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Or 9454

Record Id:

032-003477090

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-003477090

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100099021706.0x000001

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100157779839.0x000002

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Or 9454

Title:

Kitāb al-waḍīḥ fī maʿrifat ʿilm al-ramy كتاب الوضيح في معرفة علم الرمي

[Ṭabarī,ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad طبري، عبد الرحمن أحمد]

Scope & Content:

Luxury copy of a practical treatise on archery, very popular and widely-used especially in the Mamluk period, by Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarī (أبو محمد عبد الرحمن بن أحمد الطبري, active ca 9th century). The present copy was completed by an un-named scribe on 9 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 780/29 March 1379 (see f. 88r, line 5).

An illuminated Mamluk-style frontispiece (f. 2r) dedicates the volume to the library endowed by al-Sayyid Fakhrī (برسم الخزانة العالية المولوية الكبيرية المحروسة السيدية الفخرية), a dedication echoed by the numerous waqf notices encountered throughout (see Provenance) pertaining to the Madrasah Fakhrīyah 'between the two walls' (المدرسة الفخرية بين السورين). Indeed, the mosque-madrasah of Amīr ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Fakhrī, dawādār to sultan al-Muʾayyad Shaykh (المؤيد شيخ, reg. 1412-21), was built in 1418 in a location between the walls of the older Fatimid city and the expanding suburbs to the south.

In the text, an abbreviation of a fuller work on archery, al-Ṭabarī synthesises the methodologies of the three foundational schools of Abū Ḥāshim al-Bāwardī (أبو هاشم الباوردي, or al-Māwardī, see ff. 26r-34v), Ṭāhir al-Balkhī (طاهر البلخي, ff. 34v-40r), and Isḥāq al-Raffāʾ (إسحاق الرفاء, ff. 40r-47r); consequently al-Ṭabarī was considered the founder of the 'eclectic' school (madhhab al-ikhtiyār, مذهب الاختيار). The preface names the work (f. 3v, line 2) and mentions its structure in twenty-six bābs (f. 3r, line 7), an amount which varies in different copies.

Intermittent interlinear translations in Ottoman Turkish have been added to the opening chapter on mentions of archery in the Qurʼān and ḥadīth (ff. 4r-20r).

Contents:

The merits of archery and its mentions in the [quranic] verses and reports (باب فضل الرمي وما جاء فيه من الآي والخبر, ff. 3v-20v);
Who first made the Arab and Persian bows (باب فيه أول من عمل بالقوس العربية والفارسية, ff. 21r-22r);
The names of the Imāms of archery (باب في أسماء أئمة الرماة , ff. 22r-23r);
On the different opinions about the number of principles of archery (باب في عدد أصول الرمي واختلافهم فيه, ff. 23r-26r);
Description of the School of Abū Hāshim al-Bāwardī (باب فيه وصف مذهب أبي هاشم الباوردي , ff. 26r-34v);
Description of the School of Ṭāhir al-Balkhī (باب فيه وصف مذهب طاهر البلخي, ff. 34v-40r);
Description of the School of Isḥaq al-Raffāʾ (باب فيه وصف مذهب إسحق الرفاء , ff. 40r-47r);
The correct and incorrect square grasp (باب فيه صحة القبضة المربعة وفسادها, f. 47r-50r);
The different opinions [of the Masters] regarding aiming (في الاعتمادات واختلاف أرائهم فيه , ff. 50r-53v);
The differing opinions on the capacity of the arrow (باب مقدار نشابة الرامي والاختلاف فيها, ff. 53v-55v);
The differing opinions on the capacity of the bow (باب مقدار قوس الرامي واختلافهم فيه, f. 55v-59r);
al-Tabari's eclectic approach (باب اختيار الطبري لنفسه, ff. 59r-62v);
What happens to the forefinger upon stringing (باب ما يحدث بالسبابة من الإيتار وما يزيله, f. 63r-64v);
On the archer's forefinger as it draws (باب يحدث سبابة الرامي من جره, ff. 64v-65v);
On the blow of the bowstring upon the archer's forefinger (باب فيه سطع الوطر سبابة الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 65v-66v);
On the blow of the bowstring on the archer's thumb tip (باب فيه سطع الوطر لطرف إبهام الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 66v-67r);
On the blackening of the flesh of the archer's thumb (باب فيه سواد لحم إبهام الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 67v-68v);
On the blackening of the archer's nail (باب فيه سواد ظفر الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 68v-69v);
On the wounding of the archer's left thumb (باب فيه عقر الإبهام اليسرى من الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 69v-71r);
On hitting the archer's beard with the bowstring (باب فيه سطع الوتر لحية الرامي, ff. 71r-72v);
On the blow of the bowstring upon the archer's forearm (باب فيه سطع الوتر بذراع الرامي وما يزيله, ff. 72v-73v);
On the movement of the arrow after its release (باب فيه تحريك النشابة بعد خروجها عن القوس, ff. 73v-75r);
On manufacturing the distance and flight-shooting bow (باب فيه صنعة قوس البعيد والسبقية, ff. 75r-78r);
On distance and flight-shooting archery (باب فيه صنعة رمي البعيد والسبقية, ff. 78r-80r);
The median school of archery and the measure of their aims (باب فيه رمي الواسطيين ومقدار أغراضهم , ff. 80r-85r);
Description of the guide and the gauge, and why they were invented (باب فيه صفة المجرى والحسبان والسبب في اخراجه, ff. 85r-87v).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-6):

الحمد الله رب العالمين إقرارًا بربويته

ولا إله إلا الله خضوعًا لعظمته وصلى الله

على محمد وعلى آله عند ذكره هذا

كتاب الّفناه في الرمي بالنشابة الطويلة

والقصيرة وصفنا فيه أصول ذلك...

Ends (f. 87v, line 3-88r line 3):

...ويستعمل

لها من النصول الحرمي وهي تعمل من البولاد

للذرع وتجعل أمثلا الحسبانة دون

سعة المجرى قليلا تم الكتاب

بحمد الله وعونه وحسن توفيقه

الحمد لله وحده وصلى الله على سيدنا

محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم

حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

Colophon (f. 88r, lines 4-6):

وكان الفراغ من نسخه يوم عرفه

تاسع ذي الحجة الحرام عام ثمانين و سبعمائة

والحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على نبيه محمد وآله

Collection Area:

Oriental Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "032-003477090", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 9454: Kitāb al-waḍīḥ fī maʿrifat ʿilm al-ramy كتاب الوضيح في معرفة علم الرمي[Ṭabarī,ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-003477090

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-003477090

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Codex; ff. i+88+iii; Detached binding: +ii

Digitised Content:

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100099021706.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Arabic
Turkish, Ottoman

Scripts:

Arabic

Start Date:

1379

End Date:

1379

Date Range:

9 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 780

Calendar:

Hijri qamari

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 256 x 168mm leaf [185 x 113mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah; 7 lines per page; vertical spacing 4 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black ink with rubricated headings; headings and key words in gold thuluth outlined with black on ff. 2r-v and 3v.

Decoration: Mamluk-style frontispiece illuminated in gold, blue and white paint, with title in the upper register, pious phrase in the lower register, and dedication within the central rosette (f. 2r); text of Prophetic sayings decorated with gold markers (ff. 2v-7v).

Binding: British Museum black leather binding. The previous historical binding of brown leather with stamped and gilt corner and central medallions on brown leather, with marbled doublures pasted onto front and back flyleaves is detached and housed with the manuscript. The previous binding's pentagonal envelope flap is pasted into the second end flyleaf at the back of the volume.

Condition: Tidemarks to head of volume throughout; sewing and head margin damaged and repaired in many places; previous binding removed and stored separately with volume.

Marginalia: Very few except for interlinear translation (see Content)

Seals: ff. 1r and 2v

Custodial History:

Tammaro De Medinis (1878-1969):his inventory note 211 T D M (f. 1r);

Waqf notices of the FakhrīyahMadrasah 'between the two walls' (المدرسة الفخرية بينالسورين), presumably in Cairo: in red (f. 29v) and in every verso headmargin between ff. 38v-70v (42v and 57v erased), additionally apparent erasureson other verso pages;

ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-[?] ( علي بن أحمد الـ[؟]): his reading notice in large script, 7lines to the page, with date 10 Jumādá II 804/15 January 1402 (f. 88v);

Muḥammad ibn al-Nuʿmān (محمد بن النعمان): his reading notice in small interlinearscript, with date 819/1416-17 (f. 88v);

Muḥammad ibn [?] Aḥmad (محمد بن [?] أحمد): his reading note (f. 88v, margin);

Seal impression with Persianlegend, with date [1]251/1835-36 (f. 1r);

Muṣṭafá Fāʾiz ibn al-Ḥājj Aḥmad(مصطفى فائز بن الحاج أحمد): his stamp andacquisition notice (استصحبه; f. 1r).

Source of Acquisition:

Purchased from Maurice Nahman (1868-1948), 14 June 1924

Publications:

Studies:

Al-Sarraf, Shihab, 'Mamluk Furūsīyah Literature and Its Antecedents', Mamluk Studies Review, 8 (Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center, The University of Chicago, 2004), pp. 141-200 (see pp. 163-65).
Abdulfattah, Iman R., 'A Forgotten Man: Maurice Nahman, an Antiquarian-Tastemaker', in Bárta, M. et al. (eds.), Guardian of Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Zahi Hawass, Vol. I, (Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, 2020) pp. 105-23;
Kropf, Evyn, 'Following the peregrinations of Isl. Ms. 350: Part 2, From Istanbul to Ann Arbor', University of Michigan Library Special Collections Research Center blog, July 13, 2017 [https://apps.lib.umich.edu/blogs/beyond-reading-room/following-peregrinations-isl-ms-350-part-2-istanbul-ann-arbor]
Williams, Caroline, Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2002), p. 130
Williams, J. A., Urbanization and Monument Construction in Mamluk Cairo', Muqarnas, 2 (1984), pp. 33-45 [esp. p. 35]

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Ṭabarī, Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad, ca 9th century

Subjects:

Military art and science -- Early works to 1800