Author
Ibn Miskawayh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, -1030.
Publication Date
[193-?]
Subject
Manuscripts, Arabic, Manuscripts, Arabic /
Michigan, Manuscripts, Arabic / Michigan /
Ann Arbor., Neoplatonism, Neoplatonism /
Early works to 1800., Metaphysics, Metaphysics /
Early works to 1800., Islamic philosophy, Islamic philosophy /
Early works to 1800.
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
No
Manuscript
Unknown
Pages Count
34
Physical Dimensions
34 leaves : paper ; 337 x 230 mm. bound to 340 x 239 mm
Library
HathiTrust Digital Library
Record ID
006825758
Library Location
University of Michigan
Notes
About: Careful copy (seemingly acephalous, but with opening leaf simply misplaced and now bound between pages ٨ and ٩, and somewhat abridged by the copyist) of Abū ʻAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Miskawayh's (d. 1030) al-Fawz al-aṣghar, in which he very concisely addresses three metaphysical questions: the exisitence of God, the soul and its states and the prophets. Identification first supplied by Tzvi Langermann. | Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 935
Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; likely copied in Egypt in the late 1930s and bound for James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974). Copied just after Isl. Ms. 934 according to close of that manuscript (p.91, Isl. Ms. 934).
Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 84
Binding: Boards covered in dark green cloth with dark green leather over spine (quarter binding) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in wove paper printed with a floral vegetal pattern in green ; spine gold-stamped with title and decorative accents over raised bands "مقالة | لافلاطون | J.H.D." ; sewn in heavy white thread, seemingly over three cords (difficult to examine) ; stuck-on endbands (blue and white stripe) ; overall in fairly good condition.
Support: Lined / ruled wove paper.
Script: Ruqʻah ; compact hand in a medium line ; serifless and freely ligatured with slight effect of tilt to the right and of words descending to baseline, mainly closed counters, pointing in strokes rather than distinct dots.
Layout: Written in 27 lines per page.
Collation: i, 3 V(30), II (34), i (as suggested by gatherings, sewing difficult to examine) ; chiefly quinions ; quire numbering in the form of Hindu-Arabic numerals accompanied by letter kāf (ك) appearing on the opening recto of each gathering from the second (see pp.21, 41, 61) ; opening leaf misplaced and bound between pages ٨ and ٩ ; pagination in black ink, Hindu-Arabic numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization.
Explicit: "والمحالات التي تلزم من جهل تلك المعاني اللطيفة التي اذا كانت من عند غير الله وجد فيها اختلاف كثير فهذا مبلغ ما يجب ان نتكلم فيه من هذه المسائل الثلاث من يجاوزه يجواز الشرط الذي التزمناه من الايجاز والدوالة فيما يحتاج الى بسط وشرح الى اماكنه من كتاب الفوز الاكبر الذي نستأنف بعون الله عمله وبالله التوفيق وله الحمد كما يستحق بجميع نعمه على جميع خلقه وصلواته على النبي الهادي من الضلال والمجير من المكاره والاجوال محمد سيد النبيين واكرم المبعوثين امين امين امين"
Incipit: "قال افلاطون من المتس امرا لا بد له من الوصول اليه صبر على الطريق وما يلحقه فيه من صعوبة ومشقة ... كتاب الفوز الاصغر للشيخ الامام الحكيم ابي علي المعروف بابن مسكويه ... بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف المرسلين سيدنا محمد واله وصحبه اجمعين هذا كتاب الفوز الاصغر في الحكمة ويحتوي عدة مسائل المسألة الاولى في اثباث الصانع وتشتمل على عشرة فصول ..."
Title from heading on original opening leaf, now misplaced (p.7).
Ms. codex.
On upper pastedown, label with ex libris of James Heyworth-Dunne (d.1974), stamped with inventory number, "Ex Libris | J. Heyworth-Dunne | D. Lit. (London) | No 7976" ; UM Library inscription on verso of front flyleaf "Dunning | Heyworth-Dunne | 6-11-51 | 71955" ; possible former inventory mark in pencil on verso of final leaf (p.68) "231 / 53" ; many marginal glosses in the hand of the copyist.
