Grammar [IO Islamic 597]

Grammar.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 597 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 977 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

977.

597. Size 101/2 in. by 61/2 in.; foll. 278. Thirty-five lines in a page.

Jalâl al-dîn ‘Abd al-raḥmân b. Abu Bakr SUYÛṬÎ’S (d. A.H. 911)( النحوية ) الاشباه و النظائر . Cf. Ḥ. Kh. i. 313, and Casiri, i. 11.

The author says in his preface that this is a new edition of a work which was written more than ten years previously, but was never published. It is founded on the same principles as certain modern law-books, some of which have the same title; and it follows especially the plan of Tâj al-dîn Subkî’s الاشباه و النظائر , 1 and, as regards the first part, of Zarkashî’s القواعد . 1 It is divided into seven books ( فنّ ), each of which has a special title . They are enumerated in Ḥ. Kh., l.c., and are inscribed here as follows: I. (foll. 1-76) القواعد و الاصول التى ترد اليها الجزئيات و الفروع . This book is arranged according to the alphabetical order of the subjects. II. (foll. 76-104) القواعد الخاصة و الضوابط و الاستثناءات و التقسيمات , subdivided into chapters. III. (foll. 105-108) بناء المسائل بعضها على بعض . This book is an imitation of Zarkashî׳s سلاسل الذهب , 2 and is divided into chapters. IV. (foll. 109-128) فى الجمع و الفرق , in two parts ( قسم ) : 1. الابواب المتشابهة المفترقة فى كثير من الاحكام ; 2. المسائل المتشابهة المفترقة فى الحكم و العلة . V. (foll. 129-140) الالغاز و الاحاجى و المطارحات و الممتحنات و المعايات . This book is analogous to Isnawî’s الالغاز , 3 and has no special arrangement . Books VI. And VII. Follow in inversed order: the latter fills foll. 140-142; the former (foll. 143-277) is inscribed as follows:

 فن المناظرات و المجالسات و المذاكرات و المراجعات و المحاورات و الفتاوى و الواقعات و المكاتبات و المراسلات

Carefully written, in a small hand, by al-Mahdî Zain b. Ismâ’îl b. Aḥmad Kurdî Shâfi’î Ṣaḥrâwî, during A.H. 962 and 963. Each book has its own date, viz. I. Saturday, 18th Ṣafar, 962 ; II. Monday, 19th Rabî’ I.; III. Wednesday, 21st Rabî’ I.; IV. Wednesday, 12th Rabî’ II.; V. Saturday, 29th Rabî’ II. (this book was collated by another hand in Ramaḍân, 968, at قرية السلام , near al-Ṭâ’if) ; VI. (properly VII.) Tuesday, 3rd Jum. I. (collated as the preceding book); and VII. (or VI.) Friday, 21st Muḥarram, 963. The colophon runs as follows (fol. 277):

 كملت الاشباه و النظائر النحوية و الحمد لله ... و كتبت باسم الشيخ الامام العالم العلامة السراجى سراج الدين ابى حفص عمر بن الشيخ الامام العالم العلامة الحبر البحر الفهامة المحقق المدقق الرحلة الشهابى شهاب الدين ابى العباس احمد بن الشيخ الامام العالم العلامة الحبر البحر الفهامة المحقق المدقق الرحلة عبدالحق على يد فقير رحمة ربه المهدى زين الكردى غفرالله له׳

و كان الفراغ من نسخها يوم الجمعة حادى عشرين شهر الله المحرم الحرام افتتاح عام ٩٦٣سه الموافق لتاسع كيهك القبطى ١٢٧٢سه الموافق لسادس كانون الاول الرومى ١٨٦٧سه الموافق لتاسع اردبهشتماه العبرى ( sic ) ٩٦٥سه الخ .

It is followed (foll. 277v.-278) by a short treatise of SUYÛṬÎ, on the grammatical construction of the words of the Prophet, سبحان الله زنة عرشة و رضى نفسه و عدد خلقه و مداد كلماته . It is entitled: رفع السنة فى نصب الزنة . Cf. Ḥ Kh. iii. 474.

Begins:

 الحمد لله الذى لا تاخذه سِنة ... و بعد فقد كثر السؤال عن وجه النصب فى قوله صلعم سبحان الخ

Written by the same hand.

A former owner, Aḥmad b. Sulaimân, acquired this MS. at Madînah, A.H. 1084.

1 Ḥ. Kh. i. 313.

2 ibid. iii. 605.

3 ibid.i. 404.