Author
Quṭb al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd al-Shīrāzī
Publication Date
13th or 14th century (CE, Gregorian)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
165 x 120 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Add MS 7477
Record ID
vdc_100052518391.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
13th or 14th century (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
Commentary by Quṭb al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd al-Shīrāzī (Qutb al-Dīn Mahmud ibn Masoud al-Shirazi; c. 1236-1310) on the
Kitāb al-tadhkirah fī al-hay’ah
(The Authority’s ticket book; see British Library, MS Or. 11209) a treatise on the astronomical system presented in the
Almagest
of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; c 90-c 168) by Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi; d. 1274).
A Persian note on f. 1r claims that the manuscript is undoubtedly in the hand of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī himself, but the extensive and hyperbolic eulogy for the author with which the text begins (see f. 2v, lines 2-4, transcribed below) argues against this.
The text is divided into four books (chapters), each subdivided into chapters (chapters), and occasionally further subdivided into smaller sections variously designated as topics, sections and laws.
Contents:
'Book One: What must be introduced before attempting the aims [of the text], containing three chapters'
'Book Two: The arrangement, placements and movements of the simple bodies, and associated and related matters, containing sixteen chapters'
'Book Three: The arrangement of the Earth and its division into populated and empty [regions] et cetera on account of differences in the placements of the heavenly bodies and the like, containing thirteen chapters'
'Book Four: Knowledge of the quantity of distances and (heavenly) bodies, containing three chapters'
The beginning of the text as preserved here differs from that of the copy of this text preserved in Addition. MS 23393, f. 2v, but corresponds to that of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī's
Final Understanding of the Congnizance of the Spheres
(The end of perception in the knowledge of the heavens) as preserved in Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung, MS Peterman I 674, f. 0a, lines 2-5 (see https://ismi.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/om4-ismi/public/publicWitness.jsp?eid=164549).
The manuscript contains numerous diagrams and is defective at the end, with only a few words of the text's explicit visible on f. 169v, and almost nothing of the
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
legible.
Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-4):
Maulanas and our teacher Afzal Al-Wari, the scholar, the king of virtues among the sons of Adam, the role model of investigators, said
The authority of scholars in the worlds, the proof of truth over all creation, the pride of the best of humanity, the owner of a crisis (?)
Judges and rulers, the pole of religion, truth, and religion, Mahmoud bin Masoud Al-Shirazi, may God perpetuate the shadows of his majesty.
Ends (f. 169r, lines 19-21, defective at end, cf. Add. MS 23393, f. 177r, line 9ff):
...and engaging in worldly concerns, even judiciary and teaching, since time is long
It is an affliction and a fraud that has made it a service to the treasure trove of the great Lord and the greatest servant and a masterpiece of the Most High
His Holiness, and I hope that this will happen from a servant of His Holiness with His pleasure, and He, Glory be to Him, is All-Powerful
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Cureton, William and Charles Rieu,
Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens
(London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 398, pp. 189
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Mary Rich (née Mackintosh), widow of Claudius James Rich (1786-1821),
Political Resident
A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
in Baghdad (1808-21), 25 March 1825
Köken
Quṭb al-Dīn ibn Sulṭān Muḥammad (قطب الدين بن سلطان محمد): his seal, without date; associated inscription partially obscured (f. 2r; see Chester Beatty Library Islamic Seals Database no. 27)
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Studies:
Ragep, F. Jamil, 'Shīrāzī: Quṭb al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Ma‘sūd Muṣliḥ al-Shīrāzī' in
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
, Thomas Hockey et al., eds., (New York: Springer, 2007) pp. 1054-55
Thompson, J.R. Fawcett, 'The Rich Manuscripts',
The British Museum Quarterly
27.1/2 (1963) pp. 18-23
