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Or 3392
- Record Id:
- 032-003719806
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003719806
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100110631884.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100133891425.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Or 3392
- Title:
-
Kitāb al-ṣafwah fī waṣf al-mamlakah al-Miṣrīyah كتاب الصفوة في وصف المملكة المصرية
Muḥammad al-Ṣūfī محمد الصوفي
- Scope & Content:
-
An abridgement in twelve bābs 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) of the description of Egypt entitled The Cream of Unveiling Kingdoms and Clarifying Routes and Itineraries (زبدة كشف الممالك وبيان الطرق والمسالك) by the statesman and scholar Ghars al-Dīn Khalīl ibn Shāhīn al-Ẓāhirī (غرس الدين خليل بن شاهين الظاهري, d. 1486).
The present volume was copied, illuminated, and bound originally (the present binding is a modern replacement) by the author himself, who completed this work in the middle of Jumādá II 904/end of January 1499 (see colophon, transcribed below, f. 68r, lines 4-8). The colophon is followed by illuminated verses, most often attributed to ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Nābulusī (عبد الغني بن إسماعيل النابلسي, b. 1641, d. 1731). However, al-Nābulusī lived two centuries after the creation of this copy (see f. 68r, lines 9-10).
The author states that he was commanded to write the abridgement by a powerful but un-named patron (من لا يُستطاع التخلف عن امتثال إشاراته, f. 2r, lines 5-6), and that he left out most of the narrative content as more properly belonging to historical and literary works (اذ محلها كتب التواريخ والأدبيات, see f. 2v, line 1).
A tabulation of the Burjī Mamluk sultans, with the dates and lengths of their rules, appears on ff. 31r-33r, beginning with Sayf al-Dīn Barqūq (سيف الدين برقوق, reg. 1382-99, with interregnum 1389-90) and ending with the still-reigning Abū Saʿīd Qānṣūh al-Ashrafī (أبو سعيد قانصوح الأشرفي, reg. 1498-1500).
The title is given on an opening page (f. 1r) illuminated in gold, blue and white. The full title text, contained in an upper register and lobed rosette within a frame below, reads كتاب الصفوة في وصف المملكة المصرية وما تشتمل عليه من ممالكها الشريفة الإسلامية أدام الله ملك مالكها وثبت قواعد دولتها.
Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-9):
الحمد لله بارئ النسم ومنشئ الأمم
ومخرج الوجود من العدم باعث سيدنا
محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم بالمعجرات والحكم
صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وأصحابه ذوي الأقدار
والهمم وشرّف وعظّم وكرّم
أما بعد فلما وقفت على كتاب زبدة
كشف الممالك وبيان الطرق والمسالك
للمرحوم الجناب الغرسي خليل بن شاهين الظاهري
Ends (f. 67v, line 6- f. 68r, line 3):
...فقالوا العالم بستان
سياجه الشريعة الشريعة سياسة يخدمها
الملك الملك راعٍ يعضده الجيش الجيش
أعوان يكفلهم المال المال رزق تجمعه
الرعية الرعية أحرار يستعبدهم العدل
والعدل مألوف وبه قوام العالم والله
الموفق والمعين وهو حسبنا ونعم الوكيل
وصلواته على سيد المرسلين محمد خاتم النبيين وعلى
آله وصحبه أجمعين والحمد لله رب العالمين
Colophon (f. 68r, lines 4-10):
وتشرف حسب الاشارة الشريفة بتأليفه وكتابته
وتذهيبه وتجليده العبد الفقير إلى الله تعالى محمد
ابن أبي الفتح محمد الصوفي الشافعي حامدً ومصليًا
ومسلمًا وختامه مسك في منتصف شهر جمادى الآخرة
من شهور سنة أربع وتسعمائة عربية هجرية
يا من إذا بخل الغمام بقطره جادت أنامله بأنهر بره
الناس عام والكرام بأسرهم شهر الصيام وأنت ليلة قدرِهِ
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003719806", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 3392: Kitāb al-ṣafwah fī waṣf al-mamlakah al-Miṣrīyah كتاب الصفوة في وصف المملكة المصرية Muḥammad…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003719806
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003719806
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. iv+68+iv
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100110631884.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1499
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- Mid-Jumādá II 904
- Calendar:
- Hijri qamari
- Era:
- AH
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Eastern laid paper
Dimensions: 272 x 178mm leaf [185 x 125mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil, Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink, the tens overlined, probably as quire markings
Ruling: Misṭarah; 11 lines per page; vertical spacing 6 lines per 10 cm
Script: Vocalised naskh; the scribe is the author, Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Fatḥ Muḥammad al-Ṣūfī al-Shāfiʿī (محمد بن أبي الفتح محمد الصوفي الشافعي, see f. 68r, line 5-6)
Ink: Black ink, with headings and keywords in red, burgundy, blue, green, and gold (the latter normally outlined in black)
Decoration: Opening page with title (f. 1r) and two lines of verse following the colophon (f. 68r) illuminated in blue, black, red and gold ink (the red now almost completely lost), with marginal medallions; ff. 1v-2r within blue and gold ruled frames; red, blue and gold leaf verse markers outlined in black throughout
Binding: Orange British Museum half binding with red leather; shadow of previous envelope flap visible on recto of fourth un-numbered flyleaf (iv-r).
Condition: Some losses to black ink of illumination (f. 1r), gold paint flaking in places
Marginalia: Very few
Seals: British Museum stamp (ff. 1v and 68v)
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased from Sidney John Alexander Churchill (1862-1921), 13 November 1886
Acquired in Tehran (see recto of fourth un-numbered flyleaf, f. iv-r)
- Finding Aids:
-
Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 704, pp. 477-78
- Publications:
-
Edition of Zubdat Kashf al-Mamālik (of which the present text is an abridgement):
- Ibn Shāhīn, Khalīl, Kitāb zubdat kashf al-mamālik wa bayān al-ṭuruq wa l-masālik, edited by Paul Ravaisse (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1894; reprint Lavergne: Nabu Press, 2016)
Translation of Zubdat Kashf al-Mamālik (of which the present text is an abridgement):
- Ibn Shāhīn, Khalīl, La Zubda kachf al-mamālik de Khalīl az-Zāhiri. Traduction inédite de Venture de Paradis avec une notice sur le traducteur, edited by Jean Gaulmier (Beyrouth: Institut Français de Damas, 1950)
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)