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Or 11888
- Record Id:
- 032-003453604
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003453604
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100080715982.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100100864148.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Or 11888
- Title:
-
al-Kashf wa-al-bayān ʿammā yataʿallaq bi-al-nisyān الكشف والبيان عما يتعلق بالنسيان
al-Nābulusī, ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn Ismāʿīl النابلسي، عبد الغني ابن اسماعيل
- Scope & Content:
-
The Damascene litterateur ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Nābulusī (عبد الغني ابن اسماعيل النابلسي, b. 1641, d.1731) composed this short treatise on forgetfulness ( الكشف والبيان عما يتعلق بالنسيان, f. 1r, line 1 and f. 3r, line 2) following his Ḥajj journey of 1694. A carefully-organised compilation of previous writing on forgetfulness, the five chapters survey its definitions, causes and consequences, and the spiritual and medical remedies for memory-loss. The concluding section discusses forgetfulness as a natural human phenomenon, from which even prophets suffered.
The present copy reproduces the authorial colophon (f. 20v, lines 1-9) without adding a scribal one. It seems that the date was copied incorrectly, with the word given as 'the year' سنة) 1100) hijrī, being a scribal error for the word 'six' (ستة). Other manuscript copies (e.g. MS Sarajevo, Ghazi Husruv-begova Biblioteka, 3357: al-Nābulusī's own copy) and other historical evidence testify that this work was originally composed in the year 1106 hijrī. The first and last foliated pages of this copy (ff. 1r and 20v) have been written out in a different hand and pasted on top of the original pages (see Physical Description).
Divisions of the text:
- Introduction (ff. 1r- 3v, line 15);
- Chapter 1 (f. 3v, line 15- 5v, line 6);
- Chapter 2 (f. 5v, line 6- f. 8v, line 1);
- Chapter 3 (f. 8v, line 1- f. 13r, line 12);
- Chapter 4 (f. 13r, line 12- f. 15v, line 4);
- Chapter 5 (f. 15v, line 4- f. 17v, line 13);
- Conclusion (f. 17v, line 13- f. 20v, line 9).
Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-5):
الحمد لله الذي خلق الإنسان وطبعه على
النسيان وعلّم آدم الأسماء وقال في حقّه فنسي
ولم نجد له عزماً حتى قيل إن النسيان من
كمال الخلقة ...
Ends (f. 20r, lines 13- 20v, line 1):
... قال
المؤلف نفعنا الله به وهذا آخر ما قصدنا إيراده
في هذه الرسالة بحسب الإمكان وبالله المستعان ونسأله
سبحانه أن يديم بها الإفادة ويعين الإخوان على
حفظ العلوم الموصلة الى حصول السّعادة والتمتع
بمقام الحسن وزيادة تمت
Authorial colophon (f. 20v, lines 1-9):
قال المؤلف
وكان التأليف لهذه الرسالة في
مجلسين آخرهما يوم
الخميس الثامن من
شهر ربيع الاول
سنة (!) مائة والف
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003453604", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 11888: al-Kashf wa-al-bayān ʿammā yataʿallaq bi-al-nisyān الكشف والبيان عما يتعلق بالنسيانal-Nābulusī, ʿAbd…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003453604
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003453604
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
ff. xxxiv+20+ii
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100080715982.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1700
- End Date:
- 1799
- Date Range:
- 18th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Western laid paper. Ff. 1r and 20v apparently overlaid with a single sheet of another paper, obscuring original text and seals. The unfoliated flyleaves immediately preceding and following the foliated text pages [f. xxxiv and xxxv] are watermarked European paper and appear part of an earlier binding of the text, whereas the preceding 33 and final unfoliated flyleaves are later, probably contemporary with the latest rebinding.
Dimensions: 162 x 104 mm leaf [ 125 x 70 mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil
Ruling: Misṭarah; 17 lines per page; vertical spacing 13 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh
Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings
Decoration: Decorative flourishes on the heading 'faṣl' فصل at the beginning of sections (ff. 3v, 5v, 8v, 13r, 15v) and on the heading 'khātimah' (خاتمة, f. 17v).
Binding: Brown British Museum buckram binding
Condition: Generally good, some staining and dirt especially towards the beginning and end
Marginalia: A few marginal corrections
Seals:
- Seals visible but illegible on ff. 1r and 20v under overlaid paper.
- British Museum stamps on [xxxiv-v] and on ff. 1r, 20v
- Custodial History:
-
Inscription 'From my father's books' (من كتب والدي), without date (flyleaf xxxiv-r [i.e. first historic front flyleaf]);
Numerous ownership inscriptions and seals visible but illegible on ff. 1r and 20v under overlaid paper.
- Source of Acquisition:
- Unknown; British Museum foliation note indicates an acquisition date of 21 April 1950.
- Publications:
-
Edition:
- Nābulusī, ‘Abd al-Ghanī ibn Ismā‘īl, al-kashf wa-al-bayān fīmā yataʿallaq bi-al-nisyān, ed. by Khālid Muḥammad Maḥmūd (al-Qāhirah: Maktabat al-Qāhirah, 2000).
Study:
- Shafir, Nir, 'The Art of Forgetfulness: ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī on Memory and Morality' in Early Modern Trends in Islamic Theology: ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and his Network of Scholarship, ed. by Lejla Demiri and Samuela Pagani (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)