Author
Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī
Publication Date
27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729 AH)
Subject
1
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
340 x 230 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 3623
Record ID
vdc_100023438862.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729 AH)
Notes
Gazetteer of world geography by Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī (Zakaria ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Qazwini, d. 1283).
The copy was completed late in the day on Friday 27 Dhū al-Qa‘dah 729/22 September 1329 by Muḥammad ibn Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad al-Hamadhānī (Muhammad bin Masoud bin Muhammad al-Hamdhani), who claims to have copied the text from an autograph copy (i.e. a copy written by the hand of the author) dated Dhū al-Ḥijjah 674/May-June 1276 (see
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 173, lines 6-11, transcribed below).
The text is divided into introductory material (ff. 2v-5v) followed by alphabetically arranged headings for geographical locations divided according to the seven climes:
First Clime (1st Clime; ff. 5v-21r);
Second Clime (ff. 21v-38v);
Third Clime (ff. 39r-78r);
Fourth Clime (ff. 78v-136r);
Fifth Clime (ff. 136v-159v);
Sixth Clime (ff. 160r-169v);
Seveneth Clime (Seventh Clime; ff. 169v-173r).
The volume contains the following illustrations:
World map divided into seven climes (f. 5r);
Schematic drawing of the Ka‘bah (f. 33r);
The lighthouse at Alexandria as it was in the time of al-Qazwīnī (f. 41v);
Map of area around Tanīs Island near Damietta, Egypt (f. 49v);
Table listing the birds and fish indigenous to Tanīs Island (ff. 50r-51r);
Map of Shahristān (Shahristan) (f. 119v);
Map of Constantinople in the form of a labyrinth (f. 168r).
Begins (f. 2v, lines 1-4):
Glory belongs to you, majesty belongs to your pride, greatness belongs to your praise, and permanence belongs to your existence, O the Self-Residing One
And the overflowing of good deeds, you are the first, there is nothing before you, and you are the last, there is nothing after you, and you are the only one
You have no partner, O Giver of minds and Make light and darkness begin from You and to You
Finishing, and by your power things were created, and by your will, the earth and the heavens were created
Ends (f. 173r, lines 4-6):
...So it remained with them for a while, and the people of Jura did not leave unless they threw the sword into the sea
The fish and they go hungry because their sustenance from this point to here has ended. The knowledge of the people of our country has ended, and God knows best what is behind
That is from the lands and seas, and let this be the last of the words...
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 173r, lines 6-17):
...finished editing this book
The weak servant, hoping for God’s mercy and forgiveness, Muhammad bin Masoud bin Muhammad Al-Hamdhani, may God forgive his sins
He covered his faults on Friday at the end of the twenty-seventh day of the blessed month of Dhul-Qa’dah
For the year seven hundred and twenty-nine AH, from a written copy in the author’s handwriting
Zakaria bin Muhammad bin Mahmoud Al-Qazwini, may God have mercy on him
Dated Dhu al-Hijjah in the year six hundred and seventy-four, praise be to Allah
To God, Lord of the Worlds, is due His praise, prayers and peace
For the best of his creation and the manifestation of his truth, Muhammad
And his family and good companions
All the pure ones
Always greetings
A lot
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Rieu, Charles,
Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts
(London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 697, pp. 473
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased at sale of G.C. Renouard, Sotheby's, 8 November 1888
Köken
Four owners' inscriptions, mutilated (f. 2r);
[...] Ibn Yaḥyá ibn Aḥmad al-Dusūqī al-Ḥusnī ([...] ابن يحيى ابن أحمد الدسوقي الحسني): his inscription dated Rabī‘ II 1176/October-November 1762 (f. 2r);
al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Dusūqī (السيد محمد الدسوقي): his inscription, undated (f. 51v);
al-Sayyid Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Yaḥyá al-Disūqī (السيد محمد ابن السيد يحيى الدسوقي): his inscription, dated Rabī‘ II [11?]98/February-March [17?]84 (f. 72r);
Oblong seals, erased (ff. 13v, 24v, 36v, 50v, 60v, 74v, 85v, 104v, 138v, 150v and 161v);
Seal, smudged and illegible (f. 107v);
John Fiott, B.A.: his bookplate dated 1806, with crest and inscription 'St John's College, Cambridge' (inside right board);
Anonymous bookplate, undated with crest and motto 'Verum atque decens' (inside right board);
John Lee: his inscription, undated, inscribed Hartwell near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (inside right board);
G.C.R.: his note, undated, regarding the contents of the mansucript with references 'no. 69 of the new catalogue of 1840', 'G.C.R. n. 25' and 'new cat. no. 40' (f. 1r);
John Lee: his note, dated August 1845, regarding the Syro-Egyptian Society (f. 1r);
Portion of envelope (?) with address (in German) 'Herrn [deleted and replaced with 'Revd'] Dr John Lee, Hartwell, bei Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire' and wax seal with creat and inscription 'Koenigl. Hannoversche Gesandtschaft zu London' ('Royal Hanoverian Delegation to London') (f. 174v);
‘Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maṣrī (عبد القادر المصري): his inscription, undated (f. 173r);
‘Abd al-Karīm ibn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad (عبد الكريم بن محمود بن أحمد), timekeeper (موقت): his inscription, dated 988 AH/AD 1580-81 (f. 173r);
Muṣṭafá ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarāblusī (مصطفى بن محمد الطرابلسي): his inscription, dated Ṣafar (?) 998/December (?) 1589 (f. 173r);
Muḥammad al-Akmal ibn Muflaḥ (?) (محمد الأكمل بن مفلح [؟]), traditionalist (محدث): his collation note dated Rabī‘ I-Rabī‘ II 997/January-March 1589 (f. 173r; see his mutilated and undated inscription in inner margin of f. 2r);
Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyá al-Ḥusnī (محمد بن يحيى الحسني الدسوقي): his inscription, dated 1172 AH/AD 1758-59 (f. 173v);
al-Sayyid ‘Alī ibn al-Sayyid Muḥammad ibn al-Sayyid Yaḥyá ibn al-Sayyid Aḥmad ibn al-Sayyid Sharaf al-Dīn Ibn Riḍá al-Dusūqī (السيد علي ابن السيد محمد ابن السيد يحيى ابن السيد أحمد ابن السيد شرف الدين ابن رضى الدسوقي): his inscription, dated Jumādá II 1199/April-May 1785 (f. 173v);
al-Sayyid ‘Alī ibn al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Ḥusnī al-Dusūqī (السيد علي بن السيد محمد الحسني الدسوقي): his inscription, dated 1200 AH/AD 1785-86 (f. 173v).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Edition:
Qazwīnī, Zakarīyā ibn Muḥammad,
Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād
(Bayrūt: Dār Bayrūt, 1984)
Partial translations:
Artikel aus Qazwînîs Āthâr al-Bilâd aus dem Arabischen übertragen
, ed. and trans. by Georg Jacob (Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1896)
Castro, Fátima Roldán,
El occidente de Al-Andalus en el
Āṯār al-bilād de Al-Qazwīnī
(Sevilla: Ediciones Alfar, 1990)
