Author
the scribe Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-ʿAskarī
Publication Date
28 Ramaḍān 646 (AH, Hijri qamari)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
240 x 167 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 5709
Record ID
vdc_100099023057.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
28 Ramaḍān 646 (AH, Hijri qamari)
Notes
A treatise on the selection of propitious astrological moments (astrological elections), copied 28 Ramaḍān 646/14 January 1249 by the scribe Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-ʿAskarī (Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi al-Izz al-Askari, see
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 158r, line 16).
It was written by Ab? Nāṣir al-Dawlah ibn Marwān (r. 1011-61).
The treatise, compiling the writings of previous authorities on the subject, was composed at the behest of 'the cultured lord, Sadīd al-Dawlah Abū al-Ghanāʾim ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrahīm' 13-15, below).
Sadīd al-Dawlah was the son of Abū Faḍl Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Anbārī (d. 1065-66) and brother of Abū Ṭāhir ibn al-Anbārī (d. 1096), who served successively as viziers to Nāṣir al-Dawlah's son (Niẓām al-Dīn, r. 1061-79) and grandson (Nāṣir al-Dawlah Manṣūr, r. 1079-85). Both Abū Ṭāhir and Sadīd al-Dawlah were eventually executed in 1096, after falling under the suspicion of the Seljuk powers, who had conquered the region in 1085 (see Amedroz, H.F., 'The Marwānid Dynasty at Mayyāfāriqīn in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries A.D.',
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
[1903], pp. 123-54, esp. pp. 143-53).
The work is organized into five chapters or summaries (sentences) subdivided into 31 sections (chapter) numbered consecutively throughout the volume, and 195 points (chapter) in total; These are enumerated in the introduction (ff. 5v-6r) and listed in a comprehensive contents section (Index, ff. 6r-14r).
The volume has incurred some losses, and ends following the heading of point 5 of section 30, although the subsequent texts correspond to the actual end of the treatise numbered in the contents as section 31, point 2: 'list of previous authorities on elections' (in mentioning the scholars from whose books this book was compiled, f. 158r). The previous four points (i.e. section 30, points 3-5 and section 31, point 1) are missing; Loss is also indicated by a note in the tail margin of f. 157v.
Ff. 1r-5r contain astrological and calendrical tables and notes relating to the text in a later hand using purple ink. F. 5 (containing most of the preface) and f. 12 are later replacements.
Contents
Chapter One, encompassing what must be mentioned in advance and by way of introduction prior to [pursuing] the aims mentioned in the book (the first sentence includes mentioning what must be mentioned and prefaced before the purposes mentioned in the book, sections 1-2, ff. 14r-38v);
Chapter Two, on particular elections (the second sentence on partial elections, sections 3-14, ff. 38v-119r);
Chapter Three, the benefit, in brief, of making elections (sections 15-27, ff. 119r-35r);
Chapter Four, on the elections used by the notables and the commoners (The fourth sentence on the choices used by the private and the commoners, sections 28-29, ff. 135r-49r);
Chapter Five, on elections based on the Moon's arrival in the 28 mansions (Section 30, points 1, 2, 5, ff. 149r-58r).
Begins (f. 5v, lines 2-6):
The distinguished professor Abu Nasr Yahya bin Hariz [!], the Tikriti doctor, said
As for what follows, whoever is blessed, his blessings will increase with gratitude, and whoever is grateful has risen
With the duty of good deeds and righteousness, and since the blessing of the chest was the master’s term
The well-mannered and well-bred man, may God bless him with abundant wealth and resources
His favor is with me...
Ends (f. 158r, lines 13-15):
...The book was selected from the selection books
Astronomy written by Abu Nasr Yahya bin Jarir, the doctor Al-Tikriti, who wrote it
For the term council, Mr. Al-Muhadhab, Sadid Al-Dawla, Abu Al-Ghanaim, Abdul Karim bin Ibrahim
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 158r, lines 16-17)
Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Abi Al-Ezz Al-Askari finished editing it on the twenty-eighth of the blessed month
Ramadan in the year six hundred and forty-six. Praise be to God alone, and may God’s blessings be upon Muhammad and his pure family.
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards,
A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894
(London: British Museum, 1912), p. 38.
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Ibrahim Elias Gejou, 14 November, 1899
Köken
Inscription with date 1171/1757-8 (f. 5r);
Abd Allāh (عبد الله): his seal with date 1163/1749-50 (f. 5r);
Abd al-Muʿṭī (عبد المعطي), 'scholar of Jerusalem' (من فضلاء بيت المقدس): inscription naming him as the '
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
of this book' (كاتب هذا الكتاب), and giving his death date in abjad as 'between 50 and 60 after 1000 and 100', i.e. 1150-1160/1737-1747 (f. 159r);
Al-ʿAbd Fatwajī (العبد فتوجي): inscription recording purchase for a price of '410', with date 1060/1650 (f. 6r);
Hasan ibn al-Munajjim (حسن ابن المنجم): his ownership inscriptions (ff. 1r and 6r lower margin);
Sulaymān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ridwān (سليمان بن محمد بن رضوان): his inscription (f. 6r);
Taqī al-Dīn al-Murāṣid (تقي الدين المراصد): his ownership inscription (f. 6r).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Amedroz, H. F., 'The Marwānid Dynasty at Mayyāfāriqīn in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries A.D.',
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
(1903), pp. 123-54, esp. pp. 143-53 on the lives of Sadīd al-Dawlah, his father and brother.
'The Marwānids', in Bosworth, Clifford Edmund.
The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 89-90
Brockelmann, Carl,
History of the Arabic Written Tradition: Supplement Volume 1
, trans. by Joep Lameer. Handbook of Oriental studies. Section one, The Near and Middle East; volume 117/S1 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016), p. 897
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin, and Boris Rozenfeld,
Mathematicians, Astronomers And Other Scholars Of Islamic Civilisation And Their Works (7Th-19Th C.)
(Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture, 2003). P. 159 (no. 366)
'10.40: Abū Naṣr Yaḥyā ibn Jarīr al-Takrītī', in E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder (eds.), A Literary History of Medicine (Leiden 2020), online edition: [https://dh.brill.com/scholarlyeditions/reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:10.36-10.40.]
