{"title":"Ṭāhir Īshān’s Unknown Autograph Manuscripts","authors":"Aziza Shanazarova","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01501002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01501002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The current article examines autograph manuscripts of three little-known Sufi doctrinal works of the eighteenth-century Central Asian Sufi, Ṭāhir Īshān, a native of Khwarazm. Ṭāhir Īshān is better known as the author of the eighteenth-century Naqshbandī hagiographical compendium <em>Tadhkira-yi Ṭāhir Īshān</em>, which was completed in 1160/1747. The works in question, entitled <em>Ḥujjat al-sālikīn va rāḥat al-ṭālibīn</em>, <em>Rumūz al-kalām</em>, and <em>Risāla-yi sayr ilā Llāh</em>, survived in their autograph copies in a single manuscript codex preserved at the Beruni Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), under the inventory number of <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">MS</span> 5121. Given that the <em>Rumūz al-kalām</em> and <em>Risāla-yi sayr ilā Llāh</em> only survived in their autograph copies, <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">MS</span> 5121 serves as a crucial gateway to these doctrinal texts of Ṭāhir Īshān.</p>","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138819234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sikujua’s Writing of Muyaka’s Poetry in Arabic Script: Versatility and Creativity","authors":"Alex de Voogt","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01401005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01401005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Muyaka’s poetry as it is known today was first recorded in the 1890s, mainly written down by Mwalimu Sikujua who used Arabic script as well as an adapted Swahili-Arabic writing system to document the language. Sikujua’s versatility when using the Arabic script as well as his use of variant spellings suggest a writing practice that embraces rather than avoids orthographic variation. His use of diacritics including the <em>shadda</em> and <em>hamza</em> is particularly noteworthy. Muyaka’s poems with their frequent repetitions as well as the writing of the poet’s name feature multiple spellings by Sikujua even when applying the adapted Swahili-Arabic script. Sikujua invented solutions that best approach a Swahili pronunciation but he also displays a detailed understanding and creative use of a wide range of Arabic signs and diacritics. The complexities of writing Swahili with Arabic script benefit from Sikujua’s creativity. It is this versatility and creativity that has been largely ignored and misinterpreted as merely inconsistent in studies where standardization is considered preferable.</p>","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138819332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Arabe 330b","authors":"Barış Ince","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01303010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01303010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article is an examination of the vocalised quranic manuscript MS Paris, BnF Arabe 330b, currently found at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The vocalisation system in the manuscript clearly reflects two canonical readings, namely those of Ḥamzah and Warsh, and has tremendous consistency with how medieval Islamic scholarship described these readings. This was established through a juxtaposition of the manuscript’s vocalisation, rasm and verse dividers with the classical Islamic qirāʾāt literature.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42174517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preface","authors":"J. J. Witkam","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01402017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01402017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43751356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editing MSS Leiden Or. 14.545 b–c","authors":"A. El-Khatib","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01401004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01401004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article provides a description and edition of MSS Leiden Or. 14.545 b–c. Radiocarbon dating (14C dating) pinpoints the manuscript to an early period in Islamic history, and this is affirmed by its palaeographical and codicological features. As a result of its dating, it has received considerable attention from scholars and the media. This study confirms the manuscript’s direct relationship with MSS Paris, BnF Arabe 331 and St. Petersburg, National Library, Marcel 3. A verse count analysis was carried out in order to establish its origin. There is evidence that the manuscript journeyed from al-Fusṭāṭ in Old-Cairo to Beirut in Lebanon before finally settling in Leiden in the Netherlands. For several reasons, it was difficult to determine the exact origin of the manuscript.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43776498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Qurʾānic Codices and Fragments Ascribed to Imām ʿAlī and Other Shīʿa Imāms","authors":"Morteza Karimi-Nia","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01402014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01402014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 For nearly a thousand years, certain copies of the Qurʾān have been ascribed to such prominent Islamic figures as Imām ʿAlī and other Shīʿa Imāms. Although no evidence of ascription is found from the first three centuries, nearly two hundred copies of such manuscripts and fragments are found today around the world, especially in Shiite areas. After a historical overview of the phenomenon and classification of the various types of ascribed codices, this article provides evidence for the rejection of these ascriptions and that establishes the colophons as forgeries. The last part of the article includes a table of about two hundred Qurʾānic manuscripts ascribed to Shīʿa Imāms preserved in libraries and museums all over the world.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43189049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revived Leaves","authors":"M. Sahragard","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01401003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01401003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In 1969, circa 1,000 fragments of the Qur’an were found in the space between two ceiling covers in the Holy Shrine of Imam Riḍā in Mashhad, Iran. Some of these were among the oldest Qur’ans produced in Iran. Three volumes in that cache are the only remaining parts of a fourteen-volume Qur’an, copied in Ramaḍān 327/939, endowed to the Holy Shrine by Kishvād b. Amlās. The volume is in vertical format and was copied on paper. Presently, it is the oldest known dated Qur’an manuscript on paper in the world. The similarities of the script and illumination to some undated and unsigned Qur’ans give us some hints about the Kufic script and illuminations in central Iran. The present article discusses the codicological and paleographical features of this copy.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48614141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scattered Leaves","authors":"M. Sahragard","doi":"10.1163/1878464x-01402012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1878464x-01402012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A number of folios of a grand Qurʾan, known as the Qurʾan of Bāysunghur, are preserved in collections across the world. No thorough research has been carried out on this manuscript due to the fact that the folios of this Qurʾan—the largest of the Islamic era—are scattered. Consequently, many points about the early details, the scribe and the history of the manuscript remain vague. Endowed between the late 12th/18th and the early 14th/20th century to the Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍavī Library and Museum in Mashhad, around sixty-five opisthographic folios of the Qurʾan are now kept in the collection. A close investigation of the folios not only rejects and proves earlier hypotheses but also presents new ones. After examining the codicological features of the work by comparing the information contained in the historical sources and the features of the manuscript, the present article speculates that the Qurʾan was commissioned by Ulugh Beg in Samarqand, to the scribes of the court scriptorium. Some folios were scattered in the course of the 10th/16th century and the rest during the occupation of Samarqand in the course of the 12th/18th century. Around sixty pages, however, were transferred to Imāmzāda Ibrāhīm of Qūchān and five pages were endowed to the Holy Shrine of Imām Riḍā during the 12th/18th century. Finally, in 1923, the remaining folios of the Imāmzāda were transferred to the Library of the Holy Shrine to be mended, where they have been kept ever since.","PeriodicalId":40893,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic Manuscripts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41586227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}