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Add MS 18998
- Record Id:
- 032-002095624
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002095624
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000041.0x00004d
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100171507018.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 18998
- Title:
-
Two theological tracts by ʿAmmār al-Basṛī
- Scope & Content:
-
This volume contains two theological tracts by ʿAmmār al-Basṛī :
1) Kitāb al-burhān (كتاب البرهان), ‘The Proof ’ (fols. 1v-43r);
2) Kitāb al-masāʾil wa-l-ajwibah (كتاب المسائل والأجوبة), ‘Questions and answers’ (fols. 44r-127v).
The two tracts transmitted in this manuscript are written by the East Syriac theologian ʿAmmār al-Basṛī (8th- 9th c.), in defense of the Christian religion against the intellectual challenges posed by Islam. Of special interest is al-Basṛī’s defense of the Gospels as true revelation, as Muslims apparently accused Christians for having tampered and corrupted the biblical text (taḥrīf). In his defense of Christian doctrines, al-Basṛī resorts to rational arguments carved out for his specific Muslim-Christian audience and thus he makes classical Patristic debates on Trinity and Christology relevant and comprehensible in a new context.
The colophon can be found on f 43r.
The dating of the work is 24 Hathūr 1014 [?] Anno Martyrum, i.e. 1297 CE (fol. 43r).
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002095624", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 18998: Two theological tracts by ʿAmmār al-Basṛī" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002095624
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002095624
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. 127
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100171507018.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1297
- End Date:
- 1297
- Date Range:
- 1297
- Calendar:
- Gregorian
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper
Dimensions: ca 260 mm x 180 mm leaf [ca 210 mm x 130 mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil.
Lines per page: 19 lines per page
Script: Naskh. The codex is mainly written by one scribe. The text written inside the large ornamentation on fol. 1v is difficult to read and it appears that it was deliberately hidden in this ornament by a second hand. This second hand added introductory words on his own on the lower part of fol. 1v, seemingly to compensate for the loss of the original text. The second hand also added catchwords on each verso, the rubrics on fol. 44v and 94r, filled in or corrected headings in the latter part of the tract, as well as adding notes, including on fol. 127r. A third hand seems to have added the introductory words to the second tract on fol. 44r, and possibly a fourth hand on fol. 127v.
Ink: Light or dark brown ink, with a few of the many rubricated headings in red. The second hand used black-grey ink and a thicker pen.
Decoration: Besides the later added ornament on fol. 1v, no decoration.
Binding: British Museum binding.
Condition: Waterstains, wormholes, etc. Good shape.
Marginalia: In order to keep the outer alignment straight, the scribe sometimes finished a word in the margins or added forgotten words there.
Paratextual units: The substituted text by the second hand on fol. 1v; the colophon on fol. 43v; notes on fol. 127r-v.
Catchwords: on the left side of the lower part of the verso (added by a later hand).
Quires makes: Rūmi (?) numbers added on the upper left corner of the recto.
- Finding Aids:
- Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium: Codices Arabici: Supplementum, (London, The British Museum, 1846-71), pp. 365-366.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)