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"The Book of the Preacher". Compilation of hadith concerning sermons and mosque preaching. Whereas the contents are not original, the arrangement was perhaps conceived locally. Anonymous note of purchase after colophon. Muḥammad al-Awwal Ibn Ibrāhīm and Ibrāhīm Ibn Ḥanīd (or Junayd) are given as ...
A major work on Arabic grammar by the Moroccan Ibn Ājurrūm al-Ṣanhājī (1273-1323), who put the principles of Arabic grammar into verse form. The copy has copious and erudite notation no doubt added locally, perhaps a commentary or extended explanation.
"The Meadows of Paradise", a book recalling the miracles/good deeds of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio, the leader of the Fulani Jihad in Sokoto. It was written by the chief minister of Sokoto under second Amīr al-Muʾminīn Muḥammad Bello, Gidado dan Layma. It was compiled sometime after the death of Usman...
Ibn Ḥijjah al-Ḥamawī, Taqī al-Dīn Abū Bakr ibn ʿAlī ابن حجة الحموي، تقي الدين أبو بكر بن علي Thimār al-awrāq ثمار الأوراق
Scope & Content:
A compilation of historical anecdotes and poetic quotations from many sources. Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-5): قال الشيخ الإمام علامة الأعلام حجة العرب وترجمان الأدب قاضي الأدب وفاضله تقي الدين رحلة الطالبين مسلك المتأدبين أبو بكر بن حجة الحنفي منشئ دواوين الإنشاء الشريف بالممالك الإسلام تغمده ال...
al-Yaḥyāwīyah fī ḥubb khayr al-barīyah اليحياوية في حب خير البرية
Scope & Content:
Anonymous treatise on hippiatry entitled Treatise for Yaḥyá, on Love for the Best of Creation (اليحياوية في حب خير البرية, f. 185v, line 13). The copy was completed on 18 Rabīʿ I 893/ 2 March 1488 by the scribe ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥāḍir ibn al-Ḥaydar (علي بن محمد بن الحاضر بن الحيضر, see coloph...
Kitāb al-milal wa-al-duwwal كتاب الملل والدوّل Abū Ma‘shar أبو معشر
Scope & Content:
Major treatise on historical astrology by Abū Ma‘shar Ja‘far ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Umar al-Balkhi (أبو معشر جعفر بن محمد عمر البلخي; d. ca 886). The text is divided into eight parts (مقالات) in sixty-three chapters (فصول), not ninety-three chapters as erroneously stated in this manuscript (f. 1v, l...
al-I‘lām bi-shadd al-minkām الإعلام بشدّ المنكام Muḥammad al-Ṣūfī محمد الصوفي
Scope & Content:
Treatise on the use of sand-clocks (منكام, pl. مناكيم) by the Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Fatḥ ibn ‘Īsá ibn Aḥmad al-Ṣūfī al-Miṣrī (شمس الدين محمد بن أبي الفتح بن عيسى بن الصوفي المصري, fl. late 15th-early 16th century; see. f. 125v, lines 2-3). The tex...
Mir’āt al-ayyām wa-al-daraj مرآة الأيام والدرج Najm al-Dīn Muḥammad Ma‘rūf نجم الدين محمد معروف
Scope & Content:
Treatise by Najm al-Dīn Muḥammad Ma‘rūf (نجم الدين محمد معروف; fl. ca 1001/1592) describing and explaining the use of an instrument for making calendrical conversions, and calculating the beginnings of the months in the Islamic (عربي), Syro-Macedonian (رومي), Persian and Coptic calendars, includ...
Anonymous nautical directory containing sets of tables used for the calculation of latitudes and distances, and a gazetteer of ports on the Persian Gulf coasts, Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Indian Ocean island groups. The tables are occasionally decorate...