An incomplete compilation including an Arabic treatise on the sultanate and caliphate based on a hadith of Kaʻb al-Akhbār with an interlinear Persian translation, an Arabic treatise on the legal division of human actions into lawful and unlawful, and two unidentified poems in Persian; the last of the poems is incomplete.
Manuscript. Persian with passages in Arabic. Title supplied by cataloger. Scribe not identified. Written in either Iran or India. Paper; cream color laid paper with horizontal chain lines and watermark of a cross within a circle; black ink with minimal rubrication and some red overlining; catchwords. Naskh; 14 lines in written area 14 x 9.5 cm. Fol. 1a-69b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M140. Flexible brown leather binding. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Caliph 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (circa 601-61) is one of the most revered religious and holy figures of Islam. In Iran, he is referred to by the honorary name Amir al-Muʼminin, which translates from Arabic as “Commander of the Faithful” and is used to refer to him in Persian. Written works by 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and sayings attributed to him are sacred to the Shiite faithful, particularly among Persian speakers. Shown here is an illuminated 18th-century manuscript copy of the Munājāt (Supplication) of ʻAli ibn Abī Ṭālib. Included are both the original Arabic and a translation into Persian. The text is written on a moderately heavy cream-colored paper in gold (folio 1b and 2a) and black ink (folio 2b to the end) within five borders. The borders are colored in, from the outermost to the innermost, in blue, red, gold, red, and green. The pages are divided into four boxes to accommodate the main text and the translation, three containing two lines and one containing one line, or seven lines for each page. The Arabic text, in naskhi script, is in larger boxes with elaborate interlinear decoration; the Persian translation, in nastaʻlīq script, is in narrower boxes with panels of floral decoration on either side. An unknown Persian text appears on folio 1a, part of which is missing along the left margin due to trimming and on the upper-right margin due to damage to the first folio (mended with some loss of this text but no damage to main text). The name and date "Vahīd Ḥusaynī 1209" (1794 or 1795) appears at the lower-left corner of the written area of folio 7b; an unknown Persian text in a later hand appears on the endpaper. World Digital Library. Munājāt (Supplication) of ʻAli ibn Abī Ṭālib.
Full catalogue record in Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldRecord origin: "Manuscript description based on the Bodleian Library's public card index of Arabic manuscripts with additional enhancements by the OCIMCO project team."1 copy of Nūr-nāmah. A Persian devotional work interspersed with Arabic prayers and passages in Turkish.
Manuscript. Arabic and Persian; colophon in Turkish (Arabic script). Title from container. Scribe not identified. Probably written in Iran. Paper; cream color paper with no visible watermarks; elaborate unwans on fol. 1b and 2a with text enclosed in a wide ruled border of gold red and green; remainder of text enclosed in ruled border in gold black and red; interlinear Persian translation in red ink; verses are separated by gold discs. Individual sūrahs have titles in red and gold; extensive commentary in Persian in the margins throughout; black ink; Persian translation in red ink; catchwords. The Holy Koran in the Library of Congress, 17 Naskh (Qurʼānic text); nastaʻliq (Persian translation); 12 lines in written area 21 x 11.5 cm. Fol. 1b-325a. Library of Congress. Arabic manuscript, M133. Binding lacking; marbled endpapers in pastel colors and tan. Explicit/Colophon: Kemal Paşa merhumun ve çocuğum vakf olunmuṣtur, sene 1304, Recep. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Full catalogue record in Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldDimensions: 15⅛ × 10 in (size of leaf).Record origin: Manuscript description based on: Beeston, A. F. L. (Alfred Felix Landon); Ethé, Hermann, 1844-1917; Sachau, Eduard, 1845-1930; Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; at the Clarendon Press 1889-1953.An album of thirty pictures together with calligraphic specimens.