Author
Abu Yusuf Ya‘qūb ibn ‘Ali al-Qarshī al-Qaṣrānī
Publication Date
Rajab 640 (H, Hijri Kamari)
Publication Place
Egypt (Cairo?) -
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
245 x 150 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Delhi Arabic 1916 vol 2
Record ID
vdc_100065934803.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
Rajab 640 (H, Hijri Kamari)
Notes
Volume two of the
Book of Interrogations
(Book of Issues), an extensive treatise on astrological interrogations by Abū Yūsuf Ya‘qūb ibn ‘Alī al-Qarshī al-Qaṣrānī (Abu Yusuf Yaqoub bin Ali al-Qurashi al-Qasrani, fl. late 9th century).
An illuminated frontispiece (f. 1r) contains the following title in its upper panel: The second part of the Book of Issues.
According to the scribe's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 182r, lines 1-4, transcribed below), replaced by a different but roughly contemporary hand from text found on a folio now lost, the copy was completed on Thursday during the last 10 days of Rajab 640/15 January 1243 by Ismā‘īl ibn Kūnj al-Mārkurdī al-Badrī also known as al-Mārkurdīnī (Al-Mārkurdīnī; see Cairo, Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīyah, MS Ādāb 2041, dated 641/1243-44).
A note in the lower right corner of f. 179v states that it marks the point at which according to the author of the note many copies of this text end.
Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-8):
Chapter nineteen is about knowing the craft of a thief, if you like
Knowing the craftsmanship of a thief, see for that the presence of Mercury in the planetary houses
And the planets look at it, then if Mercury is in his house without the sight of bad luck
To him while he is in a stake or next to a stake, he is a writer, even if he is in the house of Mars
Or by its appearance, it is a tailor, and if it is in the house of Venus and its aspect is Mars, then it is mixed
Their nature, and I judge it in the same way as I explained in the Book of Births regarding its characteristics
Knowledge of the newborn industry in all its chapters, God willing
Ends (f. 181v, lines 6-11):
...even if it is in a stake
The inverted sign has hours, the two-body sign has days, and the fixed sign has months, respectively
The reversible is days, the two-body is months, and the fixed is years, and in the fleeting ones
The inverted is months, the two-bodied is years, and the fixed is days, even if it is corrupt
From bad luck, until he comes out and falls into his home, honor, borders, or looks
To happiness, so will the one who asks for it be joy and well-being, God willing
Author's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 181v, lines 12-15):
The book was completed with the perfection of what we intended, thank God
The Lord of praise and the people of (?) credit, and may God’s blessings be upon Muhammad, his Prophet
The Chosen One and his good and pure family, and may peace be upon him greatly
God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs
(Followed by collation note, without date)
Scribe's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(original lost and replaced; f. 182r, lines 1-6):
Ending it on Thursday for the last ten nights remaining of the month of Rajab
The reality in the year six hundred and forty of the Arab Migration is better for its owner
Prayers and peace be upon the hand of the one who lacks God Almighty, Ismail bin Kong Al-Mar
Kurdi Al-Badry, may God forgive him, praising God Almighty and praying for his Prophet
[Space of two lines left blank]
This library supplement above is the rest of what was found in the handwriting of the author of the copy of Masa'il Al-Qasrani
As explained above, God is sufficient for us and He is the best disposer of affairs
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859; administrative deposit
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, 1876
Köken
Long, semi-legible inscription (f. 1r, upper);
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Sha‘bān (أحمد بن محمد بن شعبان): his inscription, without date (f. 1r, lower);
The Government of India, its seal with central legend 'Delhi MSS' (f. 182v).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Studies:
Burnett, Charles, ‘Al-Kindi on Judicial Astrology: "The Forty Chapters"’,
Arabic Sciences and Philosophy
3.1 (1993), pp. 77-117 (see pp. 85-86)
Burnett, Charles, Keiji Yamamoto and Michio Yano, ‘Al-Kindī on Finding Buried Treasure’,
Arabic Sciences and Philosophy
7.1 (1997), pp. 57-90 (see pp. 62 and 66-71)
Pingree, David and Wilferd Madelung, ‘Political horoscopes relating to late 9th century ‘Alids’,
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
36.4 (1977), pp. 247-75
Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu,
Mathematicians, Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th
-
19th c.)
, (Istanbul: IRCICA, 2003), p. 46, no. 95
Sezgin, Fuat,
Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums
, vol. 7 (Leiden: Brill, 1977), pp. 138-39
Ullmann, Manfred,
Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam
(Leiden: Brill, 1972), pp. 314-15
