Poetry and Elegant Prose [IO Islamic 692]

Poetry and Elegant Prose.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 692 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 801 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

801.

692. Size 63/4 in. by 33/4 in.; foll. 284. Fifteen lines in a page.

I.Foll.1-161. The greater portion of al-Ḥusain b. Aḥmad ZAUZANÎ’S (d. A.H. 486) Commentary on the Mu’allaḳât.

It breaks off in the Mu’allaḳah of ‘Amr b. Kulthûm. The last verses of this poem are, however, added at the end, with a conclusion (تمت القصائد) .

II.Foll. 162-203. The remaining Mu’allaḳahs of ‘ANTARAH and AL-ḤÂRITH, with another commentary. One leaf is missing after fol. 180, with the end of the former, and part of the introduction to the latter, poem.

The commentary appears to be an abridgment of Tabrîzî’s commentary. 1 As in the latter, there follow here three other poems, which are not unfrequently added to the ‘‘Seven,’’ viz.:---

a.Foll. 204-212. The Ḳaṣîdah in ب of ‘ABÎD B. AL-ABRAṢ, which, as is also stated here , stands occasionally in the place of the Mu’allaḳah of al-Ḥârith. It is preceded by a historical introduction on the authority of Muḥammad b. ‘Amr Shaibânî, which is also found in Tabrîzî.2

b.Foll. 213-222. The Ḳaṣîdah in د of AL-NÂBIGHAH, or no. 1 of the Dîwân , as edited by H. Derenbourg (Paris, 1869). It was published by De Sacy in his Chrestomathic Arabe , vol. ii.

c.Foll. 224-237. The Ḳaṣîdah in ل Of AL-A’SHA. It was published by De Sacy, l.c.

III.Foll. 238-270. A Commentary on the Ḳaṣîdah لامية العجم , of al-Ḥusain b. ‘Ali Ṭughrâ’î (d. about A.H. 514). This is an abridgment (تلخيص ) of the commentary of Jamâl al-dîn Muḥammad b. Mûsa Damîrî (d. A.H. 808). The author gives his name at the end as MUḤAMMAD B. AL-KHALÎL Kâzarûnî, of al-Aḥsâ.

IV.Foll. 270-284. The celebrated Ḳaṣîdah لامية العرب , attributed to AL-SHANFARA. It was published by De Sacy, l.c.

Many glosses. Verses 51-54, which are omitted in their proper place, are added at the end.

Neatly written in Nasta’liḳ, the text of the poems in Naskh and in red. The copy was made by Muḥammad Ma’ṣûm Ḥusainî Shîrâzî Manṣûrî, son of Niẓâm al-dîn Aḥmad Dashtakî, for his own use.

Date A.H. 1072. Injured by insects.

[Johnson.]

1 See Catal. Mus. Brit. 259.

2 See ibid. 260.