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Or 8878

Record Id:

032-003719853

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-003719853

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100110635118.0x000001

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Or 8878

Title:

al-Bahjah al-unsīyah fī al-firāsah al-insānīyah البهجة الأُنسية في الفراسة الإنسانية

Sibṭ al-Marṣafī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad سبط المرصفي، محمد بن محمد

Scope & Content:

A treatise on physiognomy by the Egyptian jurist and Sufi Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghamrī Sibṭ al-Marṣafī (زين العابدين محمد بن محمد الغمري سبط المرصفي, d 1599).

The text comprises an introduction (مقدمة, ff. 1v-6v) on bodily humours, two inventory sections (الكشف الأول, ff. 6v-8r; الكشف الثاني, ff. 8r-27v), and a conclusion (خاتمة, ff. 27v-28v).

The second inventory section (الكشف الثاني في الفراسة الحكمية كلية وجزئية) discusses the general characteristics of various nations, and the particular personal traits which can be deduced by the examination of an individual’s body. A section on chiromancy contains sketches of lines that may be encountered on the palm (فراسة الأسارير والخطوط في الكف, ff. 21r-21v). Ff. 25v-26r contain a table summarising the divinatory indications of trembling or convulsions (اختلاج) in different parts of the body (twitch divination).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 2-3):

الحمد لله الذي جمل الإنسان بالكياسة وزينه بالعقل والرئاسة

وكمله بالسياسة والفراسة ...

Ends (f. 28r, lines 10-23):

...ووفيت

كل نفس ما كسبت واستوفت من خصمها حقها على مثاقيل

الذر بلا انكار فالحذر الحذر من بطش الملك الجبار قبل الفوات

بالخروج من هذه الدار الله سبحانه وتعالى

أعلم بالصواب وإليه المرجع

والمآب والحمد لله رب العالمين

وصلى الله على سيدنا

محمد النبي الأمي

وعلى آله

وصحبه وسلم

تسليمًا

كثيرًا

آمين

Collection Area:

Oriental Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme

Hierarchy Tree:

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Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-003719853

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-003719853

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Codex; ff i+28+i

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Arabic

Scripts:

Arabic

Start Date:

1600

End Date:

1799

Date Range:

17th century-18th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Western laid paper

Dimensions: 206 x 145mm leaf [160 x 103mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah; 23 lines per page; vertical spacing 15 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings

Decoration: Red ink lines framing the colophon (f. 28r)

Binding: Maroon buckram binding

Condition: Some staining and wormholes; repairs to folio edges (ff. 1 and 28)

Marginalia: Marginalia in pencil throughout indicating section headings and reinforcing a cancelled section (f. 17r); a marginal comment in purple ink (f. 25v)

Seals: None. British Museum stamps: ff. 1r and 28v

Custodial History:

Erased and illegible ownership notes on ff. 1r, 2r and 28v

Source of Acquisition:

Purchased from Abdel Ghani Shehab, 11 June 1921

Publications:

Edition:

Sibṭ al-Marṣafī, al-Bahjah al-unsīyah fī al-firāsah al-insānīyah wa yalīhu al-Tuḥfah al-bahīyah fī al-firāsah al-insānīyah, edited by Muḥammad Yāsir ibn Muḥammad Jamīl Zakkūr (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah, 2018)

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Sibṭ al-Marṣafī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, d ca 1599

Subjects:

Divination--Early works to 1800
Physiognomy