[IO Islamic 1400] مجالس المؤمنين

Majâlis-almu’minîn.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 704 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 1400 here with notations and hyperlinks].

f. Miscellaneous.

704

Majâlis-almu’minîn (مجالس المؤمنين ) .

Biographies of famous Shî’ites, from the beginning of Islâm to the rise of the Ṣafawî dynasty, and the triumph of the Shî’ah faith as the acknowledged state religion in Persia, A.H. 905 (A.D. 1499), composed between A.H. 993-1010 (A.D. 1585-1602), by Nûr-allâh bin Sharîf alḥusainî almar’ashî alshûshtarî, and entitled Majâlis-almu’minîn (see fol. 2b , ll.6 and last but one); comp. Bodleian Cat., Nos. 367-370; Rieu i [=Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, volume 1], p. 337 ; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 564 sq.; Goldziher, Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte der Shî’a und der sunnitisehen Polemik, Wien, 1874; O. Loth, Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. 29, p. 676. Printed in Ṭaharân, A.H. 1268.

The work is divided into an introduction (فاتحه ) and twelve sections (مجلس ), viz.;

فاتحه در تحقيق تعريف مطلق شيعه و شيعۀ اماميّۀ اثناعشريّه (on the Shî’ah in general and the Imâmiyyah or Ithnâ-’ashariyyah sect in special), on fol. 2b, last line.

مجلس اوّل در ذكر بعضى از اماكن لطيفه و مواطن شريفه كه آنرا با ائمّۀ طاهرين و شيعۀ با اخلاص ايشان اختصاص خاصّ حاصل است (on places connected with the Shî’ah and the Imâms), on fol. 10a.

مجلس دوم در بيان طائفۀ چند كه بتشيّع مشهور و در سلك اهل ايمان مذكورند ( on some Shî’ah tribes ), on fol.51b.

مجلس سيوم در ذكر اكابر شيعه از اصحاب حضرت سيّد الانام ( on the great Shî’ites among the Aṣḥâb or companions of the prophet ), on fol. 66a.

مجلس چهارم در ذكر اكابر دين و افاضل مؤمنين از زمرۀ تابعين ( on the Tâbi’în or followers of the Aṣḥâb) , on fol. 129a.

مجلس پنجم در ذكر بعضى از اکابر متکلمین و افاضل مفسّرين و محدّثين و اعاظم فقهاء مجتهدين و اعيان از تبّع تابعين… (on the great theologians, commentators, traditionists, leading legists, etc., among the Tubba’ Tâbi’în, or the second generation after the Aṣḥâb), on fol. 154a.

مجلس ششم در ذكر جمعى از صوفيان صافى طويّت كه نزد سالكان مسالك طريقت الخ ( on the Ṣûfîs ; the heading is incomplete ), on fol. 280b.

مجلس هفتم در ذكر مشاهير حكماء اسلام و متكلّمين اعلام كه اكثر ايشان عالم بفروع و اصول شريعت حضرت رسول بوده اند ( on the Ḥakîms or philosophers ), on fol. 364a.

مجلس هشتم در ذكر ملوك نامدار و سلاطين كامگار از فرقۀ تاجيّه (on the famous Shî’ah kings), on fol. 391a.

مجلس نهم در ذكر امراى نامدار و سپهسالاران عالى تبار كه كريمان روزگار و شاهسواران كارزار بوده اند (on the famous Shî’ah Amîrs, generals, etc.), on fol. 464a.

مجلس دهم در ذكر وزراى عظام و كاتبان كرام (on the great Shî’ah Wazîrs and secretaries), on fol. 478b.

مجلس يازدهم در ذكر شعراى عرب كه مسند ارباب ادب اند (on the Arab poets), on fol. 507a.

مجلس دوازدهم در ذكر شعراى عجم (on the Persian poets), on fol. 545b.

This last Majlis begins with Firdausî (on ff. 545b-557a), Asadî (on ff. 557a-558a), etc., and ends with Lisânî (on ff. 597a-598a).

Beginning, on fol. 1b: نفحات دلگشاى حمد و رشحات جانفزاى ثنا كه از جهت شمال اعتقاد الخ .

The author, Sayyid Nûr-allâh, suffered for his Shî’ah tendencies under the emperor Jahângir (A.H. 1014-1037=A.D. 1605-1627), see H. T. Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 338.

No date.

No. 1400, ff. 598, ll. 23; written in unequal Nasta’lîḳ, by different hands; size, 111/4 in. by 7 in.

[ed note: Quick link to other manuscripts of this author.]