Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ رسائل إخوان الصفاء Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ إخوان الصفاء [‎196r] (400/570)

Content

The second volume (المجلد الثاني, probably of an original three) of the well-known Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (رسائل إخوان الصفاء, Epistles of the Brethren of Purity ), compiled by an anonymous group calling themselves Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ wa Khullān al-Wafāʾ ( إخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء, Brethren of Purity and Sincere Friends; active ca mid-tenth century).

This encyclopaedic compendium of 51 (sometimes 52) treatises covers various exoteric and esoteric branches of knowledge, including mathematical, natural, intellectual and divine sciences. The full work comprises four sections, and the present copy includes the seventh epistle of the second section through to the ninth epistle (out of ten) of the third section.

A date of copying of Friday, 11 Dhū al-Hijjah 644/19 April 1247 is given in the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. to the eighth epistle of section two [22], (f. 93v, lines 10-11, transcribed below). No other dating is found in this copy.

Contents

Section titles and epistle numbers in square brackets are taken from de Catallaÿ, 'The Classification of Knowledge in the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' , in El-Bizri, Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: The Ikhwan al-Safa' and their Rasa'il: An introduction (2008). Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 58-82), pp. 73-74.

Section Two [Corporeal and Natural Sciences]

• Epistle 7 [21] (ff. 1r-12v);
• Epistle 8 [22] (ff. 13r-93v);
• Epistle 9 [23] (ff. 94r-101v);
• Epistle 10 [24] (ff. 102r-111r);
• Epistle 11 [25] (ff. 111r-129r);
• Epistle 12 [26] (ff. 129r-140r);
• Epistle 13 [27] (ff. 140r-145v);
• Epistle 14 [28] (ff. 146r-152v);
• Epistle 15 [29] (ff. 153r-160v);
• Epistle 16 [30] (ff. 161r-175r);
• Epistle 17 [31] (ff. 175v-184v).

Section Three [Sciences of the Soul and of the Intellect]

• Epistle 1 [32] (ff. 185r -194v);
• Epistle 2 [33] (ff. 195r-200v);
• Epistle 3 [34] (ff. 201r-205v);
• Epistle 4 [35] (ff. 206r-214r);
• Epistle 5 [36] (ff. 214r-223v);
• Epistle 6 [37] (ff. 224r-232r);
• Epistle 7 [38] (ff. 232v-248r);
• Epistle 8 [39] (ff. 248r-258v);
• Epistle 9 [40] (ff. 259r-279r).

Diagrams:

Epistle 33 is accompanied by one diagram, and epistle 40 with two:

• Diagram of the planetary spheres (f. 196r);
• Diagram of the nine philosophical questions (f. 260r);
• Diagram of the four categories of causes and the four categories of effects (f. 266v).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 1-4):

...ربّ وفّق

وإذ قد فرغنا من ذكر الجواهر المعدنية وبيّنا طرفًا من كيفية تكوينها وكمية أجناسها

وفنون أنواعها ومنافعها ومضارّها في رسالة لنا وبيّنا فيها أن آخر المرتبة المعدنية

متصلة بأول مرتبة النبات ...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. to epistle 22 (f. 93v, lines 7-12):

تمت الرسالة

الحيوانية وعجائب هياكلها وغرائب أحوالها

من رسائل إخوان الصفاء وخلّان الوفاء

يوم الجمعة الحادي عشر ذي الحجة سنة أربع

وأربعين وستمائة والحمد لوليه

والصلوة على نبيه

Ends (f. 279r, lines 16-20):

تمت الرسالة

والحمد لوليه والصلوة على نبيه

محمد وآله وأصحابه الطاهرين

تم مجلد الثاني من كتاب إخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء

وسلّم تسليمًا كثيرًا

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+279+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 245 x 178 mm leaf [188 x 125 mm written]

Foliation: Arabic quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. markings in red ink (to f. 90) and black ink (to end), British Museum foliation in pencil.

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 21 lines per page and occasionally a few words in the lower margin of verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. pages; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Brown ink, with rubricated headings, overlinings, and diagrams in red. The heading of epistle 8 of section two [22] (f. 13r, line 1) in green ink over-written with red, and epistle 10 of section two [24] (f. 102r, line 1) in green ink with red pointing.

Decoration: None

Binding: Red leather binding without flap; blind-tooled central medallion and pendants within a double frame; boards covered with indigo paper.

Condition: Generally good; water damage to gutter margin throughout has damaged some text, which has been over-written in places. First and last folios heavily repaired. Insect damage in outer margin (ff. 67-88) has been crudely repaired with paper.

Marginalia:

• Many marginal corrections in the scribal hand, and many notes throughout in a small neat nasta'liq hand (in Arabic); notes on f. 279v are obscured by an ink spillage.
• Seal of Solomon (f. 1r);

Seals:

• f. 1r
• British Museum seals on f. 1r, f. 279v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

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