → GAS I 419), a pupil of Abu Hanifa أبو حنيفة .
Ethics: tobacco
Ms. 45.
2 folios; 14×20 cm; 20 lines; naskhi. Single words are written in red ink. Brownish paper, slightly spotted. Hand of the 11th/17th century.
[2088] fols. 1v-2v: Molla Husayn Ibn Iskandar ملا حسين بن إسكندر : Risalat al-Fawa'id al-fakhira fi umur al-akhira رسالة الفوائد الفاخرة في أمور الآخرة , a summary (risala mukhtasara رسالة مختصرة ).
The author of this treatise against smoking tobacco died around 1084/1673. The title is mentioned neither in Brockelmann (GAL II 435; S II 646) nor in Kahhale (III 314). As paper and ink suggest the 11th/17th century, the Ms. may be an autograph.
Beginning (after the Basmala):
وبه ثقتي، الحمد لله ربّ العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين، يقول العبد الفقير إلى مولاه الغني منلا حسين بن إسكندر الحنفي، أما بعد : فهذه رسالة مختصرة من رسالتي المسماة بالفوائد الفاخرة في أمور الآخرة وفيها ذكر الدخان وهل هو من المباح أو من الحرام،
End:
وتمام ما ذكر في هذه الرسالة مبسوط في رسالتي المسماة بالفوائد الفاخرة في أمور الآخرة التي اختصرت هذه منها، وبالله التوفيق، تمت رسالة المنلا حسين المختصرة بحمد الله وعونه،
In the margin of the colophon is added (apparently by the same hand):
ويجب على كل مؤمن أن يدعو الله تعالى أن ينصر السلطان وعساكر المسلمين بحرمة سيد المرسلين آمين،
The text consists of four chapters (fasl فصل ) and has a lacuna between fols. 1 and 2 (apparently two folios are missing).
It is unclear whether our text is a part of Husayn Ibn Iskandar, Muqaddima fi al-aqa'id wa-al-fiqh ala madhhab al-Imam Abi Hanifa مقدمة في العقائد والفقه على مذهب الإمام أبي حنيفة , with commentary by the author himself (written 1069/1658-9), called Miftah al-falah wa-kimiya' al-sa'ada wa-al-salah al-muta'alliq bi-al-dukhan مفتاح الفلاح وكمياء السعادة والصلاح المتعلق بالدخان , Ms. Damascus, Zahiriya no. 1345 (→ Fahras Maktabat Dar al-kutub al-Zahiriya فهرس مكتبة دار الكتب الظاهرية : al-Fiqh al-hanafi الفقه الحنفي II by Muhammad Muti' al-Hafiz محمد مطيع الحافظ , Damascus 1401/1981, p.195f.; this Ms. is already mentioned in GAL S II 646 no.2).
Ms. 46.
9 folios; 12×18,5 cm; 19 lines; irregular naskhi. Single words are written in red ink or overlined in red. Thin, brownish and slightly water-stained paper. Hand of the late 12th/18th century.
[2089] fols. 1r: Ibn al-Buldaji ابن البلدجي : al-Ikhtiyar sharh al-mukhtar lil-fatwa الاختيار شرح المختار للفتوى .
A fragment (only the end) of al-Buldaji (died 683/1284), al-mukhtar lil-fatwa, a compendium of Abu Hanifa's أبو حنيفة legal doctrines, including differing opinions of other scholars and the commentary (sharh) by al-Buldaji himself; → GAL I 382 no.1 and S I 657 no.1.
[2090] fols. 1v-9v: An anonymous treatise on smoking tobacco.
A later hand at the top of fol. 1v ascribed the text to Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi عبد الغني النابلسي . This cannot be correct, however: Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's treatise on the allowance of smoking tobacco, his al-Sulh bayna al-ikhwan fi hukm ibahat al-dukhan الصلح بين الإخوان في حكم إباحة الدخان (GAL II 346 no.32 and S II 474 no.32) is different from our Ms.; moreover, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's work is much longer (cf. Ms. Berlin 5494).
Our text is identical with the anonymous Risala fi al-dukhan رسالة في الدخان which is preserved in two mss. of the 12th/18th and 13th/19th century in the University Library of Princeton (Mach no. 2092).
Other mss. related to ethics : → text nos. [2384], [2385], [2398], [2399], [2409], [2414], [2421] and [2465].
Paraenetic works
Ms. 47.
179 folios; 15,5×12 cm; 16 lines; naskhi. The chapter-headings are written in red ink or in large letters. The paper is heavily damaged (in part repaired) and water-stained; some loss of text on every page. Hand of the 11th/17th century (?).
[2091] fols. 1r-179v: Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi أبو الليث السمرقندي : Tanbih al-ghafilin تنبيه الغافلين .
Considerations on morals and piety. On the author (died 373/983 or later) and this text → GAS I 449f. The beginning (the first two chapters) is missing; the text ends in the chapter on rifq رفق( = ed. Cairo, repr. Beirut 1979, p. 205ff.). The sequence of some chapters differs from the edition and the mss.
Ms. 48.
322 folios; 13,8×20,4 cm; 21 lines; small naskhi. Chapter-headings are written in red ink and single sentences are overlined in red. The paper is in part spotted and the first folio is damaged. Original leathercovers with centre-ornament; the binding is repaired. Copied Rajab 1073/February 1663 by Ibrahim Ibn Uthman.
[2092] fols. 1v-320v: (Ps.) al-Ghazzali الغزالي : Mishkat al-anwar al-kabir = Mishkat al-anwar fi lata'if al-akhbar lil-tahdid ila sunan al-sayyid al-mukhtar مشكاة الأنوار الكبير = مشكاة الأنوار في لطائف الأخبار للتحديد إلى سنن السيد المختار .
A still unedited paraenetic book based on Koran and tradition. In Hajji Khalifa (II col. 1693) it is ascribed to Ghazzali. As a comparison shows, it is different from Ghazzali, Mishkat al-anwar wa-misfat al-anwar مشكاة الأنوار ومصفاة الأنوار , a mystical work (= GAL S I 751 no.34a); it is mentioned (with additional mss.) in GAL S I 751 no.34c and is identical with Ms. Berlin 8745: → the description and the survey of all 47 chapters in the catalogue by Ahlwardt. Like the Berlin Ms. our text does not mention any author. It cannot have been written by Ghazzali and may have been composed by Ala' al-Din Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Misri علاء الدين علي بن محمد المصري who died in 877/1472; → Bouyges, Essai, p. 249 no. 257 and 258 and Badawi, Mu'allafat, p. 381f. (with additional mss.).
Our Ms. differs from the known mss. insofar as it includes a commentary. The commented text is overlined in red ink. Some pages have glosses in the margin. On fol. 32r is a drawing: concentric circles representing the cosmos.
On fols. 321r and 322v are some notes by a later hand.
Ms. 49.
251 folios; 15×21,2 cm; 23 lines; clear naskhi. Single words or sentences are in a few cases overlined in red or black ink. Thick paper, in part damaged, spotted, worm-eaten and water-stained with some loss of text on fols. 175-177. Owner's stamp on fols. 1r and 47r. The binding is repaired. Original leather covers with frame and centre-ornament, with an additional small ornament below and above it. Copied in 1117/1705-1706.
[2093] fols. 1v-251v: Ahmad Ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Rumi أحمد بن عبد القادر الرومي : Majalis al-abrar wa-masalik al-akhyar wa-mahayiq al-bida' wa-maqami' al-ashrar مجالس الأبرار ومسالك الأخيار ومحايق البدع ومقامع الأشرار .
The author (died 1041/1631 or 1043/1634-35) wrote this book as an encouragement to religious life. It consists of 100 "sessions" (majalis); → the survey of chapters given in the description of Ms. Berlin 8845. Each session starts with a thematic tradition which is taken from al-Baghawi البغوي (died 516/1122 or later), Masabih al-sunna مصابيح السنة (on this Hadith-collection → GAL I 364 and S I 620) and which is extensively discussed. These discussions give a good idea of those books on tafsir, Hadith, law, dialectical theology and mysticism which were used at that time.
On more mss. and on an old edition with Hindustani translation (Lucknow 1321/1903) → GAL II 445 and S II 661f.
The text is collated; in the margin are some notes.