A descriptive catalogue of the historical manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian languages, preserved in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

  • William Hook Morley
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A descriptive catalogue of the historical manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian languages, preserved in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    34/178 (page 20)
    Firuz. Nushirwan. Kings of Yaman, from Tubba’ al-Akbar, Rabi’ah Ben Nasr al-Lakhmi. Hassan Ben Rabi’ab. Hanifah. The Abyssinian invasion. Abrahab. Zti al-Yazan. Saif Ben Z6 al-Yazau. Continuation of the history of Nushirwan. Birth of Muhammad. Account of his childhood. Death of Nushirwan. Bahrain Chuhin^and the Sasanians to the time of Yazdajird, the last of the dynasty. The genealogy of Muhammad, and a history his life. History of the successors of Muhammad, to the death of of Al-Mustarshid Billah, in a.h. 529 (a.d. 1134). Foil. 351. Thirty-three lines in a page. Well written in the Naskh character, in a.h. 701 (a.d. 1301). The first four and the last two leaves of this fine old MS. have been supplied by a more modern hand, but in the colophon it is stated that the copy was completed by Muhammad Shah Ben ’Ali Ben Mahmud Ben Shad Bakht al-Hafiz al- Isfahani, on the 18th of the month Shawal a.h. 701 (a.d. 1302), and to this is added, in the same handwriting; “ This leaf was transcribed from the original copy ), and this was the date of it.” There seems to be no reason to doubt that the information thus given is accurate, and that the first and last leaves were re-written, in con¬ sequence of injury having occurred to the MS., which, from its ap¬ pearance and the style of the handwriting, is certainly as old as the first half of the eighth century of the Hijrah. The Dais are always marked with a diacritical point, whenever they are preceded by an Alif, a Waw, or a Ya, or any letter affected by a vowel, a peculiarity which is only found in MSS. of considerable antiquity. Size, ]2| in. by 9^ in. (Sir J. Malcolm.) X. Tarikh-i Tabari.—The Persian version of the Chronicle of At- Tabari, by Bal’ami. The preface in the present MS. difiers from that in the one last described^ and the name of the translator is men¬ tioned. This MS. brings down the history to the reign of the Khalifah Al-Kaim Biamr Illah, who succeeded to the Khilafat in a.h. 422 (a.d. 1030). It is divided into two distinct portions, the second of which commences with the genealogy of Muhammad. Foil. 451. Twenty-seven lines in a page. Well written in a small Naskh character. There is no date of transcription, but the ‘ It commences thus: i