Author
Ibrahim ibn Waṣīf Shah al-Miṣrī
Publication Date
24 Shawwal 1093 (AH, Hijri)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
206 x 152 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 1526
Record ID
vdc_100110631701.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
24 Shawwal 1093 (AH, Hijri)
Notes
A cosmography in three parts (أجزاء) describing the wonders of the world, and of Egypt in particular, by Ibrāhīm ibn Waṣīf Shāh al-Miṣrī (إبراهيم بن وصيف شاه المصري, d. 1199 or 1200).
The present copy was completed on 24 Shawwāl 1093/26 October 1682 by the
darwīsh
ʿAlī ibn Shams al-Dīn (درويش علي بن شمس الدين, see f. 109v, lines 13-16).
Apparently an abridgment of a larger work by the same author entitled
The Great Book of Marvels
(كتاب العجائب الكبير), the text's first part (ff. 2r-22r) describes the wonders of the seas and islands, and of the pyramids. Part Two (ff. 22r-72v) discusses Adam and Eve and their descendants, the story of the Flood, and the ancient priests and kings of Egypt, also mentioning other legends and kingdoms of the known world. The third part (ff. 72v-109v) describes the kings of Egypt after the Flood and their monuments, the Pharaohs and their talismans, and concludes with the story of Moses and the passage of the Red Sea.
The contents are confused, with sections from the second and third parts transposed, apparently due to confusion in the present copy's exemplar.
Title page text (f. 1r, lines 1-7):
الجزء الأول في عجائب الدنيا لابن وصيف
يشتمل هذا الجزء على عجائب البحار وأسماكها
وجزائرها وأنواعها والأهرام وعجائبها
وذكر من بناها والسبب في بنائها وما أودع
فيها من النواويس والمعدن
النفيس وغير ذلك
ويتلوه الجزء الثاني والثالث
Begins (f. 1r, lines 2-6):
الحمد لله بارئ المسموكات ورزاق المخلوقات وأشهد
أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له رب الأرض والسموات
وأشهد أن سيدنا محمدًا صلى الله عليه وسلم عبده
ورسوله خير خلقه وعلى آله وصحبه ما دامت الأرض
والسموات وبعد فنبتدئ بذكر الله تعالى وحده
Ends (f. 109v, lines 8-12):
وبقي فرعون ثم حتى رُئي وعُرف
اللهم اهدنا ولا تضلنا وتوقنا على الإيمان كما خلقتنا
آمين رب العالمين تم الكتاب بحمد الله وعونه وصلواته
على خير خلقه محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم ورضي الله
تعالى عن ساداتنا وموالينا أصحاب رسول الله أجمعين
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 109v, lines 13-17):
تم ظهر نهار الاثنين الرابع والعشرين
من شهر شوال سنة ثلث وتسعين وألف
على يد العبد الأقل درويش علي بن
شمس الدين والحمد لله
وحده
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Rieu, Charles,
Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum
(London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 687, pp. 468-69
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1810-95), 24 November 1877
Köken
Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson: his purchase record at Baghdad, with date 26 August 1845 (f. 1r)
Erased ownership inscription (f. 1r)
Undeciphered seal (f. 1r)
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Editions:
Ibn Waṣīf Shāh, Ibrāhīm [but attributed to al-Masʿūdī], Akhbār al-Zamān wa-man abādahu al-ḥadathān wa-ʿajāʾib al-buldān wa-al-ghāmir bi-al-māʾ wa-al-ʿumrān, edited by ʿAbd Allāh Ismāʿīl al-Ṣāwī (Miṣr: Matbaʿat ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Aḥmad al-Ḥanafī, 1938)
Ibn Waṣīf Shāh, Ibrāhīm, ʿAjāʾib al-Dunyā, edited by Khālid al-Mullā al-Suwaydī (Dimashq: Dār Kinān lil-Ṭibāʿah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2006)
Translations:
Colavito, Jason, 'The fragments of Ibrāhīm ibn Waṣīf Shāh', https://www.jasoncolavito.com/ibrahim-ibn-wasif-shah.html [accessed 20/10/2021]
Ibn Waṣīf Shāh, Ibrāhīm,
L’Abrégé des Merveilles, traduit de l'Arabe
, translated by Baron Bernard Carra de Vaux (Paris: Klincksseck, 1898)
Study:
Rosen, Victor,
Notices sommaires des manuscrits arabes du Musée asiatique
(St. Pétersbourg: Commissionnaires de l'Académie impériale des sciences, 1881), no 220, pp. 167-73
