Title from f. 1r.According to the colophon (f. 10v), copy completed on 5 Rabīʻ al-awwal 990 AH March 22, 1582 AD in the hand of Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Abūṣīrī al-Azharī.Unbound.Written in one column, 21 lines per page, in black and red.Cream laid paper. 18 x 13 cm. (13 x 9 cm.).MS Arab 252. Houghton Library, Harvard University.In Arabic.
Written in one column, 21 lines per page, in black and red.'According to a note on f. 24r, the author\'s son read the entire text to his fatherand the father gave him "ijāzah" for the book signed in his handwriting in 1086 AH 1675 or 6 AD.'Title is not mentioned in Brockelmann, GAL.MS Arab 342. Houghton Library, Harvard University.In Arabic.
Abstract: Al-Khawāṭir al-ḥisān fī al-ma‘ānī wa-al-bayān (Excellence in the rhetorical arts) is an introduction for students to the elements of Arabic composition. The work emphasizes the correct choice of words and the importance of the sentence as the basic building block of written composition and formal speech. The author, Jabr Dumit (1858−1930), was a teacher at the Syrian Evangelical College in Beirut. In this primer of grammar and usage he introduces students to the various kinds of sentences (declarative, interrogative, and so forth), giving examples of grammatical construction and pointing out pitfalls, such as confusion over use of pronouns and their antecedents. He moves from simple prescription to the handling of more complex conditional sentences and embellishments. The work no doubt was intended for use at the mission schools in the Levant. This printing at Al-Hilal Press in Egypt indicates that it was adopted more widely in the region. Dumit was born in Safita (in present-day Syria, near the border with Lebanon). He was educated at American missionary schools and spent much of his teaching life at the schools in Beirut. In 1882 he travelled to Egypt, where he was employed first at the newspaper Al-Mahrusah (The protected one [i.e. Cairo]) and later as a translator with the British armed force sent to the Sudan in 1884−85. He returned to Lebanon, where he died in 1930. Dumit dedicated the book to the memory of American missionary Mrs. Samuel Jessop, whose home he frequented as a child.Physical description: 1276 pages ; 24 centimeters
Written in one column, from 6 to 23 lines per page, in black and red.According to the colophon (f. 46v), copy completed in 1093 AH 1682 AD.On inside front cover, ownership statement in Latin signed Ludovicus Fredericus Salomon dated 1683. And on inside back cover, seal of Buchhandlung und Antiquariat Th. Stauffer, Leipzig.With: al-Qaṣīdah al-MunfarijahIbn al-Naḥwī (with interlinear Turkish translation) (ff. 47v-49v) -- Taʻallam yā fatá fa-al-jahl ʻār (with interlinear Turkish translation) (ff. 50v-61v) -- al-Burdahal-Būṣīrī (ff. 62v-72v) -- Risālah li-abyāt al-Kāfiyah (ff. 73v-75r) -- Risālah ḥāllah li-abyāt Sharḥ dībājat al-Miṣbāḥ (ff. 75v-76v) -- Sharḥ li-abyāt al-Miṣbāḥ (ff. 77r-78v) -- Sharḥ abyāt Marāḥ al-arwāḥ (ff. 79r-80v) -- Badʼ al-amālīal-Ūshī (ff. 80v-82v).MS Arab SM332. Houghton Library, Harvard University.In Arabic; two poems with interlinear Turkish translations.
Title from f. 50r.Bound with: ʻIqd al-jumān fī faḍāyil laylat niṣf al-ShaʻbānʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sakhāwī (ff. 1r-22r.)From the books of Abū al-Ḥusayn Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad.MS Arab SM4303. Houghton Library, Harvard University.In Arabic.
Written in one column, 23 lines per page, in black rubricated in red.Comments in the margins.Contains: 1. ʻUqūd al-durar fī-mā yuftá bihi min aqwāl al-Imām ZufarAḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥamawī (f. 1r) ; 2. Risālah fī iʻrāb lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahu lā sharīka lah (ff. 1v-10v).MS Arab 160. Houghton Library, Harvard University.In Arabic.
Abstract: This work is a commentary by Ibn ʻAqīl on the famous 1,000-line poem on the principles of Arabic grammar, al-Alfīya by Ibn Malik. ʻAbd Allah ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAqil was born in Cairo in about 1294 and died there in 1367. He was a leading grammarian of the Arabic language and wrote prolifically, but not much is known about his life. In addition to his commentary on al-Alfiya, his works include Taysīr al-istiʻdād li rutbat al-ijtihād (The facility of preparedness for the capacity of independent reasoning) and al-Jāmiʻ al-nafīs ʻalā madhhab al-imām Muḥammad ibn idrīs (The precious encyclopedia on the method of the Imam Muḥammad ibn Idrīs, in six volumes). Both al-Alfiya and the commentary are standard texts in the traditional Islamic curriculum. Muhammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Malik (died 1274) was an Arab grammarian born in Jaén in Andalusia (present-day Spain). After leaving Andalusia he settled in Syria. He is best known for his al-Khulāsa al-alfīya (or al-Alfiya for short), a versification of Arabic grammar that was to become one of the principal texts for education in the Arabic language across much of the Islamic world. At least 43 commentaries have been written on this work, which is so important because scholars had previously searched for dependable authentication of the grammar and lexicon of Arabic. Ibn Malik intended his poem as a teaching tool rather than a work of research. However, students were required to memorize it, which became controversial in modern times. This edition of the Commentary on the Alfiya by Ibn ʻAqīl was published in Beirut by al-Maṭbaʻa al-adabīya in 1885.Physical description: 336 pages ; 21 centimeters
Written in one column, 18 lines per pages, in black ink.The ms is incomplete and contain the following sections (ajzāʼ): section 43 (f. 1r), 58 (f. 32r), 70 (f. 60r), 67 (f. 69r), 68 (f. 119r), 76 (f. 231r), 77 (f. 261r), 80 (f. 319r). There are also parts from other sections, which lack title pages. Leaves may be out of order.Bound in light brown leather. Bound in India probably in late 19th or early 20th century.The ms is not dated but copied in the life time of the author, towards the end of it, and most probably in Baghdad. The book was read to the author and signed by him.Note in the hand of the author on f. 1r and on first folios of each juzʼ of the book: "qaraʼahu ʻalayya ilá ākhirihi Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʻAlī al-Madāyinī; wa-katabahu al-Ḥasan ibn ʻAbd Allāh al-Sīrāfī."With this is bound a fragment of the section on letter bāʼ (colophon title: Kitāb al-bāʼ) of a dictionary (ff. 356-365). The author of the dictionary is identified as Abū ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jaʻfar al-Tamīmī al-Naḥwī in the colophon (f. 365v). The fragment is completed in the hand of the ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Ḥanīfah on 4 Rajab 368 AH February 3, 979 AD. The manuscript was collated with the original one written in the hand of the author.Iran Jewett manuscript no. 1.MS Arab 438. Houghton Library, Harvard University.