Add MS 7884

This volume contains a portion of the biography of Antar, translated from the Arabic into Ottoman Turkish.

The text contains parts of two consecutive volumes of the Ottoman Turkish translation, the latter of which is designated in the heading as the eleventh tale. The immediately preceding volume (ff 1v-47v) which must therefore be the tenth tale, is imperfect at the beginning. It deals chiefly with the adventures of Antar in the Sudan. The first pages relate to his encounter with Malik Ghāzid (called Suweyd in the Arabic text), who is seized by Antar and beheaded by Ghaẓūb, and to Antar’s expedition against Lawn al-Zulām. At the end, we are told how Antar, having defeated Ghaẓbān in a wrestling match, brought him home captive, and was going to behead him, when his hand was stayed by ᶜablah. The contents correspond to ff 169v-304v of the third volume of the Arabic original (Add MS 7380).

The following volume (ff 48v-80v) is imperfect at the end. It breaks off at the point where Ghaẓbān, having routed the Indian army before Madā’īn, is received with the highest honours by King Kisra. Its contents correspond to ff 304v-367r of Add MS 7380.

The latter part of the text (ff 81v-117v) is by another hand, and contains a further section of the work, imperfect at both the beginning and the end. It begins with the fight of Antar and ᶜabd Hayyāf, when the former, catching up an iron club hurled at him by the latter, stuns his adversary with it, but spares his life. It breaks off in the account of Antar’s return to the Bani ᶜabs, and of his meeting with his brother Shaybūb, who tells him that his qaṣīdah has been torn down from the Kaᶜaba by a might chief (al-Mustawᶜir). The corresponding portion of the Arabic text extends from Add MS 7380 f 371r to Add MS 7381 f 52v.

This manuscript was likely copied in the 18th century CE.