MA N U S C R IP TF R OM T H E L IB R ARYOF THE
.ABD AL-RASHID
G H A Z N A W I DA M I R
b,v
S. M. Stern
B, 'ABD ALLAH'S
I. ABT-|BAKR I,TUHAMNIAD
BOOK ON THE PHYSICAL AND I,TORAL
OF THE PROPHET
CHARACTtrRISTICS
an Arabicl'IS. containing
The UniversityLibrary in Leidenpossesses
a book on the Physical and l'foral Characteristics of the Prophetl-a
subject which belongs to the sphere of the science of Tradition and one
to which a number of books has been devoted. There were handed down
many traditions describing the Prophet's physical appearance and his
ruoral character, and the books in question presented anthologies of these
traditions. The classical representative of the genre is the monograph
by one of the great authorities of the science of Tradition, al-Tirmidhi,
rvhich was highly venerated by later generations.2 The author of our
"
"
of the literature
book was merely an epigone compared u'ith a father
in
fact among his
n'as
whose
book
of Tradition such as al-Tirmidhi,
sources. Nor does he count among the great and famous such as abounded
also among the epigone authors of secondary compilations' His name:
'Abd
'Abd
al-'Aziz, seems totallv
Allah b.
-\bu Bakr Muhammad b.
forgotten and the Leiden copy of his book seemsto be the only one extant.
Not that the book is devoid of all interest. The traditions discussedin it
are of course also knor,vn from other sources, but the notes appended to
of textual and philological character-refer to many earh'
them-mainly
authorities of the science of Tradition and Arabic philology. Indeed,
I l(itab Iihalq al-Nabr u,a-Rhulqih, MS. no. 437, <lescribed in P. de Jong and lf. j' de
Goeje, Cata.logusCodicttw Orientalium Bibliothecae Acadentiae Lttgdutto-Battr:ae, iv (1866),
pp. 60-1. (The book is not registercd in Brockelntann's J{istorv of .\rabic Literature")
I am most grate{u1 to Dr. ,}. Parsons for taking the excellent photographs from this }IS.
rvhich is rather clifiicult to photograph, ancl for the authorities of the L,eiden l.rniversitl'
Librarv for thcir permission.
2 K i t d b a l - S h a m A ' i l i s e eR r o c k e l m a n n , i , 1 6 9 - 7 0 , S u p p l e m e n t , i , 2 6 8 - 9 .
S. LI. Stern
of his lexicographicalnotes.:r
the author vaunts the comprehensiveness
I found no information whatsoeverabout the author. It is possible
that I have not looked at all the right placesand somethingwill yet turn
up; but it is evident that he was not an eminent scholar whose name
u'oirld recur in the usual biographical sources. We can establish his
background by examining the namesof his teachers.
The teacher rvho is quoted most often as the authority for the tradi'Llthmdn son of Ab[ 'timar
tions included in the book is Abn Sa'id
]'Iutrammad b. Afrmad b. )'iuhammad b. Sulayman al-Sijistani. He is
'Umar, who was a
not quite unknown, but it is rather his father, Abu
scholar of some importance. He came from Nuqat, also called Nuhd,
a suburb oL Zaranl in Sijistin, and studied, according to the historians,
in Har6.t. Marw. Balkh and Transoxania. The exact date of his death is
not given, but there is evidencethat he rvas alive in 3\zl99z-3. He had
'LTmarand 'Llthmdn, who transmitted his teaching-'Uthmln
two sons
beingthe teacherof our author.a All the traditionsquotedby our author
'Uthman, u'eretransmitted by the latter from
in the name of Abn Sa'id
his father-as we shall see, our author probably read with Abu Sa'id a
'Umar's
book by Abu Sa'id'sfather. In the isnedsa greatnumber of Abu
authoritiesare named; I cannot enumeratethem all, but choosea fert
'Umar
heard from Ablt Na;r Muhammad
namesof particular interest. Abt
the traditions about the
Dilllya
al-Tirmidhi
Hamid
Khiw
b.
b.
b.
great
compatriot,al-Tirmidhi,
Prophet'sdescriptionrelatedby Abn Nasr's
i.e., it seems,al-Tirmidhi's Kitab al-Shama'i1.5In a footnote I give the
3 P . 8 2 : " T h e s e a r e t h e r a r e c x p r e s s i o n si n t h e t r a d i t i o n r e l a t e d b 1 " - \ l i . \ b i ' t l b a l ' d
ial-Qasim b. SallAm, third/ninth centurv rathcr than al-Hararvi, o{ the fourthitenth ccnttrr\',
cf. belorv, p. ll] and others hat'e begun to explain it, but have not assembled all the rzrre
information (al-ntrkat ua'l-ghurar) assembled bv me in this book. .. The sheikh Abti
Sulaymin al-Iihatt5bi sar-s rightl-v in the prelace of his book probabll- the book on the
'There remains a number o{ traditlons
r a r e e x p r e s s i o n si n t r a c l i t i o n s , c f . b e l o l v , p . 1 1 , :
rvhich I was unable to explain and rvhich I left so that God ma1-disclose thcir secrets to
tliose of His servants as He rvills: everv time has its orvn peoplc and everv generatlon lis o\i'n
knr.rrvledge'."
{Abiographl'of .\bir'UmarisfoundinYicltt'slvshiidal-.1.rrb,vi,32il 5,ashortnutt-in
" (ir-,824).
"
T b e T a ' v i h h ' 5 ' i s l A r(ze d . B a h a r , p 2 0 )
hisGeographicalDictionan', s.r'. \irqitt
'Iimar
i n c l u d e s a m o n g t h e f a m o u s r n c n o f S i j i s t : 1 nA b r t S a ' i d b . , { b i ' U n ' r a r a l - N i r q a t i , . \ b n
b. -\bi'L;mar al-\trr1dti. (The cditor's note, t'ho
al-Nrrqdti, and.\bu'l-$asan'tlmar
rvas the
rvronglr. takes Ydqut's note in the Geographical l)ictionarv to mean that'Umar
brothcr, not thc son, of Abit'Un-rar, s}rould be disrcgarded.) Ieqirt includes among the
teachcrs of .\bir'Lrmar also -\bu Sulavmin at-I(hattahi. rvhonr rve shall meet repeatedly.
For't.'mar, son o{ Abu'lrma,r, see also bclol', p. 12 note 22.
i Abn Nasr gave the lecture attendcd br' -\bir 'Umar al-Sijistini " in his house in
" (p.
Tirmidh
22). I found no information about Abrt Nasr. Since his father ancl great
A XIS.from the Library o.fa GhaznauidAmtv
'Umar
of whom it is stated where he met
names of those masters of Abu
them;6 the torvns are Balkh, Tirmidh and Nasaf, and this confirms and
'Llmar's journeys
in Khurd"sdn
completes Y6.qut's statement about Abfl
and Transoxania in search of knowledge.
aI-'Aziz b.
Another teacher of our author \r'as Abt Talib'Abd
\{ut'amm'ad, whose name occurs almost as frequently as that of Abu Sa'id
'Uthmdn
al-Sijistani. His fame, hou'ever, did not reach beyond his
immediate circle, since his name seems to have escaped the attention
of the compilers of biographical repertories. Our author heard from him
traditions related by the famous scholar Abh Sulayman al-Khattabi (died
386/996 or 388/998), who taught in Sijistan and other parts of Eastern
Iran.7
Other teachers of the author, less often mentioned by him, were
'Abd
al-Aziz aI-Sijistini,
about whom I found no
Ab[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[Sa'id
al-KhaliI b.
'Ali
al-Hasan
b. Yahya, about whom
information, and Abu'l-Hasan
b.
I found only that he u.as from Sijistdn and related traditions from al'Abd
al-Rahman Hanbal b. Alrmad b.
Khattabi in that country.8 Abh
Hanbal al-FArisi (I have no information about him) is only quoted twice
(pp.8:-+ and r45).
\[ost of the author'steacherswere,then, from Sijist6n,and he himself
was obviously also a native of either Sijistan or a neighbouringregion,
and possiblea resident of Ghazna. It is not surprising that the library
ol the amir of Ghazna-for u'hich, as we shali see,the X{S.rvaswrittenshould have included a volume by a local author, though that author's
fame did not spreadbeyond his own country. The eulogyat the beginning
'Abd Allah
"
of the book: Thus says Abu Bakr Muhammadthe son of
"
'Abd a1-'Azrz,
may God be pleasedu'ith him and his nerenrq
the son of
grandfatlier bear rarc Iranian names I consuitcd Ir. Justi's Iranisches \atttenbttt,h, u'here
'fhis
" (pp.
"
"
"
172, 8a).
bears eloquent
l)iltrveh
and
I did indeed find him uncler Xiv
l'itncss of Justi's learning ancl comprehcnsive use of thc sources-but does not help us,
since Justi's authority *'as the cataloguc of thc Lciden librarr', rvhcre in the dcscription of
our lIS. this scholar's name is quoted.
6 Abir Hdmid al-Birsanji, from rvhom -\bu 'Umar heard a traclition " in Busanj. a
'.\bd
t i l l a g e b e l o n g r n gt o T i r m i d h " : s c c \ l i q r - r t , i , 7 5 8 _ ( p . 2 6 1 ) ;
al-Rabmin b. llullammacl
b. '--\lhi1'a al-.\bhari, u'hom he heard in Tirmidh (p. 328) ; Abn Bakr Ahmad b. Xlutrammad
'-\bd
b.
.\lldh al-I{hurv5.shi, rvhom hc heard in Balkh (pp. 340, 382) ; Abu Bakr llul'ammad
'Abd
al-llu'min b. Khalaf , u'hom
b. Hdmid al-\\-arrdc1, s hom hc also heard in Balkh (p. 38a) ;
ire hearclin Nasaf (p. 358).
? For al-Iihattdbi see Brockelmann, i, 174, Supplement, i,27it. On p. 332 the author
rluotc-san obscrvation of al-Khattibi
about a luminous stone rvhich he had seen in Ukishirtha
in the province o{ Ushrirsana.
8 Ydqut, Irshdd al-Avib, ii, 83 (in biographr. of al-IihattAbi).
IO
.5. JI. Stevn
suggeststhat the \'IS. rvas copied after the author's death.e
\Vith the help of rny old notes, taken in Leiden many vears ago, I can
give a brief description of the u,ork. It is ordered according to the primarl'
authorities to rvhich the various traditions are ascribed. After an introduction, the traditions ascribed to'Ali are given (pp. zr ff.). Then follou'
the traditions ascribcd to'A'isha (pp S: ff.), Hind bint Abi Hala (pp.
r + + f f . ) . [ ' m n r ] l a ' b a d ( p p . r 9 Z f f . ) . . A , n abs. ] l a l i k ( p p . 2 5 5 t r . ) O n p . z 5 E
there begins a series of paragraphs discussing the traditions concerning
the Prophet's use of various kincls of perfume. Then there follow additional
traditions from -\nas (pp.:8g ff.). traditions from al-Bard'b.'.Azib (p.
3oz), Jabir b. Samura (pp.:o: ff.), Abu Hurayra (pp.S+t ff.), al-'Ada'
b. Khalid (pp :+6 ff.), Abu Tufayl (pp.SSoff.), Rubayya'(pp.352 ff.),
Ab[ Sa'id al-Khudri (pp.:SS ff.),'Abd Alleh b. Harith (pp.SS6 ff.),
Qurf b. Rabi'a (pp :6+ ff.), Jabir b.'Abd Allah (pp.366 ff.), Hind bint
Jawn (pp. :6q ff ) At the end (pp. 38o ff.) there are sonre traditions
about the miraculous quality of the Prophet's s\\'eat etc. and (pp. :8S f )
his luminosity in the dark.
A fer,l'indications about the r'vritten sources used by the author ma5.'
complete this summary description of his book. \\'e have seen that his
'Llmar
'llthman
b. Abi
l{uhammad alchief oral authority u'as Abh Sa'id
Sijistani, $'ho transmitted to our author traditions from his father Abu
'Umar.
From some referenceslOit results that these traditions rvere
'Umar,
the subject of r,vhich was
contained in a book compiled b1' Abu
perhaps the same as that of our author: the traditions containing the
description of the Prophet. The traditions from al-Tirmidhi's ql-Shama'il,
'Umar,
u.ere probabiv
n'hich as $re ha\re seen our author derir.ed from Abu
included in that book.ll \\,'e have seen that trvo of the teachers of our
s It is tnre that the fornrula radit'a'lltlh'arthtt can also be usetlafter the name of a living
",
"
Zeitst:hrift dcr deutschen
persorr (I. Gol<lziher, tber clie Eulogien dtr ]luhanmcdancr
n ( . ) r F e n l l i n 4 i s c | e n( . ) e s e l l s c h a ,1l t3, 9 6 , p . 1 2 2 , n o t e l ) , b u t t h i s u s a g e i s \ - c r v r a r ( ' a n d i s h e r e
exclrrded bv tl-re aclclition oI the rcft'rcncc to the parents.
r0 " That is rvhat ^\bri 'Umar sal-sin his book ", p. 272; " In tht'book of -{btr 'Umar
-fhe
",
'Llnrar
p. 379.
enumoratcd bv Ydqirt
it is spelt just as I have s,rittcn
books br'-\bir
s r . t ' n rt { ) h e l o n s - t o i n d s e f r o m t h e i r t i t l e s
to belles-lcttrcs,so that thc book refcrrcd to
trr' our author can bc identifiecl bl nonc of them.
rrSincc thc author also rcfcrs to particular spellingsin al-l-irmidhi's book (e.9.p. 327:
'isa's hook ")
" I found it rvritten thus in
it is obvious that he also reacl it directlr",
.\trrr
no doubt rvith his master Abri Sa'id. rvho handecl it doun fronr his father Abir'timar.
(^\bir 'fimar clcrive<l the traditions o{ al-Tirmidiri. as rre have seen, from Abir Nasr }Iuhammad.) fhcre is nothing strange in -\bir'Umar including traditions from al-f irmidhi
in ]ris ot'n compilation rvhich he rearl rvith his son, but also reading rvith l-Lisson al-'l'irmidl.ri's
burk.
,1 MS. from the Library o;fa Ghaznauid Amtr
rr
author u'ere disciples of al-Khattdbi, so that it is natural that he used
the rvritings of that famous traditionist.12 l,Iany traditions are said to
"
"
be extracted from
the book
of an older authoritv, Ibn Abi Khar'thama.l:l
In his comments the author uses a number of special works on
' :
glmrtb al-ltodtth, rare u.ords in Tradition. He says that he took the
conmentary on the tradition of Hind bint Abi Hala from " Ibn Qutayba's
"
(ibn Qutavba's famous book on rare \,vordsis obviously meant),
book
rnaking, hon'ever, additions of his oil.n (p. r97) . The commentary on
"
"
L,mm JIa'bad's tradition is taken from Ibn Qutayba and other scholars
(p.zoS). As u'e have seen,the author used al-Khattabi's book on the
subject, he also quotes the famous Charrb al-HadTth by Abu 'L-bayd alHaran'i, u'ho rvas a disciple of al-Khaffabi and rvas thus an older cont e t n p o r a r \ -t - , ft h e a u t h o r . r r O f o t h e r p h i l o l o g i c a ls ' o r k s \ \ ' e m a y m e n t i o n
some book by Abu l{usa al-Hamid and another b1' al-Azhari, both perused
in the autograph.l; Ibn Jinni is also c1uoted.16Of lesser authors an
irutograph by the sheikh Abh Rakr,l? or Abh Bakr al-Hanbali,18is often
r;ucrted;, its title is sometimes specilied as al-Shaaqhid,ls and on one
occasion the information is vouchsafed that its author died before the
finzrl revision of the book.2o I think this author is identical rvith Abr-r
1rSt'eabole, p. 8 trott- 3, {or a quotation from the preface oI al-Iihattabi to a book
rrf ltis, probabll his famous s'ork on Ghavib ul-Hodith. Thc traditions are al$'avs quote(l
frorn al-Iihattabi throug)'r the intermediarv of Abu Talib 'Abd al:\z1z b. \Ir-rhammad.
) l a n v a r e a c c o n r p a n i c - cbl r - c o m r n c n t s c l u e t o a l - I i h a t t a b i ;
it is lihch- that tlie traditions
and thr comnents:rre derived {rom the Gharlb al-Hadillr, rvhic}r our author rvoulcl havcr
studicd riith -\brt T:1lib,al-lihattibl's
pupil.
( I h a v e n o a c c c s st r a l - I i h a t t a b i ' s b o o k a n d
c a n n o t c h e c l i d i r e c t l l u h e t h e r t h e t r a d i t i o n s i n q u e s t i o n a r c d i s c u s s c di n i t . )
1 3I ) i c c l 2 7 9 r 8 9 2 ; s e e B r o c k e l m a n n , S u p p l e m e n t , i , 2 7 2 ( a d c 1: a l - I i h a t i b a l - B a g h d i < 1 i ,
'1'a'rihh
B a s h d r i r l ,i r ' , 1 6 2 ; I b n a l ' I n r a d , S h a l h a y d t u l - t ) h a h a b , i i , l 7 + ) . H e i s t h e a u t h o r o f
a g r e a t b i o g r a p h i c a l 1 y 6 1 l ir r r ) t r a c l i t i u n i s t s { s t i l l ( \ t . r n t i n } I S . ) ; t h e t r a c l i t i o n s q u o t e d b 1 '
, ' u t - i n l t l l , , nr r t \ C o n t , I r , , r ni t .
rr P. 62. -\br1 'Ul;avcl al-Harari'i u'as a clisciple oI al-Iihattabi
and al-^\zhari, and clied
i n 4 l r I . l o l l : B r o c k e h n a n n ,r , I 3 7 , S u p p l e m e n t ,i , 2 t ) 0 .
r i A b u f l u s i r ( c l . 3 0 5 i 9 1 8 , R r o c k e h n a n n , S u p p l e m e n t , i , I 7 l ) , l E . 1 ) i s c l u o t e c lo n p p . 6 1 ,
1 0 . 1 .1 2 3 . 1 6 8 9 ; a l - - \ z h a r i ( d . 3 7 t ) r 9 8 o ; B r o c k c l n a n r ,
p.62.
1 6l b r l
i , 1 3 4 - 5 , S u p p l e n - r e n t ,i , I g 7 ) o n
- l i n n i c l i e d i n 3 9 2 , 1 ( ) i ) 2( R r o c k e l m a n n , i , 1 3 7 , S u p p l e m e n t . i , l g l - 2 ) .
( l u o t e do n p . l E .
I' I'p. 12, tj3, f79, 225, 231)2
, ti;, 30I, 323. 3:ll.
r El ) p . I 6 1 7 , l l 0 , 4 2 - 3 , 7 2 , l ( ) 9 .
re I). tJ{): bi-hhatt -1bt I}ahy /i Shttti'ahidih.
! o } r p . 2 17 I S .
He rs
T2
S. f,,[. Stern
'Abd
Nlah b. Ibrlhim al-Hanbali, lvho composed a dirge on alBakr
There
Khattabi' l and was thus a contemporary of the author's teachers '[mar
"
"
Abu'I-Hasan
u
certain
by
Notes
Baghdadi
are mentionecl the
b.,Abi'Umar,22 whom I cannot identi{y'
II. THE I,TANLTSCRIPT
So much for the text. As for the splendid liS. r,r'hich contains the
text, it has a colophon from rvhich \^,'elearn the identity of the scribe
Ab[ Bakr ]Iuhammad
rvho r,t'rote-and. presumably also illuminated-it:
"'
"
The zuarraq
it
preserve
God
in Ghazna, may
b. Rafi' the uarraq,
in
the market
rvas a professional copyist and bookseller-the shopkeepers
of stationers (siiq al-warraqln) naturally enough themselves produced
their ou,n \,'ares.23 There was good leason why in this case our bookseller
o{ Ghazna made an effort to produce a book as beauti{ul as he could make
it: his customer was not a scholal- rvho rt'ould not care too much about
a
the look of his textbook and \,r,howould not usually be able to afford
luxury copy, but the amir of Ghazna himself, the ruler of a great empire,
in fact the son of Mahmud of Ghazna. To tell the truth, the Ghaznau'id
empire had sadlv declined from its mightv state under llahmhd b}'the
'Abd
al-Rashid, his son ancl third successor-but even so its ruler
time of
would expect a copy worthv of a librarv rvhich must have included manv
books br,vnedby his father, that great patron of literaturc'
\ve learn of the provenance of the book from the library of the amir
is
of Ghazna from his ex-libris on the title-page. In fact the title-page
'Abd
the
lines,
six
in
al-Rashid
amir
the
taken up by tu,o ex-libris: one of
other of a certain rich merchant, \\,ritten betu,een the first and second
lines of the other ex-libris. In order to explain this anomalv I assume
that the rulel's exlibris originally contained tu'o more lines n-hich u'ere
later erased to give way to the ex-libris of a subsequent otl'ner: we shall
see that an examination of the titles of the rulers as thev arpPearin the
21\-irlirt, Iyshiid at-.{rib. ii, 8?. on p. l0tt in our book it is related that \bri flakr
" askc'd Abi llubammad al-Sirirli " (g'hon I cannot, horr-evet, identi{r')'
2 2p . I 6 ( h i s a u t o g r a p h J i b & ' d t a ' l q A t i h i ' I - t s a g h r l o , I i . r l , a )p, . l ! | - t r . f \ \ ' h i l e r e a d i n g t h c
proofs T realize that -\bu'l-$asan'Limar is probabh'tht'broth.er of Abrl Sa'id'Uthlnan
"
"
authority
al-sijistani, see p. 8 note 4. A poem bv one of the moclerns is quotecl on the
"
of the
oncr
by
276
a
t-erse
on
p.
(p.
ancl
il(.)]),
Abi
Ytrsuf
b.
}lutiammad
r:f a certain sheil<h
'?rd is quoted from .\bu'l-Fath, rvho is probabh'nontr
"
on thc rvord
moderns rvith a t(l,i11t.t
one of the
other than Abu'1-Fatlr al-Busti, the cor.rrt poct of thc Ghaznau'icls, and himself
chief represcntativcs of laTrzispoetrr'.
e3Thc alternatrve that \lullammad b. Rafi' uas a cra{tsman permanentlr- cmplovcd
at the an.rir's court cannot, of course, be rulcd out.
A lIS. from the Librqlv of a Ghq'znauidAmtr
13
ex-Iibris confirms this assurnption.2a
'Abd
al-Rashid as it stands norv reads:
The ex-libris of
dltll ill
,
4iJl ;iJt
*!t
fbs
.-s il}
alll ;-:
;*-
i-Trvolines containing the ex-libris of the merchant \[uhammad b. shibl]
al3-rJl
;1r- J +,tl * :2o- *.1
,J 4 fl.nl .j,l iill Jyi
, ,
i
-l.,J,l rrl F l"ll re\ J
,)\*i1 l"fllt oot4AillJt-bi
For the librarv of the amir, the king, $'ho glorihesGod'sreligion,1nd aids God's
-.
caliph . . tulo lines containing the ex-libris oI the rnerchant . . ..]-Ab[ Mans[r
'Abd
al-Rashid,the son of the t<ight-Handof the Empire, Trustl' Keeperof the
Islamic Religion, Abu'l-pasim \'Iabmud, the son of the Helper of ReligionAssistant of ihe Conrmanderof the Faithful; mav God prolong his life and give
glorr- to his lictorics.
It is not at a1l easv to read this text, rvhich is written in gold against
the background of a scrolling: the colour is badly damaged and it took
several sessionsduring my stay in Leiden in r95r to make out the script,
bv catching the'reflection of the faded gold near a u'indow. It was onlv
after haYing done the work that I noticed that I had a predecessor nearlv
a century ago. \Vhereas in the catalogue of the Arabic MSS. of the Leiden
"
some
Library (dated 1866) it r,vasstated that the \[S. rvas written for
",
prince
in an appendix (dated rE77) it r,vasaddedzt that during a visit
read
J. von Karabacek had made an attempt to decipher the exlibris and 'Abd
part of it, establishing the identity of the prince as the Ghaznarvid
al-Rashid. Since, however, he was unable to read some \Yords, and others
he read incorrectiy, I do not regret the efforts spent upon the ex-iibris,
of u'hich I can nott, offer a fairly certain text.
2aThe alternative rvould be to assune that the book u'as made for the merchant and
rvas then accluired b1 the amir, rvhose ex-libris *.as then rvritten abovt' and belolv that
-I'his
()f the merchant.
is rather unlikclf in itself, and the fact that some elcments, rvhich
shoultl figurc in the title of the amir, arc absent, seems to clinch thc argument in fartur of
the explanation ofierrcd in the text.
!5 -{.t the cnd o{ r'ol. vi/I of the catalogue (published b1' lI. Th. Floutsma in 1877);
seep. 229.
r+
S. II. Stern
'Abd
al-Itashid's reign only lasted for three Years. He had been
imprisoned by }larvdiid, his brother, r'vhen the latter assumed po\\'c'r.
'Abd
al-Rashid u'as proclaimecl
On I'Ialvdud's death in 44o/ro4g, hou'e\'er,
ruler bv some troops u'ho happened to be near his place of prison. They
marched on Ghazna, causing'Ali, son of Sultan l{as'ld I, to flee from
the capital, u,hich \vas occupied by'Abd al-Rashid. In 442lro5r he in
his turn lvas murdered by the usurper Tughril, a former ghulam of Sultan
Mahmud.26
III. THE TITLIIS
IN THE
I1X_LII]RIS
The ex-libris is not only valuable as a monument of Islan-ricart in
itself and as evidence for the date and provenance of the lIS., but alsrr
'Abd
al-Rashid and his
provides information about the titles born b1'
article entitled
thorough
In
a
(Sebiiktigin).
granclfather Sabuktakin
"2;
"
reviewed
Bos',r'orth
C. E.
The Titulature of the llarlv Ghaznavids
the evidence available on the subject. Some uncertainty remained about
Sabuktakin's title, and I do not think that Bosu'orth has dra$'n the right
conclusion. In 384ig9-1 Sabuktakin and his son Jlahrntcl helped the
Siminid amir Nllh b. Jlansir clefeat the rebelliousgeneralsAbu'Ali
-fhere
is,
and Fa'ir1, and as a re\\'ard, Sabuktahin u-as given a n€r\\'title.
hou'ever, some doubt about u-hat the title exactlv \\'as: thele is no cluestion
", "
"
thc Helper of . . .", hr-rtthere is a
but thart it u'as composed$'ith NAsir
conflict' of evidence about the second part. -\ccorcling to Bosu'orth
"
l-ri.sir ad-Dattl& is probably the original forn.r, and the dtn component
n"rakingit Nasir al-Din'"r'a'1-Dau'la may have been added to it in popular
".
The evidence
usirge soon after his death or even during his lifetime
seentsto me to impose quite different conclusions. The title Nisir al-Din
u'a'l-I)au'ia is attested by u'eightv authorities. Abu'1-Fath al-llusti,
Sabuktakin's intimate court poet calls him by this title in his clirge,28
ancl the same form is given bV al-Biruni and Gardizi, both u'riters ivho
lir.ed uncler the earlv Ghaznarvids.2e It is true that this full title u'as
! 6 S e c L l o s u ' o r t hs : r r t i c l e ( r e f e r r c d t ( ) p r e s c l . ) t l \ ' ) .p P . 2 3 o - 1 , a n t l l ) S r ' r u r c l c i ," L i n
",
I } t t l l e t i n d ' l l u t l e s r t r i e v t t a l e sx, v t i i ( l ) a n l a s c u s
t r 6 s c r r( l e d i n a r s g a z n a t ' i c l e s e t s a l { t r q i d e s
1 9 6 - 1 )p, p . l { ) T f f . i s e e p p . I 9 8 - f ) f o r t h c c h r o n o l o g v o l ' A b d a l - I t a s h i d ' s r c r g n ; .
2i ()rit'us,1962. pp. 2l() ff. fhe discr.rssioo
nf Sabuktakin's titlc is on p' 2lti.
3 8( ) u o t e d b \ ' . ] l - ' l - t b i , u l - T a ' r i k h a l ' \ ' a n t I n t , C a . i r ol U f | 6 , i , J 6 i l a n d I b n K h a l l i k : 1 n ' i n h i s
a r t i c l e o n f l a h r n u d o { ( } h a z n z r( c d . \ \ ' i r s t e n f c l d , n o . 7 2 3 i .
x e A l - B i r i r n i * - r o t e h i s C h r o n o l o g r . i n : . t 9 0 r 1 0 0 ( )d, u r i n g t r l a h m u r l ' s r e i g n , b u t l r t : f o r e
I -fIS. from theLibrary of a GhaznawidAmtv
15
often abbreviated-not, ho$'er-er, into Nisir ai-Dau'la, but into Ndsir
al-Din. Abu'l-trat1.r,in a second dirge, employs the form Nasir Din alIlah, rvhich is merely a poetical variant of Nasir ai-Din, as is the form
Nasir al-Din, rvhich occurs in an anonymous clirge.3r These are contemporary,passages. A feu' vears after Sabuktakin's death, Firdawsi,
in the chapter of the shLh-nanl,Q containing the dedication to \'Iahmflcl
"
of Ghazna refers to }Iahmrld's brother Nasr as the son of him who is
called Ndsir al-Din.31 Similarly, al-'Utbi, speaking of the same prince,
has Nasr b. Ndsir al-Din, and speaking of a third brother, Isma'il b'
Nasir a1-Din.32 Farrukhi, court panegyrist of the Ghaznarvids, calls
",
"
"
"
and
son of Nisir-i Din
and Yusuf
llahmucl
son of Nasir al-Din
also in the headings of numerous poems dedicated to these and other
members of Sabuktakin's dynasty he is ahvays referred to as Nasir al-I)in.3n
Our ex-libris confirms that in the court of Ghazna, in referring to
the ancestor of the dvnasty, the shortened form Ndsir al-Din \vas
used"
There is onlv one apparent exception. In describing the bestorval of
the title upon Sabuktakin, al-'Utbi according to the printed text gives it
This is strange, since it goes against al1 the other
as Nisir a1-Dar,v1a.3a
contemporary evidence, and also, as \\:e have seen, against al-'Utbi's own
usage in other passagesof his book. Thus there is good reason to assume
that the text is incorrect, and this is confirmed by the fact that the
'l'hc
'-\trd
al-ltashid.
in (-]haznautrder the rcign of
p a s s a g e sa r e i n a l - R i r i r n i ' s C l i r o n o l o g y ( a l - - l t h a r a l - l ) - t q i - t ' n ,c c l S a c h a u ) , p . I 3 ' 1 , a n d i n
( ) a r d i z i ' s H i s t u r r - ( . Z u t ' t ta l - . 1 h h t t r ? e
r ,c l . l l . N a z i m ) , p . 6 2 . O n p p . 5 9 a r . r c0l 3 , h o r v e v e r .
clming to his court.
(iarclizi lrote
()arrlizi rvrites NIsir al-Din.
3 0- \ b u ' 1 - I , ' a t l ls s e c c i n cdl i r g e a n c l t h e o n e b v t h e a n o n v r n o u s p o e t a r e t l u o t e d b 1 ' a l - ' t l t b i
alter .\bu'l-Iratll's first dirgo, i, 263.
3 1E d . \ ' u l l c r s , i . 1 3 , l i n e : l 3 t ) .
3 ?i i , 3 i l t r . F I e a l s o c l u o t c s { p . i } 3 2 ) l p o e r . nc o r r r p o s e r b
l v } r i r n s e l Ji n u ' h r c h h e c a l l s t h e
"
"
prince' Nagr b. zrl-antir Na-sir I)in ,\llAh usrng a poetic:rl fortn siinilar to the onc u.-cetlbt'
. \ b r i ' 1 - F a t ] l . \ \ ' h e n . f u z j : r n i , ! - r b a q d t - i N r i , s r r i , e c l \ \ - . N a s s a u I - e c s , 1 . r .8 ( t r a n s l ' H ( i '
Rar.ertl., p. 75) givr:s Sabulitakin's title as Ndsir I)in Allih, hr: probabll- had some suclt
Ni7:rm al-llulk lSi!dsat-nama, p. 126) also gives Sablrktakln the title
pgenr in minrl.
al-I)in (though his account of its bestol'al is i'rroneorts).
3 3S e e f o r e x a m p l e l ) i u d n ( T e h e r a n 1 9 3 2 ) ,p . 8 5 l . 3 ( l l a h n i L r d ) ; p . l ' 1 0 L l 5 , p . 1 4 2 l . t .
'fhere
is no need to gir-e references {or thc Verv numcrolls
p. 201 l. 1.1,p. 2:l{-}l. 5 (Ytrsu{).
" \Iahmrl<l
headings. Also thc Zivdricl l{av l(d'r1s in his Qdbus-ndna cttlls his father-in-lau'
" (cd.
son of Ndsir al-Din
Levv, p, 6).
3 1i . l g i l .
\isir
r6
S. M. Stern
reading Ndsir al-Din is also attested for this passage.Br By accepting this
as the true reading36the anomaly is eliminated: all the contemporarv
sources have either the full Nisir al-Din wa'l-Dawla or the shortened
Nasir al-Din. only later sources of no authoritv have Nisir al-Dawla,3?
all to be rejected.
The shortened form Nasir al-Din was preferred for ordinary use.
It is not likely' that the more pompous Nasir al-Din wa'l-Dawla is a
"
popular usage ", and it seems to me obvious that it was the olficial
form assumed by Sabuktakin in 384/994. It is true that the clawla titres
are first in chronological appearance, it is onlv u'ith the Saljhqs that the
d,tn ones become preponderant, although the Ghaznalr{ds continued, on
the r,vhole,to favour the older, dau'la ones.tss yet the evidence shorvs that
the title bestou,ed upon Sabuktakin was Nasir al-Din lva'l-Da-,vla which
lvas currentlv abbreviated into Nasir al-Din. These facts are of great
importance for the history of titles in Isram, and it is satisfactory that
they can be lirmly estabiished as facts.
Let us come to the or'.ner of the \{S., ,Abd al-Rashid.3e That his
kunva u'as Ab[ Jlansur, is also attested bv Garclizi.a0 of his titles, line r
o f t h e e x - l i b r i sg i ' c s s o m e p r e l i m i n a r y , , n c s : " T h e a m i r , t h e l o r d , t h e
".
king
Line z has in the hrst instance \ru'izz Din Allah, " one 'vh<r
glorifies God's reiigion " : this title is arso attc.sted bv Garclizi. The
second title: lluzahir I{halifat Allah, " \\'ho aids Gocl's caliph ", is not
otheru-ise knor'r'n. These tr,o complex titles, similar to those invented
bv the later Bu*'ayhids, can, hor.r'ever,bv no means be the only ones given
to the amir in the ex-libris, but must har.e been preceded bv titles of the
36Thcre is no critical
edition of thc text. The otd flanchestL.r )lS. iJohn Rr.lancls
L i b r a r r ' , n o 2 8 8 . d a t e d 5 9 5 1 1 1 9 8 ) ,a n c l t h e { a i r l v o l d l I S . O x f o r c l 8 l ( 7 t h ' l B f l r
I
centurv ))
h a v e . a s t l . r ep r i n t e d t c x t :
'Jr-tJl
'r;rt
..if
:'.!1
J*1a (this u.orcl om. Oxford) jK{ryli
'I'hc
m o r e r e c c - n t( l x { o r c l 6 7 5 ( J u m a c l i l I I 0 , 1 2 ) r e a c l s ,h o u e v e r :
.,r.Jl ,..Q ;*fu'o;)l
,..\\ -:l:
{ ' l h e r e a d i n g o f t h e } I a n c h e s t c r \ 1 S . r r a s k r n d l v a s c c r t a i n c c lf o r m e b y l ) r .
J. D. I-at}ran.)
3 6O n e c a n c - x p i a i n h o r v t h c o r i g r n a l
\ a s i r a l - l ) i n u a s c h a n g e c lr n t o - \ a s i r a l - D a r v l a :
al-'Utbi relates in the same passage that lla]lmr1cl rvas given tire title of Savf al-l)arvla,
ancl
I suggest that this causcd some copr-ist to u'rite \Asir al-l)arrla bv a sort of attraction.
37Ibn al-Athir, ix, 72, and Ibn lihallil<in
in the title of the article on \Iahmtrd o{
( ] h a z n a ( s e ea b o v c , p . 1 4 n o t e 2 8 ) .
38This rs a quotation from Ilosu'ortl't,
rvho thus notir-ates his conclusion that ilre form
witln dawla x'as the original titlc of Sabuktakin.
3eBosrvorth cliscusscs'.\bct al-Ilashid's
tities on pp. 2;10_1.
1 0P . 6 3 .
Amtr
A IIS.;t'romtheLibrary of a Ghaznaaid,
I7
simpler (and olderl tvpe, since theS regularlv precede in the complete
'Abd
al-Rashid's title
series the more compiex ones. Gardizi gir-es as
Sultan-i \Iu'aZZam'Izz al-Datt'la lr'a-Zavn al-l'Iilla Sayf Allah M:u'izz
'Izz
al-Darla wa-Zayn
Din A1lah. The coins onlv sho\\' the simple titles:
'Izz
al-Dau'la
It seems obvious to me that the tttles
al-liilla Sayf Allih.
lines
(betrveen
figure
in
the
tu'o
in
fact
Sayf
Al1ah
did
al-llilla
wa-Zayn
the present lines r and z) rvhich \\'erc subsecluentlyerasedin order to make
place for the ex-libris of the merchant Zayn al-Din. Since they r,vouldnot
have filled the trvo lines, rve mav assume that there lvere a ferv more
"
words, more preliminary epithets for instance, sttch as the great, the
"
"
Assistant of the
etc. The title Nasir Amir a1-llu'minin,
victorious
",
u'hich-as titles of this tvpe ahvays doCommander of the traithful
'Abd
al-Rashid.al
comes at the verv end, \vas not hitherto attested for
I\'. THtr CALLIGRAPHY
OF THI] IIANUSCRIPT
The historical information incidentally provided by the ex-librisis u'elcome, but incomparably greater is the artistic
horvsoever trifling
importance of the manuscript, in regard mainly to its rvriting, but also to
its iilumination.
The book counts among the important documents of Arabic calligraphy, since,together rvith a feu, other ]'ISS.,it bears witness to a decisive
stage in its history. In the early centuries of Islam we have to distinguish
betu'een three kinds of script-leaving aside epigraphical u'riting.a2 First
called conventhere is the variety of scripts used for the Koran-all
Secondly,
there are the
Kuhc.
tionally, though rather inaccuratelv,
scripts, shor'r'ing variations according to their time and place, used in
copying books. Thirdly, we have the more cursive scripts used for letters,
documents, and notes, out of rvhich were evolved in the chanceries
various formal scripts. The eleventh-tu,elfth centurv specimens confirm
{1 Wc scc from the preceding that the evidence of thc cx-libris lits beautifullv rvith the
'Abd
algir-en bv Gardizi rvhich is not surprising, as (}ardizi rvrote under
in{ormation
alIn contrast, statements ol later historians (lbn al-Athir, llujnal
Taud.yikh, l.Iamd Allah llustarvfi, Sa.vf al-Din Iiadli, quoted b)'Bosrvorth) abcut titles
'Abd
a1-Ilashid, such as Shams Din Allah, Sa1'f al-Darvla, Jamdl aiallegecllv borne b1'
Dawla, llajd al-I)awla, can 1lo\\i be definitelv drsmissecl.
azCf. Ibn l)urustas-avh's classification: " -\s far as its iundamental character is
Rashid's reign.
concerned. rvriting is onc, and thc single lctters o{ tlie alphabet har.e the same {orm in all
the scripts. The letters are similar, though through their different uses thev rcccir.e different
shapes, as in thc scripts of thc Iioran (al-ntasahif), the copvists (al-warrdtlln) and the secret a r i e s ( a l - k u t t t l b ) , o t c . " ; I { i t d b a l - I i r t t t c i b ,p p . 6 6 - 7 .
B
o's' Iv
S. JI. Stern
rti
that chancery script, in contrast to the Koranic and book scripts, al$'ays
afiected a certain culsiveness of ductus, though a highly stylized culsiven e s s . 4 3I n t h e f o u r t h c e n t u r y o f t h e H i j r a ( t e n t h c e n t u r ) ' - \ . D . ) t h e r e u ' a s
"
"
introcluced a ne\v Koranic script, rvhich I proposed to call rhomboici
",
"
script.44 This rvas at the beginning used side by side u'ith the Kufic
u'hich b1' the end of the fourth/tenth centurv \\'ent out of use' The
rhomboid .script surr.ived until the sixth/tu'elfth century, but gave wa\r
in its turn to a competitor \.hich appeared at the beginning of the fifth/
eler.enth century : the il,ask/l,scdpt. Here rr'e have a some'"1'hatdifferent
process from that u'hich brought the rhomboicl script into use. That
script $'as a ne\\: invention, u,hich the naskh script of course was not:
"
"
or book hand. The nor-eltv
copying
it is, as its uame shorvs, the
consisted in the nerv function of the naskh as a Koranic script, u'hich u'as
aiso accompanied bv an improvement of the naskh in order to fit it for
its nerv part. The first extant Koran tn nashh \\'as \\'ritten by the famous
calligrapher Ibn al-Bal\,ab in 3gr/rooo-r.4; It is likelv that in the
impror.enrent of the naskh scrtpt Ibn al-Bari'n'ab hacl predecessorsin the
fourthltenth century,{n but it is perhaps not far fetched to ascribe to him
the novelty of using a naskh still further regularized bv him for copving
the Iioran.a? The next earliest Iiorans in n(rskhare the copies preserved
a3The.papvri shc;rvtho rvriting usr'd for corresponcletrct:in thc e';rrlv ct'nturies o{ Islant.
centltri(s \\'(
l.or the strlizec.l chancerv scripts der-elopcd in the thircl-{ourth'ninth-tenth
.har-eno spccimens, but the Fltimid documcnts {ront the li{th-sixthreleventh-tuc'lfth
cerrtnrics (seg m1' Fdtitnid l)ecrcrs, London 19611)allorv to form a gcncral picturc, sincc tlltr
'-\bbAsicl chancerr- set ipt.
script t-mplovcd in thent is presun'rabl1' derivccl front somc
" in Ibn al-Bal'rvdb's manncr " reproducecl br- al-Tibi (sec bel,rrr',
T|e chancery scripts
l). :i]()noto i{l tallr s'c11\'ith +-hrsconclusion.
{ r S c e n } ' r e m a r k s i n t ] n c R u l l e t i n r : i t h e S c h o o l o J O t t e n t a l n u t l , l . i r i c a r t . S l r r z l f u : .l lsf,; i r - I ,
pp. i39tl and ll{){.t. I hope to sl-ro\vthat thc rhornboid script rs irasctl on a. r:ertain trpq',,1
riasil, g'l.rich u'as, h{rs-evt'r, so profouncllv moclifted that it is not tluite inappropriat,: to
".
"
N o t c : r d d e < 1r l u r i n g t h e c o r r e c t i o n t ' { t h t ' p r o o f s
speak of a nel' invcntion
'
l
'
h
c
a 5S e e I ) . S . R i c e ,
ttttiqtrr Ibn al-Bauwc\b ntanttscripl in thc Chtsttv tseattt'Librarv,
lJuDlln
a6 "
lvJo.
Ibn
al-Barvrvirb
obsert'e'cl
that
tile
Bani
lluqla
hacl
inrpnrvecl
tltt
lutr.'t|t'dt
and
the
1 r z s A fst c r i p t s , b u t h a d { a i l e d t o a t t a i n t h e } r i g h e s t d e g r e e o l p c r f e c t i o n : h c c o m p l e t e d t h e i r
rvork. He also {ound that his mastcr Ibn -\sad rvzrsrvriting poetrv ir.t tt nashh hand rvhich
".
This passageconres lrom an
approximated to tinc utuhaqqaq: he perfectcd this too
anonvmons trcatise on calligraphr.: thc. original is published in )Iajallat )fa'had aIllahhttTtdt al:,lrabi.yt'a, I955, p. 126; an linglish translation is founcl in Rice, p 7 (reproduced here with slight emenclations).
r? There is a reference to Ibn al-RarvrvAb's improlcment
(qalant ul-nasdftf)
of tl're script of the Iioran
in the treatise referrcd to in thc prc'cecling note, loc cit.
One of the
-{ l1S. from the Library of a Chaznauid Atttu'
r9
in the British Jluseum. the Chrster Beattv Library and the Tiirk r.e Islam
Irserieri lliizesi and discussedb-v Rice on pp :-1 7. belonging to the thircl
decade of the fifth Islamic centurv.
This elevation of the nashh,to the rank of a Koranic script and the
lashir..,n
introduced (it scemsl bv Ibn al-Barruab of emplo5'ing it in
illnminaiecl lururv liorans gar.e rise to use of nashh,also in non-Iioranic
luxur1' books. \\'e have not enough materials to be abie to say rvith
ccrtaintv u'hich \\,as the script usualll' employed for luxury books (othcr
than Iiorans) in the earlv centuries of Islam. From the fifth/eleventh
centurv onrvards naskh is employed for luxurv copies-i.e. illuminatecl
books rvritten for the libraries of rulers, high dignitaries, or other rich
rren. There is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford a copy of ]fiskau,avh's
-7dib al-Ftrs dated $glrolT u.hich is the earliest lururv ]IS. of a nonIioranic text l<nou,nto me rvritten in the ne$r stvle.18 Our MS. is seconcl
in the chronological order. The lav-out of these tu,o JISS. is related to
that of the Koran IISS. insofar as thev har.'erosettes dividing the sentences
(corresponding to the verse-divisors in the Koran) , panels for chapter
heaciings,marginal palmettes. A copl' of Saldma b. Jandal's collectecl
poems, nhich belongs here through the use of calligraphic nqskh, can be
and 456/ro63-probably to -+55or .+56i1063 .+.
clatedto betrveen -+.+5/ro53
Its lav-out, hou,ever,follou's a different pattern: \\'hereasthe commentary
is n'ritten in naskJt,the verses are in large characters said tobe tltu,lu'th.as
Tncidenfellrr
fhe
-""*-..":^'J
.'''
s5s of the tltttltilt script in luxury books is due to a
similar adaptation as that of the nashh. The naskh $'as adapted from its
trriginal sphere (ordinary secular books) to a nelr' one: Korans and other
lnxurv books. The thuLutlt u,as originally a chancery script, rvhich was
also adapted for the same ne\\' uses. Ibn al-Bau'wab \\rasfamous for his
iollosers ol lin
al-Ilau'rvirb is saicl to havo been famous for his lioranic script (\'a,tilt,
I r . ; h d t l a | - - 4 y l b ,r ' , 3 [ ) 4 , q u o t e c l b v R i c e , p . I t ] ) . . \ l - T i b i ( f o r u h o s e s p c c i m e n s o f c a l l i g r a p h y
.cc belon, p. 20 note 5()) gives a specimen oI LL'c ntasrlhi.Jscript according to the manner
,,{ Ibn al-Bau'r'ab (pp 5.1 7) rrhich on the u,hole corresponds fairlv rvcll to the script oi the
('hestcr Beattv fIS. (This usagehas to be distinguislicd {rom thc older one, rvhere " script
.'l tlte nto.sahil " refcrs to thc so-callecl " Iiufic " scripts.) 'Ih.e namc " Koranic script "
:ur.lgcststJrat tl.rerasAlr usccl bv Itrn al-Barvrvdb and his schr;ol for Korans rvas o{ a larticrrlar
rincl, clistinguishecl fron orclinarv riasii. This point ncccls further clarification.
i8 I hope to cliscussthis ]IS. in the near future,
aeSee ltice, pp. 19-22.
l'his lIS. is then thc first example for the alternate use ol the
rs o scripts, frerluentlv practiscd afterrvards.
The idea itself to *'rite r-erseand commentary
:n clillerent scripts s.as, as I hope to shorv on another occasion, alreaclv knorvn in the fourth/
:r'nth centur\'.
S. M. Stern
improvement of various chancery scripts, the tltttlttth amongst them,50and
one mav perhaps risk the conjecture that the use of tfuiluth in books ll'as
aiso due to his example.sl
Let us, hou,ever, come back to our ]IS. u'hich is in naskh script. Not,
hon,ever, in the stvle developed for the n(tskh by' Ibn al-Bar.vrvaband
accepted as canonical bv his fo11ou'ers.The script of our lIS. is strikingly
"
manner of Ibn aiidiosvncretic and sho\\'s that at the period the
"
Barvrvab (tartqat Ibn al-Bau'uriD) did not oust indir-idualitv. The scribe
of the f,IS. and his customer have accepted the ne',r'ideathat the ordinarv
book hand, the naskh, may, if given extra care, be used for luxury X'ISS''
but did not vet think it essential to conform to the actual style of the
standard ilaskll gotng barck to Ibn al-Barvrvab. The scribe probably based
the script of this lIS. on his ordinary handu'riting rvhich he used for
copying cheaper books commissioned by lesser persons. For the luxurv
lIS. destined for the library of the amir he gave his own hand\\'riting a
style. Strict
calligraphic qualitv rather than adapting Ibn al-Barvr.r'Ab's
follorvers of the school of Ibn al-Bar"'lr'ab rvould have no doubt condemned
the calligraphy as unorthodox and therefore inferior, but I cannot help
in rvriting
feeling-though it .'r'ould be futile to try to a"vard marks-that
and
Koran
the other
u'ith
Ibn
al-Balvu'ab's
and iay-out our )[S. can vie
luxurv ]'ISS. of its period.
\\Ihere it falls off is the illumination, rvhich cannot stand comparison
u,ith the richness and refinement of the illumination in Ibn a1-Barvr,v6"b's
50See for example thr: passage (indicated above, p. lS note -16) {ront the anonvnlolts
t r e a t i s e o n c a l l i g r a p h r ' . T h e r e e x i s t s p e c i m e n sb 1 ' I a t e r c a l l i g r a p h e r s e x e n p l i f v i n g v a r i o u s
",
"
manl interscripts in the rnanner of Ibn a1-Ba*'rv;rtr rvhich seem to go back-throttgh
lr:ning media, of course-to origJinalsin the hand of Ibn al-Bari'rvab. -\ collcction nra,tiebr'
Ibnal-Tibiforthellamltrksultan(]ansihal-Ghau'riisavailableinafacsinrilocclitt<>r','.
Jdnti
Ritabat al-Iiuttdb, published b1' S. al-llunajjid, Beirut 1962, and can give an
llahdsin
approximate idea of the various scripts.
51'Ihe di*.dn of Saldma b.
Jandal bt'ars a colophon purporting to be in the hand of
Ibn al-Ilarv*,db. -\ccording to Ricc this is a forgerr-, but ma1- reiiect the fact that authentic
IISS. b-v lbn al-tsarvs'db were $.rittcn in alternating lltttluth and tnshh. A \IS. entirelv
in thuluth, allegedll' b1' Ibn al-Barvrvib, is a forgerl' (Rice, p. 27). So arc probabll' trvo
others, accepted as genuine b1- -\. Siiherl tnver,
rvho has rvrittcn a naive book on Ibn
in rvhich all the colophons allegedly containing signatures of Ibn al-Bau'v'ab
are taken on tlrcir {ace value (I usc the Arabic translatjon, al-I{hattat al-Baghd&dl'Ali b.
Hild.l al-mashhir b'Ibn al-Bawu,db,Ilaghdad 1958,pp. 24 ff. ino. 1,, p. 33 [no. 8]). I knou'
al-Bau'u'ib,
of 1'et another thuluth\IS. presumablv forged on his name: \Iunich 791 of rvhich I possess
photographs. These IISS. mav point to the existence of genuine IISS. u-ritten b1' Ibn
al-Barvrvib in thuhrth.
,{ MS. from th,eLibrary of a GhaznaaidAmlv
)r
Iioran, and the MSS. of I iskau'ayh and SalAma b. Jandal. The scrolling
on the page of the ex-libris (Fig. r) is rather trivial, and the panels of
t h e f i r s t t \ \ ' o p a g e s ( F i g s . 2 3 ) , t h o u g h t h e g e n e r a l i m p r e s s i t - , ni =
pieasant, do not reach the level of the iliumination of the other MSS. The
palmettes forming the marginal decoration accompanving chapterheadings are rather poor if u'e think of the u'ide range of palmettes in
Ibn al-Balrrydb's Iioran.52 lloreover, our stationer shorvs himself rather
casuai in his rvork, since he put such palmettes in four casesonly, at the
beginning of the book,5']leaving the subsequent chapter-headingsr'vithout
this ornament. In short, as an illuminator, he does not rise above
mediocritv.
\'. THE
LATEIT \IICISSITUDES OF- THE ]IANL]SCRIPT
The volume does not seem to have remained long in the librarv of the
(,haznau'ids. Its first subsequent o\\'ner \\ras a rich merchant u'hose ex*
libris occupies,if my conjecture is acceptable, the piace of the second and
'Abd
al-Rashid. The nerv ex-libris
thircl lines of the original ex-libris of
r e ad s :
eaJl
J*
il r.4 4[l r.t
'Abd
Belongs to the sheikh Zaki al-Din, Glorl' of the llerchants, Abu
".
This text is in Kufi script, rvhich
-\ilirh ]Iuhammad b. Shibl al-Himsi
but
I hardly think it u,'ouidbe later
accurately,
date
to
I shail not attempt
",-"
than the trvelfth century. The nelv o\\'ner bears the name a1-Himsi
so that he, or his family, came from Hims in Syria, u'here he actuallv
"
lived is unknoll'n.
^\ slightly later ou'ner put his motto into the upper left corner:
"
lllsA b. \'aghm ur trusts in tht' for, )-jJ!. eJ. €y
[-,r]*,
The last tu'o letters of Yaghmtr have been cut a\\'ay,
giving God".
but fortunately they can be supplied, since the name is to rhyme rvith aiThere \\ras a {amous amir of this name in the reign of the Ayyubid
$afur.
ruler al-Kamil,5a and I think it most probable that rve have here his ex-
i2 See Rice, pp. l6-17.
u t O r p p . 8 , 2 1 , 2 6 , 2 8 , F i g s . . 1 - 8 ; c f . b e l o r v ,p . 2 3 .
ia C{. Cahen's note in Bulletin d'Ehrdes Orientales, vol. xvi (Damascus 1958-60), Arabic
ext, p. lit.
S. M. Stern
'rS\
l
*:*{g
r*$
I
W
s
$l
d
..'.,,i
I
';
r. Page of the ex-libris
,'1 -11S..front the Library of a Chaznawid Amtv
2-)
Iibris; il so the l{S. has founcl its rvay to Egvpt b1'the first half of the
tliirteenth centur\i. \ othing can be said about the other o\\'ners:
'Ali,
Hasan al-F'aqir.
]luhanrmad (u'ith undeciphercd nisbas), Sa'd b.
Iiinallv, in the se\-enteenthcenturj,', the l{S. \\rasaccluired in Istanblil by
I-. \\-arner, u'ho bequeathed it to the l--l'niversitvof Leiden.
VI. DESCRIPTION
OI- THE
PLATtrS
Tlre dimensions of the book are 2+5 x 16'7 cms., rvith only insignific:rnt clifferences in the I'arious folios. The rvritten surface lneasures
ca. r8 x rr cms. and there are ro or g lines to each page.
Fig. r shor,r.sthe page u'ith the ex-libris. As I have said, the ex'Abcl
al-Rashid is in bad condition, and since most of the gold of
libris of
the r,r'riting has disappeared, it can hardly be read in the photograph.
The outline's of the scrolling are in red, rvhich is then filled in rvith gold.
l'he three-dots ornament is in blue, and the frame of the ex-libris is also
blue.5;
The ex-libris of the merchant l'Iuhammad b. shibl al-Himsi has also
cleteriorated, but is clearlv legible. It is in a panel in a frame u'itlr
ornament of clots. The four cornels are cut off and contain fleuronS.
The verso of fol. r (Fig. z) and the recto of fol. z (Fig. 3) contain
the title of the book on trvo almost, though not entirely, mirroring panels
\.ith knobs (fSmiliar from IISS. of the Koran). The sides of the paneis are
prolonged dou'ntvards to form, rvith a corresponding horizontal border,
n frame for the tr.hole of the page, furnished u'ith an ornament of dots.
In the outer lorver colner of both pages half of the upper knob is repeated
The colours employed in the panels, knobs, and frames, are gold, red
blue, green.
There follo$,s on fol. rY the basmal& and the author's name, all in
thick gold ietters framed r'r'ithin black contours. The text then begins
u'ith the author's preface.
The next plates provide specimens of the text and at the same
time illustrate the style of the chapter-headings, u'hich ale in golden
letters rvithin black outlines of a different styie from the u'riting of the
text, rvith palmettes of various shapes on the margin opposite them.
lhese palmettes only occur near the beginning of the volume, on pp. E,
2r. 26.28. Afterwards the scribe made his task easier by omitting them.
that the panel rvith the exlibris of the merchant \Iutlammad b.
Shibl is later addition, the trvo lines above and beiorv it, separating it Jrom the first scrolling
,ri thc large ex-libris abor-e, and the five below, must also be a later addition.
55If m]-conjecture
24
S. M. Stern
. fr i ..!..,
liil:.,t":r#l
8:.' '' .
3. Title (Leftpage)
;!:tl
;.r""*
I'ili,r:i;,'li;
r1 M5'. Jrom,the Library of a ChaznawidAnttr
,io,
ri
'
.,,1,
:li
.i11
.
,
*
.
r,€
',i.i
!
l
A
:r,
, ":s
*
r:X
r,$
rf
..1:
:i,
,.,1
..
.:
.,*
. itq
'r''\
r"#t
tkiw
'
,i. *'.. "lr"
z. Tttle (Right Prgt)
'26
S. )1. Stern
The frarne of the pahnettes is in blue, the scrolling inside is filled in gold
rvithin black,rutlines, the ground behind is partlv left cmpty. partlrcoloured in red and green.
Fig. + sho'uvsp. S, containing the end of the author',* preface and
the beginning of the chapter on the meaning of the u'ords kkaLqand khulq,
phvsical and n-roral characteristics, rcspectively. triS. 5 sho\vs p. 2r,
r'r'ith the beginning of the chapter containing the traditions about the:
'Ali
description of the Prophet ascribed to
b. Abi Talib. The first tradition
is derived from al-Tirrnidhi's Shatnti'il (Cairo 1889, p. rg) through the
'Umar
usual isnrirl: al-Tirrnidhr-Abh Nasr lluhan-rmad b. Iihiu' Abu
\Iuhan-rrr-radb. Ahmad al-Sijistani his son Abu Sa'id the author. At
t h , ' h e g i r t r t i n go l 1 ' 2 6 , r e p r o d u c e di n F i g . 6 , \ \ e : e e t h e e n d o f t h e
"
<luotation, r-iz. al-Tirmiclhi's critical remark about the tradition:
Abr-r
i
"
lsa r.e.al-I rrmtdhi savs: This is a beautiful and correct hadith
the acljectivesbeing uf cuorse the technical terms employed in the science
'fradition
<tf
for the designation of the most trusttvorthv traditions. There
follou's a note b1' the author on one of the authorities occurring in the
chain of thc. tradition.
The chapter-heading announces additional
readings for the tradition discussedbefore
trig. Z shou's the beginning of the nert chapter, still dealing rvith
'Ali:
its subject-matter is arpparrentfrom the
the tradition related from
"
The explanation of the rare s'ords occurring in these traheading:
"
ditionsIiinaliv, in F-ig. 8 there can be seen the iast page (p S8Z) of the
text, rvith the colophon giving the name of the scribe, Abu Bakr
Muhammad b. AbT Rafi' the stationer, and indicating Ghazna as the place
in which the copl'u,as made.
27
.'t -11S..front the Lt:brary o.ftt Ghaznttw'idArnrr
/'
,i.
1
'
rl':' '
,1. Page 8
28
J
5. Page 2r
29
.."
t
. t
i'i*
a
/ /f' e'.:
l^r),
et,ikt
-
r
.
S. fI. Sterrt
3o
i.*
.tt
, ** !Y'
,'4fr:,9#4
",&**
\:r
:6;
-{ -115.Jront the Library of a Ghaznawid Anttr
8. Page387
1T
-r^
ORIE,NTAL STUDIE.S IV
PAINTINGS
fro*
ISLAMIC LANDS
Essa2sb2
D. Barrett, O. Grabar,E. Grube,A. ,S.Melikian Chiruani,
G. M. Mereditlt-Owens,
R. Pinder-Wilson,
B. W. Robinson,
M. I. Siddiqi, S. M. Stern,S. Walzer
Editor
R. Pinder-Wilson
B R U N O C A S S I R E R. O X F O R D
Tenrr
oF CoNTENTS
Page
3.
.l
.t'
S. M. Stern
A Manuscript from the Library of the Chaznawid
,lmir'Abd al-RashId
7
O. Grabar
"
"
|Joteson the lconography of the Demotte
Shah-nana
32
Sofie Walzer
The TopkapwSaray Manuscript of the Persian
wa-Dirnna (dated,
Kq.lxl,a
A.D. r 413)
.+B
E. Grube
Herat, Tabriz,Ista.nbul-The Deuelopment
of a
Pictorial Style
85
).
G. M. I'Ieredith-Owens
,1 Copy of the Rawzatal-Sa.fawith Turkish Miniatures
rro
o.
A. S. Melikian Chirvani
L'dcolede Shiraz et les originesde la miniature nloghole
r24
-7
3.
Douglas Barrett
Painting at Bijapur
r42
R. Pinder-\\rilson
^4n Illustratedlfughal Manu,scriptfrom Ahmadabad
160
M. Idris Siddiqi
,7n IllustratedManuscriptfrom Sind
r7z
B. \\I. Robinson
Qajar PaintedEnamels
rB7