al-Juz’ al-awwal min kitāb al-masā’il الجزء الأول من كتاب المسائل Qaṣrānī, Ya‘qūb ibn ‘Alī قصراني، يعقوب بن علي [‎15r] (42/408)

Content

Volume One of the Book of Interrogations (كتاب المسائل), an extensive treatise on astrological interrogations by Abū Yūsuf Ya‘qūb ibn ‘Alī al-Qarshī al-Qaṣrānī (أبو يوسف يعقوب بن علي القرشي القصراني, fl. late 9th century).

This volume was completed during the first 10 days of Shawwāl 768/late May-early June 1367 (see Volume One colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 193, line 8, transcribed below).

An illuminated frontispiece (f. 1r) contains in its upper half the work's title and author's name (كتاب المسائل للقصراني في النجوم), and in its lower half the patron statement of the Mamluk amir Sayf al-Dīn Asandamur al-Nāṣirī (سيف الدين أسندمر الناصري, d. 769/1368), Commander-in-chief (أتابك العساكر) during the reign of Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Sha‘bān II (reg. 764-778/1363-1377; see Van Steenbergen, 'On the Brink of a New Era?', Mamlūk Studies Review 15 [2011], p. 126ff and Van Steenbergen, Order Out of Chaos [2006], pp. 179-80 and 194). The patron statement reads as follows:

برسم خزانة المقر الأشرف العالي

المولوي السيفي اسندمر

أتابك العساكر المنصورة

أعز الله أنصاره

Between folios 157 and 158 (now foliated as 157a) is a horoscope written in Persian by a hand much later (Mughal-period ?) than that of the main scribe.

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-9):

الحمد لله ذي الـ[...]ـامد الفاخرة والعزة القاهرة والحجج الزاهرة أحمده

على نعمائه المتطاهرة واستغفره الذنوب السالفة واتعصمه للآنام

المستابقة وأسئله الصلوة على محمد عبده الأمين وعلى آله الطاهرين صلى

الله عليه وعليهم في الأولين والآخرين. ووجدت فيما عثر لنا

عن الأولين مما أودعت كتبها من سرها المكنون مراتب العلم ثلثة أعلاها

المعرفة وهو علم الطب وأوساطها العلم المدرك بالقياس وهو

علم النجوم ووجدت هذه المرتبة الوسطى أشرف ...

Ends (f. 193v, lines 3-6):

... وكذلك جميع الكواكب فقال متى يوجد هذا

السارق فوجدنا المشتري في حادي عشر والنيرين متصلين بزحل فقلت

هذا السارق يوجد فقالوا متى يوجد وكانت الأدلة في التاسع فقلت

يوجد في السوق فأصيب السارق في السوق وأصيب معها السيف والمنطقة والله أعلم

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 193v, lines 7-10):

تم كتاب المسائل بحمد الله وعونه

في العشر الأول من شوال سنة ثمان وستين وسبعمائة

وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد خاتم النبيين والمرسلين وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين

وحسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

On either side of the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. another hand wrote the following in green ink:

(Right)

تم الجزء الأول من

(Left)

يتلوه الباب السابع

في أمر الخصمين

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iii+193+iii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 242 x 155 mm leaf [185 x 115 mm written in frame of 195 x 123 mm]

Foliation: Coptic foliation (mutilated and mostly lost through page trimming) in black ink is visible on some folios (see especially ff. 95r and 126r); Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink (skips from 85 to 87, then from 89 to 149 after which there is much confusion in the Arabic foliation); India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Library foliation stamped in black ink (bound in the following order 1-14, 22-27, 15, 21, 19, 16-17, 20, 18, 28-32, 37-38, 33-36, 39-193). Quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. marks (mostly quaternions and quinions) are visible on ff. 4v-5r, 11v-12r, 16v-17r, 24v-25r, 33v-34r, 45v-46r, 54v-55r, 64v-65r, 74v-75r, 81v-82r, 91v-92r, 101v-102r, 110v-111r, 120v-121r, 130v-131r, 139v-140r, 149v-150r, 159v-160r, 169v-170r, 178v-179r and 188v-189r.

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 23 lines per page; vertical spacing 13 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and diagrams and text frames in red

Decoration: Illuminated frontispiece, text frames in red

Binding: Blue half-leather India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. binding; portions of wrapping used to protect manuscript before rebinding pasted to front flyleaf iii-r

Condition: Many folios laminated with silk gauze due to insect damage, worse towards front of volume; all folios guarded; stains; water damage towards gutter, especially at head and tail

Marginalia: Almost none

Seals: 1r

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

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