Mirror of Heritage
Year:2022 | Volume:19 | Issue:2 (69)|Papers Count:12

The unique problems of the Saydaneh’ s sole MS are so numerous that it is impossible, by drawing on its parallel texts, to prepare a better version than the existing one redacted by Abbas Zaryab. To clarify how efficient the parallel texts are each in restoring the lost spots or emending the original text of Al-Saydaneh, it must be determined how Biruni has made use of it or how the author of the text has quoted that book. With respect to the works related to the substitute drugs and perfumery and in the case of some of Razi’ s works, the source text has been quoted in the Al-Saydaneh, generally with little alteration. Therefore, the exact phrases of those very texts will be useful in correcting and completing the Al-Saydaneh. Such literary texts as Abu Hanifeh Dinevari’ s Al-Nabat, can be of some use only in respect of their contents or the correct recording of some of the words, because of their being considerably summarized. Due to his numerous alterations of the original, caution must be exercised when utilizing Kasani’ s Persian version. Kasani’ s recurrent references to the Al-Saydaneh for his commentary on the second book of the Al-Qanun are exceedingly helpful. Further, some of the Al-Saydaneh’ s problems are not related to the unwarranted changes by scribes but to its original Arabic codex.

The science of Khavā tim [literary “ ring settings” ) is one of the sub-categories of Telesmā t [talismans] on which several Arabic and Persian texts have survived from far past. In the present article, attempts have been made to introduce one of the oldest works in Persian entitled Holul al-Ashkā l, which was authored in 544 H. / 1144 CE. by Mahmud b. Ahmad Motavalleh in the city of Nahā vand. Because the author has cited a few works as the sources of his compilation, this research has tried to identify these works and address some of the linguistic features of the Holul al-Ashkā l.

The sixteenth century was the peak of the migration of Persian manuscripts from Iran to the Ottoman territory. The reason was, on the one hand, the interest of the Ottoman sultans in Persian literature and, on the other hand, it was partly due to the wars and extensive political relations between the Safavids and the Ottomans then. The wars led to the looting of Azerbaijan’ s libraries, and the Safavid policy of peace promoted the official presentation of books to Ottoman sultans. In addition, some manuscripts were transferred to the Ottoman land by merchants, immigrants, and refugees. By applying codicological studies of the manuscripts, this paper examines the migration of Persian books to the Topkapi Palace from the late fifteenth century to the decline of the Safavids at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The most important question in this research is to show the different ways of such migration and its connection with the political relations between the Safavids and the Ottomans. It can be said that from the Battle of Chā ldirā n in 1514 up until the conclusion of the 1590 peace treaty that coincided with the military supremacy of the Ottomans, the largest volume of manuscripts was transferred. From the beginning of the seventeenth century, with the victories of the Safavids, the entry of Iranian manuscripts into the Ottoman Empire almost ceased, although limited wars and the occupation of some border cities by Ottomans led to the looting of libraries, including the one at the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in Ardabil.

The two-year war between Iran and the Ottomans (1821-23) ended with the signing of the First Treaty of Erzurum. The Turkish text of the treaty differs in some places from its Persian version. There also exist several different versions of the text in Persian. An edited text is not yet available. In a published article, Qā em Maqā mi tried to present an emended text of the treaty. His work is incomplete though. In his review, Qā em Maqā mi did not see the Turkish text of the treaty itself. Certain renditions of the text of the treaty had not been published yet at the time and were not accessible to him. In the present article, first, several important but different editions of the treaty are introduced, and then the first Article of the treaty, containing several key points, is examined.

Ihsā ’ al-Iqā ’ ā t is an Arabic essay on the Iqa’ ā t of music authored by Abu Nasr Farabi. Considering his access to the written as well as oral sources of the renown musicologists of the early centuries and the possibility of his utilizing and examining such sources, Farabi’ s exposition of the Iqā ’ theory, demonstrates the invaluable place of this treatise among his other writings on music. This article, by examining Farabi’ s theory of Iqā ’ in his Musiqi al-Kabir, Ketā b al-Iqā ’ and Ihsā ’ al-iqa’ ā t, explores the development of this theory and the process of its perfection in the treatise of Ihsā ’ al-Iqā ’ ā t. It will additionally analyze the theory itself. Then, while investigating the influences of Farabi’ s views on other musicologists, the article will introduce the sole manuscript of the treatise.

Among the manuscripts preserved in Berlin’ s Central Library, there is a unique manuscript, untitled and undated, written by Hakim Yahya b. al-Husain al-Shā shi on ethical and philosophical matters in thirty-six chapters. The work is in Persian prose and of Transoxiana character that, given certain historical evidence, must have been written in the 5th H. /11th CE century. Introducing this MS, the present authors have addressed the textological aspects of the manuscript at phonological, lexical, and syntactical levels. Writing in pure Persian (Farsi) is one of the marked characteristics of this MS., with few Arabic words therein. The MS is a remarkable treasure of words and expressions used in Transoxiana. Besides, despite the dominance of a moralizing aura of the text, it is far from being a work of sermons and homilies.

Persian dictionaries and commentaries on Hafiz have enumerated some definitions of the expression “ golgasht” that are not confirmed by old classical texts. In the present article, based on various indications, the authors will demonstrate that the word golgasht signifies “ outing” , “ recreation” , “ sightseeing” and “ rambling” . Thus, firstly, the initial segment of the word has nothing to do with “ gol” weather in its literal meaning (flower, rose) or in its figurative sense (“ pleasant” , “ great” etc. ). Secondly, golgasht in the compound “ golgasht-e Mosalla” is not a place name but simply refers to a specific part of the “ Mosallā ” . In the second part of the article, by citing a number of dialectal instances, and based on certain historical changes in the Iranian languages, a new root for this expression is proposed. In the authors’ opinion, the segment “ gol” in golgasht is a variant of gard (the mozare’ base of “ gashtan” ) and that golgasht has originally been “ gard o gasht” having a structure similar to such compounds as “ gir o gereft” .

Those researchers who are concerned with Divans and collections of poetry (jungs) confirm that, in many a text, the mixing of poets’ compositions can complicate the correcting of literary texts. Not only in some of the Divans emended during the previous decades but also in those texts edited lately, there have occurred mistakes which often result from their editors’ poor attention to the correct identification of verses and their composers, thus leading to wrong attributions. In this article, by choosing Salmā n-e Sā vaji’ s Divan and making use of some of the poet’ s own manuscripts, the shapes, and ways of identical verses in the poet’ s divan and those of other poets, together with the possible reasons for such identical instances, have been examined.

In this article, by making use of the Resā la fi al-Badi’ (treatise on rhetorical Figures) in the collection no. 4000 at the Hagia Sophia Library, 51 couplets by Onsori, not found in his printed Divans and in other sources accessible to the present author, are introduced. One other anonymous couplet has been quoted in the book Al-Mo’ jam whose composer’ s name can be found in the Resā la fi al-Badi’ . Further, there are three couplets of a Qasideh in praise of Abu Sahl Ahmad b. Hasan Hamduy, a man also eulogized by Farrokhi. This proves that one of Onsori’ s mamduhs was this Abu Sahal, although no poetry in his praise is to be seen in Onsori’ s Divan, nor can it naturally be found in any study based on the poet’ s printed Divans.

The manuscript of the One Thousand and One Nights is one of the most important Iranian illustrated MSS which was commissioned by the Qā jā rid Naser al-Din Shah to be prepared at the Royal book-making workshop. This manuscript is of immense significance not only from the viewpoint of its text but also with respect to the number of its paintings and visual features. However, only a few sources have addressed the way this manuscript took form. Regarding the details of how the makers of this MS were paid, two documents have so far been found, the first being the contract made between Mo’ ayyer al-Mamā lek and Sani’ al-Molk); the second document is a Divā ni money draft preserved in a boyutā t album, which is dealt with in this article. The latter document prepared after the completion of the copying, administration of paintings, illuminating, and gilding of the MS, shows details about the wages paid for each of the works done and the manner of payments from the treasury every year. A comparison between these two documents, one of which was prepared at the start of making the manuscript and the second at the end, will reveal certain information concerning the changes occurring in the payments during the eight years spent on the preparation of the manuscript.

The Dorreh-ye Nā dereh is the most complicated text ever written about the events during the Afsharid period. The author’ s goal in writing such a book was primarily to show off his literary skills and to write difficult and stilted prose, actual historiography being his secondary aim. To demonstrate his artistic abilities while reporting the events, the author, Mirza Mahdi Astarā bā di, has inserted numerous Arabic sayings. The examination of such expressions is important in identifying Astarā bā di’ s sources in writing his book, Dorreh-ye Nā dereh, in which he has made use of some six hundred Arabic sayings. The book’ s editor, Sayyed Ja’ far Shahidi, has committed some errors in correcting and clarifying certain sayings. The present article is an attempt to critically examine the corrections and gloss of the Arabic sayings made in by Shahidi ‘ s redaction of the Dorreh-ye Nā dereh.

Tarikh-e Nishabur (history of Nishapur), authored by Hā kem-e Nishā buri (d. 405 H. /1014), is one of the oldest and most creditable local histories ever written in the Islamic World. This work, rightly called “ Khorasan History “ because of its immensity and importance, appears to have been hugely intensive but now no longer extant. In addition to political, geographical, and cultural aspects of Greater Khorasan, the Tā rikh-e Nishā bur contains letters and documents that are of great help in shedding light on the scientific state in various parts of Khorasan. The book addresses a wide range of different subjects in the form of detailed life stories, this all being indicative of the author's use of an enormous number of sources on various scholarly fields. This article presents research made to identify the written and oral sources of the Tā rikh-e Nishā bur, including hadith books, local histories, kotob-e rejā l (biographies of prominent scholars), accounts and stories, books of poetry, Sufi texts etc. The research is based on quotations made from other sources, especially from the sole remaining abridged version of the Nishā bur History produced by Khalifeh-ye Nishā buri.