al-Mukhtār min kutub al-ikhtiyārāt al-falakīyah المختار من كتب الاختيارات الفلكية Takrītī, Yaḥyá ibn Jarīr تكريتي، يحيى بن جرير [‎54v] (117/330)

Content

A treatise on the selection of propitious astrological moments (astrological elections), copied 28 Ramaḍān 646/14 January 1249 by the scribe Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-ʿAskarī (أحمد بن محمد بن أبي العز العسكري, see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 158r, line 16).

It was written by Abū Naṣr Yaḥyá ibn Jarīr al-Takrītī (أبو نصر يحيى بن جرير التكريتي, fl. 472/1079), brother of al-Faḍl ibn Jarīr al-Takrītī who was physician to the Marwānid amīr of Diyārbakr, Nāṣir al-Dawlah ibn Marwān (r. 1011-61).

The treatise, compiling the writings of previous authorities on the subject, was composed at the behest of 'the cultured lord, Sadīd al-Dawlah Abū al-Ghanāʾim ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrahīm' (السيد المهذب سديد الدولة أبي الغنائم عبد الكريم بن ابرهيم, d. 1096, see Ends, f. 158r, lines 13-15, below).

Sadīd al-Dawlah was the son of Abū Faḍl Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Anbārī (d. 1065-66) and brother of Abū Ṭāhir ibn al-Anbārī (d. 1096), who served successively as viziers to Nāṣir al-Dawlah's son (Niẓām al-Dīn, r. 1061-79) and grandson (Nāṣir al-Dawlah Manṣūr, r. 1079-85). Both Abū Ṭāhir and Sadīd al-Dawlah were eventually executed in 1096, after falling under the suspicion of the Seljuk powers, who had conquered the region in 1085 (see Amedroz, H. F., 'The Marwānid Dynasty at Mayyāfāriqīn in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries A.D.', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland [1903], pp. 123-54, esp. pp. 143-53).

The work is organised into five chapters or summaries (جمل) subdivided into 31 sections (باب) numbered consecutively throughout the volume, and 195 points (فصل) in total; these are enumerated in the introduction (ff. 5v-6r) and listed in a comprehensive contents section (فهرست, ff. 6r-14r).

The volume has incurred some losses, and ends following the heading of point 5 of section 30, although the subsequent text corresponds to the actual end of the treatise numbered in the contents as section 31, point 2: 'list of previous authorities on elections' (في ذكر العلماء الذين جمع هذا الكتاب من كتبهم, f. 158r). The previous four points (i.e. section 30, points 3-5 and section 31, point 1) are missing; loss is also indicated by a note in the tail margin of f. 157v.

Ff. 1r-5r contain astrological and calendrical tables and notes relating to the text in a later hand using purple ink. F. 5 (containing most of the preface) and f. 12 are later replacements.

Contents

• Chapter One, encompassing what must be mentioned in advance and by way of introduction prior to [pursuing] the aims mentioned in the book (الجملة الأولى تتضمن ذكر ما يجب تقديمه وتمهيده قبل الأغراض المذكورة في الكتاب, sections 1-2, ff. 14r-38v);
• Chapter Two, on particular elections (الجملة الثانية في الاختيارات الجزئية, sections 3-14, ff. 38v-119r);
• Chapter Three, the benefit, in brief, of making elections (الجملة الثالثة في ثمرة مختصرة تتضمن الاختيارات, sections 15-27, ff. 119r-35r);
• Chapter Four, on the elections used by the notables and the commoners (الجملة الرابعة في الاختيارات التي يستعملها الخاصة والعامة, sections 28-29, ff. 135r-49r);
• Chapter Five, on elections based on the Moon's arrival in the 28 mansions (الجملة الخامسة في الاختيارات لحلول القمر في المنازل الثمان والعشرين, section 30, points 1, 2, 5, ff. 149r-58r).

Begins (f. 5v, lines 2-6):

قال الأستاذ الجليل أبو نصر يحيى بن حريز [!] الطبيب التكريتي

أما بعد فمن أنعم استزيدت نعمه بالشكر ومن شكر فقد نهض

بواجب الصنيعة والبر ولما كانت نعمة الصدر الأجل السيد

المهذب سديد الدولة أدام الله علأه علي سابغة ضافية وموارد

أحسانه عندي…

Ends (f. 158r, lines 13-15):

...تم الكتاب المختار من كتب الاختيارات

الفلكية تأليف أبي نصر يحيى بن جرير الطبيب التكريتي ألفه

لمجلس الأجل السيد المهذب سديد الدولة أبي الغنائم عبد الكريم بن ابرهيم

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 158r, lines 16-17)

فرغ من تحريره أحمد بن محمد بن أبي العز العسكري في ثامن وعشرين شهر المبارك

رمضان من سنة ست وأربعين وستمائة والحمد لله وحده وصلى الله على محمد وآله الطاهرين

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+159+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 240 x 167 mm leaf [180 x 117mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink (starting on f. 14 after the contents page); in black and red ink in the middle of verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. head margins (to f. 56v, ٦٠)

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 17 lines per page; vertical spacing lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-ʿAskarī (أحمد بن محمد بن أبي العز العسكري, see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 158r, line 16)

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

Decoration: None

Binding: Red British Museum quarter leather binding

Condition: A few worm-holes; some mould-stains and tidemarks especially to lower half of volume, increasing in size towards to back of volume

Marginalia: Occasional marginal comments in various different hands, some notes regarding losses (e.g. ff. 14v and 17v)

Seals: f. 5r; British Museum stamp: ff. 1r, 50v and 158v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

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