al-Wāḍiḥ fī al-ramy wa-al-nushshāb الواضح في الرمي والنشاب al-Ṭabarī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad طبري، عبد الرحمن ابن أحمد

Content

A copy of a practical treatise on archery, very popular especially in the Mamluk period, by Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarī (أبو محمد عبد الرحمن بن أحمد الطبري, active ca 9th century). The author's nisbah is frequently invoked by the copyist using the formula 'al-Ṭabarī said:...', قال الطبري).

Al-Ṭabarī synthesises the methodologies of the three foundational schools of Abū Ḥāshim al-Bāwardī (أبو هاشم الباوردي), or al-Māwardī), Ṭāhir al-Balkhī (طاهر البلخي), and Isḥāq al-Raffāʾ (إسحاق الرفاء); consequently he was considered the founder of the 'eclectic' school (مذهب الاختيار). Al-Ṭabari also mentions his own training with instructors from the different schools, Muḥammad ʿĪsā al-Samarqandī (محمد عيسى السمرقندي), ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qarāwī (عبد الرحمن القراوي), and Aḥmad Saʿīd al-Khwārizmī (أحمد سعيد الخوارزمي, ff. 24r-24v).

The second bāb contains verses on archery by al-Ḥabr ibn ʿAbbās (الحبر ابن عباس, ff. 9r-11v), and the text contains three painted illustrations depicting bows, arrows, and other weapons (ff. 11v, 29r and 32r).

Contents:

• Chapter One: Archery in the [Qurʼānic] verses and histories [of the Prophet and Companions] (الباب الأول في الرمي وما جاء فيه من الأيات والأخبار, ff. 2v-8v);
• Chapter Two: Who first made the Arab and Persian bows (في أول من عمل القوس العربية والفارسية, ff. 8v-11v);
• Chapter Three: The names of the Imams [Masters] of archery (في أسماء أئمة الرماية, ff. 11v-12r);
• Chapter Four: On the different opinions about the number of principles of archery (في عدد أصول الرمي واختلافهم فيه, ff. 12r-13r);
• Chapter Five: The Archery school of Abū Hāshim [al-Bāwardī] (مذهب أبي هاشم في الرماية, ff. 13r-18r);
• Chapter Six: Description of the School of Isḥāq al-Raffāʾ (في وصف مذهب إسحاق الرفاء, ff. 18r-18v);
• Chapter Seven: Nocking the arrow (في أخذ السهم في التفويق, ff. 18v-20v);
• Chapter Eight: The square grasp (في القبضة المربعة, ff. 20v-22r);
• Chapter Nine: The different opinions of the Imams [Masters] [...] regarding aiming (في اختلاف الأئمة [...] في الاعتماد, ff. 22r-22v);
• Chapter Ten: The capacity of the arrow (في مقدار نشابة الرامي, ff. 22v-23r);
• Chapter Eleven: The capacity of the bow (في مقدار قوس الرامي, ff. 23r-24v);
• Chapter Twelve: His own [i.e., al-Ṭabari's] eclectic approach to archery (في اختياره لنفسه في الرماية, ff. 24v-26r);
• Chapter Thirteen: What happens to the forefinger upon stringing (فيما يحدث بالسبابة من الإيتار, f. 26r-26v);
• Chapter Fourteen: What happens to the forefinger upon drawing (مما يحدث لسبابة الرامي عند الجر, ff. 26v-27r);
• Chapter on the blow of the string against the forefinger (في سطع الوتر سبابة الرامي, ff. 27r-27v);
• Chapter on the blow of the string on the end of the thumb (في سطع الوتر لطرف إبهام الرامي, ff. 27v-28v);
• Chapter on the secrets of shooting on a windy day (باب عن أسرار الرمي في يوم الريح, ff. 29v-30r);
• Night-shooting (باب رمي الليل, ff. 30r-32r);
• Chapter on competitive shooting and description of the distance bow and arrow (باب السبق وصفة قوس البعيد وسهمه, ff. 32r-33v).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-6):

الباب الأول في الرمي وما جاء فيه

من الأيات والأخبار

قال الله عز وجل وأعدوا لهم ما استطعتم

من قوة ومن رباط الخيل ترهبون به عدو

الله وعدوكم...

Ends (f. 33v, lines 5-9):

...أن إحدى يديك مختلفة

قبل الإطلاق أو تشد أحدهما على الأخرى

ولتكن أنا ملك على قبضتك أشد مما يمكنك

فإذا فعلت ذلك جميعًا ما ذكرتك لم يكد أحد

يسبقك إن شاء الله تعالى والله أعلم ...

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 33v, lines 9-15):

... نجز الكتاب

بحمد الله وعونه وحسن توفيقه

وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد

وعلى آله وصحبه

وسلم

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; iii+34+iv

Physical characteristics

Material: A mixture of burnished Western laid papers

Dimensions: 206 x 145mm leaf [162 x 95mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

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

Script: Fully-vocalised naskh

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings

Decoration: Three illustrations with gold paint depicting weapons (ff. 11v, 29r and 32r); double red-ruled frame around text areas

Binding: Brown leather binding with central stamped medallion and tooled border; shadow of previous envelope flap from f. 32 onwards

Condition: Heavily water-stained with some smudging and loss of ink; worse at beginning of volume; sewing repaired with silk thread; some folios guarded

Marginalia: None; various notes and calculations on ff. 1r-2r and 34r-34v

Seals: British Museum seals (ff. 1r and 34v)

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 3134

History of this record

Date(s)

16th century (CE, Gregorian)

Provenance

• Shaykh Riḍwān (شيخ رضوان), his inscription with date 1 Rabīʿ I 1152/8 June 1739 (f. 1r);
• Sayyid Ḥasan ibn al-Sayyid Saʿd al-Dīn al-Ḥarīrī (سيد حسن ابن السيد سعد الدين الحريري), his prayers, ownership and reading note dated 1246/1830-31 (ff. 33v-34r);
• Reading note and comment, both with date 1248/1832-33 (f. 34r);
• Stylised monograms, including that of Salīm ibn Sulaymān (سليم ابن سليمان, f. 34r);
• Brother al-Sayyid Salīm (الأخ السيد سليم), his inscription (f. 34v).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Baron Alfred Freiherr von Kremer (1828-89), 9 January 1886

Related material

Finding aids

Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 817, p. 554-55

Related primary sources

Or. 9454

Or 9265/2

Select Bibliography

Study:

• Al-Sarraf, Shihab, 'Mamluk Furūsīyah Literature and Its Antecedents', Mamluk Studies Review, 8 (2004), pp. 141-200 (see pp. 163-65).

Subjects

Military art and science -- Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad Ṭabarī

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al-Wāḍiḥ fī al-ramy wa-al-nushshāb الواضح في الرمي والنشاب al-Ṭabarī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad طبري، عبد الرحمن ابن أحمد, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 3134, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100099022269.0x000001> [accessed 21 December 2024]

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