Mirror of Heritage
Year:2019 | Volume:17 | Issue:64|Papers Count:6

In a number of the manuscripts and printed editions of the Shahnameh, as well as in various sources, both poetry and prose, there are some verses cited singly or as two consecutive couplets ascribed to Ferdowsi that are are hardly substantiated by the old and creditable manuscripts of the Shahnameh. Thus, they cannot be regarded as having been written by ferdowsi. However, in Iran’ s literary tradition, for certain reasons such as ethical and instructive contents, literary beauty, proverbial value, and frequency of repetition, such verses have gained currency and reputation in Ferdowsi’ s name, finding their way to various sources (largely those on Persian sayings and proverbs). In this article, twelve instances of this kind of inauthentic verses attributed to Ferdowsi are addressed and their recording in the manuscripts and printed editions of the Shahnameh and other sources have been examined.

Ebn-e Khafif of Shiraz is considered one of the highly effective Sufi Sheikhs among his succeeding Sufi orders. The presence of his numerous sayings in Sufi sources and frequent references to his Sireh (way of life), which led to the completion of his hagiography, demonstrates the influence of his personality and views on moderate Sufi societies. The study of the essays and tracts ascribed to him have since long been in the focus of attention and mostly amended and published. At the Mar’ ashi Library (Qom) there is an Arabic treatise that has not been identified as yet. When examining the text of the treatise and comparing it with other surviving works of Ebn-e Khafif, it became clear that we were dealing with an authentic and important manuscript of the Ketab al-eqtesā d (book of economics). The sequence of attributions mentioned in the beginning of this manuscript is indicative of the high status of this work among the Shaikhs after Ebn-e Khafif. Finally, some of the differences between the Mar’ ashi manuscript and the two MSS used by Florian Sobieroj, redactor of the Ketab al-eqtesā d, will be discussed.

Each one of the two Arabic and Persian versions of Zakarria Qazvini’ s Ajā ’ eb al-makhlooqā t was revised by him personally, and then underwent some unjustified changes by others; as a result, certain complications found their way into both versions. The unwarranted changes in and the new additions to the Persian text have led to the assumption that the Arabic vertion was translated into Persian after Qazvini’ s time. Nonetheless, a comparison between the dates of the Arabic and Persian versions indicates that, despite the prevalent view, the Persian version had been written before the Arabic text. Therefore, the Persian version belongs to Qazvini himself. The identification of the 699 H.-MS of the Persian version, which is free of manipulations has made it possible to undertake a painstaking study of both Arabic and Persian texts. In the present article, with the help of the Mar’ ashi MS and its comparison with other manuscripts and by consulting several sources, the previous information about Qazvini and his Ajā ’ eb al-makhlooqā t has been critically reviewed and new findings have been presented.

Due to the synthetic quality of Persian, the function of suffixes in this language is a significant and purposeful one. Some of these endings, created at certain times according to certain rules and necessitated by certain needs, gradually become outmoded and eventually they have been either forgotten or used to a limited extent. Based on a number of literary and historical texts, the present article attempts to investigate about one of the meanings of the suffix “ alef”-when added to proper nouns-and the manner and period of its use. Our effort in the study of this seemingly insignificant issue is that, by delving in numerous and various sources while examining the application of this “ alef” , its mechanism and secondary meanings, especially, in comparison with some similar suffixes, we would provide researchers and text-investigators with some criteria for refining texts and obtaining an exact understanding of historical names.

At the Astan-e qods Library, there is a collection of three manuscripts entitled “ Tarjomeh-ye Towrā t” on which no study has thus far been undertaken. Since the beginning pages of the collection are missing, its author has remained unknown. The separated introduction of the text has recently been discovered at the Golpā yegā ni Library in Qom, under the title Mesbā h al-Zolomā t fi tafsir al-Towrā t. In this article, by using an intratextual analysis, some of the yet unknown aspects of the Astaneh-ye qods manuscript have been clarified. Our study reveals that the author of the aforementioned MS is the Shi’ i scholar, Zayn al-Abedin b. Mohammad who lived in Kazemayn and wrote this commentary between the years (1810-1811) at the instance of Mirza Isa Qaem Maqā m (d. 1822) on behalf of the Viceroy Abbas Mirz (d. 1832) who had taken interest in being familiar with the ideas expressed in the Towrā t (Torah). After presenting reasons in support of the connection between the newly discovered introduction and the Mesbā h al-Zolomā t and stating the features of this text, the authors have examined some of the social conditions for passing through the phase of writing polemics to writing commentaries on the Holy Bible.

Old Qur’ ans, belonging to the early Islamic centuries, particularly the first three centuries, are rare and, for that reason, precious. Folios of one of the few Kufi copies of the Qur’ an are kept at Tehran’ s Reza Abbasi Museum. Although the folios are separate from one another, and even dated differently ranging between 3rd-4th centuries, indeed, they all belong to the same Qur’ an. Since nearly forty years ago, other folios of this holy book have found their way to London auctions and, from there, to museums and private collections in other parts of the world, their transcription date having been reckoned at the 2nd century A. H. and the Abbasid time. The present article tries to explore and introduce the existing 9 folios of the Qur’ an in the Reza Abbasi Museum as well as some other folios outside of Iran, with a view to demonstrating its unique visible as well as textual features of this Qur’ an, some of which, such as the rare readings and orthography of words, are exceptionally interesting.