Sharḥ al-Majisṭī شرح المجسطي Avicenna ابن سينا

Content

Commentary on Ptolemy's (Claudius Ptolemaeus; c 90-c 168) Almagest (كتاب المجسطي), said to be by Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān al-Fārābī (أبو نصر محمد بن محمد بن ترخان الفارابي; ca 870-950), but in fact by Avicenna (أبو علي بن سينا; ca 980-1037).

Notes on front paper iii verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. and f. 1r state that the author is al-Fārābī and do not mention Avicenna. The author of the introduction, however, mentions the Kitāb al-lawāḥiq (كتاب اللواحق ; f. 1v, line 4) as one of his own works, and this text is known to have been written by Avicenna (see Kātip Çelebi, Kitāb kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 2, col. 1454 [Bayrūt: Dār Iḥyaʾ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, 1941-1955]). Moreover, this text of the Sharḥ al-Majisṭī found in this manuscript appears to be almost identical with the text of Part (فن) Four of the section on Mathematics (رياضيات) from Avicenna's Kitāb al-shifā’ (كتاب الشفاء; Mudawwar and Aḥmad (eds) [al-Qāhirah: al-Hayʾah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Kitab, 1980]).

The text contains numerous diagrams.

The copy was completed at Damascus during (the last 10 days of ?) Ramaḍān 628 AH/end July-beginning August AD 1231 by an anonymous scribe (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 106r, lines 6-8, transcribed below).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-5):

قد حان أن نورد جوامع كتاب بطلميوس الكبير المعمول في المجسطي وعلم الهيئة وأن نحتذي

في ذلك حذو كلامه من غير أن نسلك في ذلك طريقة غير طريقته من الطرق التي ظهرت للمحدثين

إلا في أشياء يسيرة فإن الاستقصاء في ذلك مما نورد في كتاب اللواحق وأن نقرب المعاني إلى

الأفهام غاية ما تقدر عليه ...

Ends (ff. 105v, line 23-106r, line 3):

... وكرة يميل قطر هذه على ما تقتضيه حركة أحد القطرين وكرة يميل نقطتي هذه

المميلة إلى ما تقتضيه حركة القطر الثانى من الالتواء والانحراف اعلم أن الرصد الحديث أخرج مقادير

الخطوط الواصلة ونسب أقطار أفلاك التدوير مخالفة بشىء يسير لما أوجبه بطلميوس لكنا من وراء

أن يتحقق ذلك برصد نحاوله نرجو أن نبلغ فى استقصائه ما لم يبلغ من قبلنا بعون الله وحسن

توفيقه ...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 106, lines 3-8):

... تم الكتاب والحمد لله رب العالمين

وصلوته على أنبيائه المرسلين خصوصةً على محمد وآله أجمعين

[the rest of the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. has been erased and the following has been added to the left, perhaps by the same hand]

وقع الفراغ منه في (عشر لآخرين ؟) رمضان

في مدينة دمشق حماها الله تعالى

من سنة 628 الهجرية

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iiii+106+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 224 x 150 mm leaf [162 x 115 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; pagination in black ink in eastern Arabic numerals added in 1909 by the bookdealer Murād al-Barūdī (see note on front paper iiii verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. )

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 24 lines per page; vertical spacing 15 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated marginal headings and overlinings and diagrams in red

Binding: British Museum binding

Condition: Minor worm damage, some water damage and mould staining, f. 106 mutilated below colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text.

Marginalia: Very few

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 7368

History of this record

Date(s)

Ramaḍān 628 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Damascus

Provenance

• Murād al-Barūdī (مراد البرودي), bookdealer, his inscription dated 13 Kānūn II (January) 1909 recording his purchase of the manuscript on 6 Kānūn II (January) 1909 (front paper iiii verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. );
• Ownership inscription of library in which the manuscript was number 151, name erased, undated (f. 1r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Murad Baroody (Murād al-Barūdī), 9 October 1909

Related material

Finding aids

Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 39

Select Bibliography

Russian Translation:

• Fārābī, Abū Nasr, Sharḥ al- Majistī , A. Kubesova and B. Rosenfeld (eds and trans), (Alma Ata: Nakau, 1969)

Edition of corresponding section in the Kitāb al-shifāʾ:

• Avicenna, al-Shifāʾ: al-Riyāḍīyāt: ʻilm al-hayʾah 4 , Muḥammad Riḍā Mudawwar and Imām Ibrāhīm Aḥmad (eds), notes and introduction in French by Ibrāhim Bayyūmī Madkur, (al-Qāhirah: al-Hayʾah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Kitab, 1980)

Studies:

• Sezgin, Fuat, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums , vol. 6 (Leiden: Brill, 1978). p. 195
• Dhanani, Alnoor, 'Fārābī: Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān al-Fārābī', in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers , Thomas Hockey et al., eds., (New York: Springer, 2007) pp. 356-57
• Kātip Çelebi, Kitāb kashf al-ẓunūn ʻan asāmi al-kutub wa-al-funūn , 6 vols, (Bayrūt: Dār Iḥyaʾ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, 1941-1955)

Subjects

Astronomy--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad FārābīAvicennaClaudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy)

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Sharḥ al-Majisṭī شرح المجسطي Avicenna ابن سينا, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 7368, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100022625065.0x000001> [accessed 23 November 2024]

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