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Persian mss in Dominican Library

 

 

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 Journal of Islamic Manuscirpts 3 (2012) 103 - 115

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A Hitherto Unknown Persian Manuscript of
Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšefī's (d. 910/1504-05)
Treatise on Ethics Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī in the 
Dominican Priory in Vienna

 

 mss2

 

Dennis Halft OP
Research Unit Intellectual History of the Islamicate World,
Institut für Islamwissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

Abstract
The previously unidentified manuscript, MS Cod. 366/262a, which is preserved in the private library of the Dominican Priory in Vienna, is a defective copy of Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšefī's (d. 910/1504-05) Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī. Transcribed before 978/1570, this copy belongs among the early extant manuscripts of Kāšef ī's treatise on ethics and governance, originally composed at the Timurid court in Herat. The textual variations that appear in this manuscript when collated with one of the earliest existing copies, MS Diez A quart. 77 (dated 908/1503) held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, suggest that the text underwent several revisions which should be taken into account for any future edition that may be envisaged.

 

Keywords
Advice or edification literature; Aḫlāq, Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī, Ethics, Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī, Morals, Solṭān Ḥosayn Bayqarā, Timurids

 

Introduction

Founded in the early-13th century, the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda in Vienna is one of the few priories in which the Brothers of the Dominican Order have resided continuously to this day.1  Its private library contains a significant collection of medieval manuscripts, most of which are in Latin.2   A few of them, however, are in Arabic script and consist mostly of un-catalogued Quran fragments, as well as one Persian manuscript, namely the MS Cod. 366/262a. This manuscript can be identified as a copy of the treatise on ethics composed by Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī (d. 910/1504-05) entitled Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī.3
    MS Cod. 366/262a probably became part of the library collection some- time after 1916, but before 1945. The earlier date is established by the fact that the reference to the text was added to the Priory's catalogue after its compilation in 1916 by the librarian Romuald Henz OP.4  The terminus ante quem is suggested by the presence of a Nazi stamp, bearing the name of the "Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz Wien", together with the number 23 inside the back cover.  It is reasonable to suppose that this stamp was inserted during the recording of selected manuscripts of the Priory's inventory which must certainly have occurred before the end of the Nazi regime in Vienna in 1945.5
     Composed on behalf of Solṭān Ḥosayn Bayqarā (r. 873/1469-911/1506) for his son Abū l-Moḥsen Mīrzā (d. 913/1507), Kāšefī's Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī ranks among the most popular works of Persian advice or edification literature. Drawing on a large number of anecdotes with literary, religious or philosophical coloring, each of the forty chapters describes a virtue of the ideal Muslim ruler whose kingship is so conjoined with religion that they may be called "twins" (al-mulk wa l-dīn tauʾamān).6
     Among the early copies of Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī from the 10th/16th century there are a few illuminated manuscripts, one of which may have been the presentation copy that was transcribed for the ruler and his son. This manuscript is preserved today in the Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent.7

 

Description of the Viennese Copy

Although included among the manuscripts in the library of the Dominican Priory, MS Cod. 366/262a has not yet been studied. Consisting of 101 folios without decoration, written on non-watermarked Oriental paper in clear Nastaʿlīq by a Persian hand and marked by catchwords (fig. 1), this defective copy contains thirty-seven of the original forty chapters, representing roughly two thirds of Kāšef ī's work. The text is quite legible, although most of the folios have been damaged by water and humidity, as well as by insects. The page measures 24.5 × 19 cm, the written area 17.5 × 12 cm, with thirteen lines of text on each page. Significant words, such as Quran verses, Hadith material, and poetry, as well as organizational features (such as the table of contents, chapter titles, numbers), are written in red ink.
     The preferred type of quires in this defective copy are quaternions -mixed with one ternion—[IV-1 (7), 5 IV (47), III (53), 6 IV (101)],8 as is common for manuscripts from the Persian-speaking world until the 10th/16th century.9  The brown leather binding has been extensively damaged, and the front cover is entirely missing.  As a result, fol. 1a is in a bad condition, but nevertheless remains mostly legible (fig. 2). The partly preserved back cover suggests that the binding was initially made for another manuscript, since the leaves of MS Cod. 366/262a are larger than the binding itself. The remnants of what was once a decorative design featuring flowers and birds still appear on the outer side of the back cover.  

       Inside the manuscript, impressions of an undated seal of a certain Ḫeżr b. Qobād Monšī, "the slave of the Shah" (banda-ye šāh), can be found on fols. 1a, 19a, 35a, 58a, 59a and 85a (fig. 3).10  Another stamp with a floral motif is faintly apparent on the margin of fol. 56a and what seems to be the same stamp can also be seen on fols. 56b, 57b and 97b (fig. 4).   Appearing on the margin of fol. 64a is the name of a certain Moḥammad Bāqir Ūġūrl 11 [sic!], "the master of the writing school" (āqā ǧān-e maktabḫāne).   The name which probably should be read "Ūġūrlū" referring to the Bayāt tribe, a prominent Qezelbāš tribe under Safavid rule,12 is repeated underneath the fijirst mentioned note.   But here he appears to be described as "the Khan's writing-master" (āqā ǧān-e maktab-e Ḫān). The fact that these notes in the margin were apparently written by an inexpert hand could also explain the misspelling of the name Ūġūrlū.

      A common feature that recurs in some early copies 13 and which also appears in MS Cod. 366/262a is the explicit mention in Chapter 21 of the date of completion of Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī in 907/1501-02. 14   Moreover, the Vien- nese copy uses the same expression in allusion to the death of the semi- legendary figure Ḥātem Ṭāyy, specifying that approximately 940 years had passed from the date of his death until the composition of Kāšef ī's work: "(. . .) čenānče Ḥātem Ṭāyy rā ke dar taʾrīḫ-e ta ʾlīf-e īn resāle ke noh ṣad o haft sāl-ast o az vafāt-e ū qarīb noh ṣad o čehel sāl goẕašte (. . .)." 15   While the number of years varied according to different manuscripts, MS Cod. 366/262a agrees in this detail with some of the earliest copies, namely the Tashkent manuscript as well as the Berlin manuscript described below. 16
      Though no colophon is transmitted in the defective Viennese copy, several dated notations made by various Persian hands are interspersed with a confusing multitude of prayers, often addressed to ʿAlī, popular sayings, poetic verses and some writing exercises by diffferent inexpert hands on fol. 1a (fig. 2). 17 The earliest date in our manuscript is recorded on fol. 1a, namely Friday [sic!], 2 Ṣafar 978/6 July 1570. Other dates on the same folio are Ḏū l-Ḥiǧǧa 992/December 1584 and Ǧumāda II 1071/February 1661. The large number of Shiʿi inspired notations by diffferent Persian hands on the title page suggests that MS Cod. 366/262a went through the hands of various owners and was actively used by Shiʿi readers as well as by Armenians.18

 

Comparison with Other Manuscripts of Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī


The identity of the Viennese copy can be established by comparing it with one of the earliest existing copies available to me, MS Diez A quart. 77 held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, which was copied on the 6th Šaʿbān 908/4th February 1503, a short time after the work was written.19  Although the textual variations in both copies are small and generally do not exceed two lines, 20 MS Cod. 366/262a shows some significant variations.  Besides the omission of most of the poetic verses by Rūmī and Ḥāfeẓ which appear repeatedly in Kāšef ī's work, the Vienna manuscript shows a tendency to "Persianise" Arabic expressions (e.g. zendegī instead of ḥayāt, kas instead of šaḫṣ, ǧang instead of ḥarb, sometimes šāh instead of malik).21
      Despite a time gap between the two copies of only seven decades at the most, their differences are evident and suggest that Kāšef ī's text underwent several revisions, either by the author himself or by later scribes. The table mentioned below which indicates folio and line of the particular passage, gives a systematic overview of the textual variations between MS Diez A quart. 77 and MS Cod. 366/262a and so helps to clarify the relationship between the two copies.  Differences of the Vienna fragment compared to the Berlin copy are given in square brackets. Omissions in the respective copy are indicated by "ø", significant variations by "≠". Equivalent text passages, although occurring elsewhere in the manuscript, are shown by "=". The sign "/" indicates that there is no significant textual variation in the mentioned chapter between the Berlin and the Vienna copies.
     The wide diffusion of copies of Kāšef ī's treatise on ethics right up to the beginning of the 14th/20th century, of which dozens of unstudied manuscripts are preserved in libraries in Iran alone, call for a deeper study of the history of its transmission.22  Given this abundant evidence concerning Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī's significance over the centuries, developments such as the increasing "Persianisation" of wording could provide the criteria for a comprehensive and critical edition.23  MS Cod. 366/262a represents a striking 10th/16th-century revision of Kāšef ī's text, and should certainly be included.

 

Comparative survey of variants
between MS Berlin Diez A quart. 77 and MS Vienna Cod. 366/262a

 

 Chapter(topic)  MS Diez A quart. 77
(Berlin)
 MS Cod. 366/262a
(Vienna)
 Textual variations:
MS Diez A quart. 77
[MS Cod. 366/262a]
 Prologue  1b-5a:9  1b-4b:2 /
 Table of contents  5a:10-6a:1  4b:3-5a:9 /
1 (ʿebādat)  6a:2-6b:9  5a:10-6a:1 /
2 (eḫlāṣ) 6b:10-7a (margin) 6a:1-13 /
3 (doʿā) 7a (margin)-7b:4 6b:1-7a:12 7a:1-3 [ø 6b]
4 (šokr) 7b:4-9b:1 7a:12-9a:3 /
5 (ṣabr) 9b:2-10b:5 9a:3-9b:13 /
6 (reẓā) 10b:5-11a:6 9b:13-10a:12 /
7 (tavakkol) 11a:7-12a:2 10a:12-11a:5  ø 11b [11a:3]
8 (ḥayā) 12a:3-14b:13 11a:5-13b:1 14a:4-5 [≠ 12b:10-12]; 14b:12-13 [ø 13b]
9 (ʿefffat) 14b:14-15b:5 13b:1-14a:3 /
10 (adab) 15b:5-16b:1 14a:4-15a:5 16a:4-5 [ø 14b]
11 (ʿolūv hemmat) 16b:14-18b:4 15a:6-16b:1 /
12 (ʿazm) 18b:5-19b:3 16b:1-17a:9 19b:1-2 [ø 17a]
13 (ǧedd o ǧahd) 19b:4-22a:4 17a:10-19a:8 /
14 (ṣabāt) 22a:5-23b:5 19a:8-20b:1 22b:7 [ø 19b]
15 (ʿadālat) 23b:5-35a:1 20b:2-29a:10 25a:4-5.11 [ø 21b]; 27b:5-6 [ø 23b]; 8b:2-4 [ø 24a]; 29a:4-5 [ø 24b]; 32a:5-7 [ø 7a]; 33a:5-6[ø 27b]; 33b:4 [ø 28a]
 16 (ʿafv)  35a:2-37a:12  29a:11-31a:7 35a:4-6 [ø 29a]; ø 37a
[31a:1-3]
17 (ḥelm) 37a:13-40a:8 31a:8-33b:1 /
18 (ḫalq o rafq) 40a:9-42b:7 33b:1-35a:9 40b:7-8.14 [ø 33b]; 40b:9-11 [≠ 33b:9-11]
19 (šafaqat o
marḥamat)
42b:7-46a:3 35a:9-37b:10 ø 44b [36b:10]
20 (ḫayrāt o
mabarrāt)
46a:4-49b:1 37b:10-40b:1 /
21 (saḫāvat o eḥsān) 49b:2-58b:9 40b:1-48a:4 51b:12 [ø 42a]; 52b:7 [ø 43a];57a:11 [ø 47a]; 57b:1-2[≠ 47a:3-4]
22 (tavāẓūʿ o
eḥterām)
58b:10-62b:3 48a:4-51a:1 61a:9 [ø 50a]; 62b:2 [ø 51a]
 23 (amānat o
deyānat)
 62b:4-65b:13  51a:2-53b:6  /
24 (vafā be-ʿahd) 65b:14-69b:9 53b:6-56b:11 67b:4-5 [≠ 55a:3-4]
25 (ṣedq) 69b:10-71b:2 56b:12-58a:5 69b:12-13 [ø 56b]; 70b:1[ø 57a]; 71a:1 [ø 57b]
26 (enǧāḥ-e ḥāǧāt) 71b:3-73a:2 58a:6-59a:10 /
27 (taʾannī o
taʾammol)
73a:3-75b:5 59a:10-61a:8 /
28 (mošāvarat o tadbīr) 75b:6-79a:7 61a:8-64a:9 76a:13-76b:1 [ø 61b]
29 (ḥazm) 79a:8-81a:11 64a:9-66a:5 80a:11-12 [ø 65a]
30 (šaǧāʿat) 81a:11-89a:12 66a:5-72b:11 85a:12-13.14-85b:1 [ø 69b]; 86b:2 [ø 70b]
31 (ġayrat) 89a:13-94a:5 72b:11-76b:4 92a:11 [ø 75a]
32 (seyāsat) 94a:5-97b:13 76b:4-79b:6 95a:5-6 [ø 77a]; 97a:13-14 [ø 79a]
33 ( yaqaẓ o ḫebrat) 97b:14-104b:11 79b:6-85a:4 ø 99b [81a:5-6]; 99b:14 [ø 81a]; 101a:1 [ø 82a]; 101b:14 [≠ 82b:8]; 102a:5 [ø 82b]; 103b:5-6 [ø 84a]
34 ( ferāsat) 104b:12-109b:11 85a:4-89a:9 105b:13-14 [ø 86a]; 107b:9-108a:6 [= 87b:6-88a:2]; 108a:6-10 [= 87b:3-6]; 109b:1-2 [≠ 88b:13-89a:1]
35 (ketmān-e asrār) 109b:12-111a:9 89a:9-90a:13 /
36 (eġtenām-e forṣat) 111a:10-115a:14 90b:1-93b:10 111b:12-13 [ø 91a]
37 (raʿāyat-e ḥoqūq) 115b:1-127a:10 93b:11-101b,
defective [= MS Diez A quart. 77, 126b:11]
115b:13-14 [ø 94a]; 117b:10 [ø 95b]; 119a:14-119b:1 [ø 97a];  ø 121a [98b:4];121b:14  [ø 99a];
123a:14-123b:2 [ø 00a]; 124a:4[ø 100b]; 125a:1-126a:13 [ø 101b]
38 (eḫteyār-e ṣoḥbat) 127a:11-131a:5    
39 (dafʿ-e ašrār) 131a:5-145a:10    
40 (tarbeyat-e ḫedam
o ḥašam)
145a:11-180a:14    
Epilogue 180a:14-181a    

 


 

1 I am indebted to the Brothers of the Dominican Priory in Vienna, especially Mgr. Viliam Štefan Dóci OP, for allowing access to the Priory's private library in February and June/July 2011. I am also grateful to my teacher, Professor Sabine Schmidtke, Freie Universität Berlin, as well as to Professor Maria E. Subtelny, University of Toronto, for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this contribution. 

Return to Introduction


2 For the Latin manuscripts see Felix Czeike, "Verzeichnis der Handschriften des Dominikanerkonventes in Wien bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts" (Vienna 1952, typewritten).

Return to Introduction


3 The title and the author's name appear on fol. 3b. The brief reference to this copy, later added to Romuald Henz, "Handschriften-Katalog" (private library of the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda, Vienna 1916), 68, mentions neither the title nor the author, but falsely assumes that MS Cod. 366/262a is an Arabic manuscript. For a discussion of Kāšefī's work, its editions and translations, see Maria E. Subtelny, "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14. For Kāšef ī and his bibliography, see Maria E. Subtelny, "Husayn Vaʿiz-i Kashifiji: Polymath, Popularizer, and Preserver," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 463-7 and "Kāšefiji, Kamāl-al-Din Ḥosayn Wāʿeẓ," EIr, vol. 15: 658-61.

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4 Romuald Henz, "Handschriften-Katalog" (private library of the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda, Vienna 1916), 68.

Return to Introduction

5 All stamped manuscripts have an additional "D" signature in the library's catalogue in red ink. Cf. Romuald Henz, "Handschriften-Katalog" (private library of the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda, Vienna 1916).

Return to Introduction


6 See MS Cod. 366/262a, fol. 4a:3. In the manuscript held in the Berlin Staatsbib- liothek, described below, this expression is written in gold ink. Cf. MS Diez A quart. 77, fol. 4b:7.

Return to "Introduction"


7 For the Tashkent copy MS 2116/I (dated 907/1501-02) and other early manuscripts, inter alia MS Ancien fonds persan 124 held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (dated 945/1539), cf. Maria E. Subtelny, "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14, especially 602, n. 4, as well as 612, n. 63. For the illuminations, see Lisa Golombek, "Early Illustrated Manuscripts of Kashifiji's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 615-43, especially 615, n. 1.

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8 For the description of the quires' composition, I follow the method by Jan Just Witkam, Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and other Col- lections in the Netherlands. A General Introduction, Leiden 1982, 14.

 Return to "Description of the Viennese Copy"


9 François Déroche [et al.], Islamic Codicology. An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script, trans. Deke Dusinberre and David Radzinowicz, ed. Muhammad I. Waley (London: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1427/2006),86 and 88.

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10 The seal reads in full: "Ḫeżr b. Qobād Monšī, the slave of the Shah. He who trusts in God's help and favor" (Ḫeżr b. Qobād Monšī, banda-ye šāh, vāseq be-ʿaun va loṭf-e lāh). I am grateful to Professor Maria E. Subtelny for her help in deciphering the seal.

Return to "Description of the Viennese Copy"


11 The name "Ūġūrl" is also mentioned on the margin of MS Cod. 366/262a, fol.7a.

Return to "Description of the Viennese Copy"


12 I am indebted to Professor Maria E. Subtelny for these remarks.

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13 See the copies mentioned above. However, MS 997.47.1, which is held by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, lacks any date of composition (cf. Maria E. Subtelny, "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14, here 603, n. 10).

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14 The date of completion is mostly given as 900/1494-95. See George M. Wickens, "Aḵlāq-e Moḥsenī," EIr, vol. 1: 724-5, here 724; Ḥasan Ḥażratī and Ġolāmḥasan Moqīmī, "Negāhī eǧmālī be ḥayāt o andīše-ye seyāsī-ye Mollā Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī," Faṣlnāme-ye ḥokūmat-e eslāmī 9 (1377/[1998]): 125-51, here 131; Mahdī Ferehānī Monfared, "Noktehāī-ye čand darbāre-ye Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī," Maqālāt o bar-rasīhā 66 (1378/[1999]): 193-204, here 201; Louise Marlow, "Advice and Advice Literature," EI 3, vol. 1: 34-58, here 52. However, I follow here Maria E. Subtelny's arguments for the later date 907/1501-02, cf. her contribution "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14, here 602-4. The later date is also supported by the Berlin copy wherethe numerals 907 are written in red ink below the chronogram "زاخلاق محسنی" on the last page. This shows that the copyist, having completed the manuscript one year later according to the colophon, also assumed that Kāšef ī completed his treatise in 907, cf. MS Diez A quart. 77, fol. 181a.

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15 MS Cod. 366/262a, fol. 42b:4-6.

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16 For the Tashkent manuscript see Maria E. Subtelny, "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14, here 603. In the Berlin MS Diez A quart. 77, fol. 52a:5-7 it says similarly: "(. . .) čenānče Ḥātem Ṭāyy rā ke dar taʾrīḫ-e īn resāle ke noh ṣad o haft ast az vafāt-e ū qarīb noh ṣad o čehel sāl goẕašte (. . .)."

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17 Such writing exercises appear throughout the entire copy, see also fols. 2a, 4a, 5a, 7a, 7b, 8a, 9a, 12a, 12b, 13a, 14b, 15a, 17a, 18a, 19a, 20a, 21a, 21b, 22b, 25a, 30a, 30b, 32a, 33a, 34a, 38b, 39a, 40a, 40b, 42b, 44a, 46a, 48a, 49b, 50a, 51b, 53a, 54a, 54b, 55a, 56a, 56b, 57a, 59a, 60a, 61a, 61b, 62a, 64a, 64b, 65a, 66a, 66b, 67a, 67b, 68a, 69b, 70a, 71a, 72a, 72b, 73a, 73b, 75a, 77b, 78a, 79a, 80a, 81a, 82a, 83a, 87b, 88a, 89a, 90a, 91a, 91b, 92a, 93a, 93b, 94a, 94b, 96b, 97a, 98b, 101a. We might speculate that some of these writing exercises could have been penned by Benno Riedele OP (1885-1942) who was a Theologian and Arabist and lived in the Priory in Vienna between 1912 and 1941. From 1930 onwards he was the Priory's librarian. I am indebted to Dr Wolfram Hoyer OP for these remarks.

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18 The latter is suggested by two marginal notes in Western Armenian script, the language of Armenian Diaspora, on fols. 45b and 92b. I am grateful to Emma Argutyan for her help in identifying the script.

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19 For a discussion of the manuscript, see Wilhelm Pertsch, ed., Die Hss.-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Verzeichniss der persischen Hss. 1-4 (Berlin: Asher, 1888), vol. 4, 309, no. 276. A collation note from 1191/1777-78 appears on fol. 181a. MS Diez A quart. 77 is the earliest amongst six copies of Kāšefī's Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. See also 308-10, no. 274-5 and 277-9.

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20 A clear exception appears on the last page of MS Cod. 366/262a, fol. 101b where several lines of MS Diez A quart. 77, fols. 125a:1-126a:13 are missing.

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21 Later copies of Persian manuscripts seem to have, in general, a more "Persianised" wording than earlier. For example, one of the latest known copies of Sayyed Aḥmad ʿAlavī's (d. between 1054/1644 and 1060/1650) Shiʿi refutation of Christianity Lavāmeʿ-e rabbānī—MS Marʿašī 2400, presumably copied at the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th/18th century and preserved today in the Ketābḫāna-ye Bozorg Āyatollāh Marʿašī Naǧaf ī in Qom,—also has such a tendency compared to earlier recensions. See my contribution "Schiitische Polemik gegen das Christen- tum im safawidischen Iran des 11./17. Jahrhunderts. Sayyid Aḥmad ʿAlawīs Lawāmiʿ-i rabbānī dar radd-i šubha-yi naṣrānī," in Contacts and Controversies between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Ottoman Empire and Pre-Modern Iran, ed. Camilla Adang and Sabine Schmidtke (Würzburg: Ergon, 2010), 273-334, here 323-4.

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22 For more than two hundred copies mostly held by Iranian libraries, see Aḥmad Monzavī, Fehrest-e nosḫahā-ye ḫaṭṭī-ye fārsī 1-6 (Tehran: Moʾassasa-ye farhangī-ye menṭaqaʾī, 1348-53/[1969-74]), vol. 2, 1590 and Fehrestvāra-ye ketābhā-ye fārsī 1- (Tehran: Markaz-e dāʾerat al-maʿāref-e bozorg-e eslāmī, 1374-/[1995-96-]), vol. 6, 303-5; Moṣṭafā Derāyatī, ed., Fehrestvāra-ye dastnevešthā-ye Īrān 1-12 (Tehran: Ketābḫāna, mūza o markaz-e asnād-e Maǧles-e šūrā-ye eslāmī, 1389/[2010], vol. 1,468-71.

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23 A critical edition of Kāšef ī's Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī is in preparation by Professor Maria E. Subtelny.

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Bibliography

Felix Czeike, "Verzeichnis der Handschriften des Dominikanerkonventes in Wien bis zum Ende des 16.      Jahrhunderts" (Vienna 1952, typewritten).
Moṣṭafā Derāyatī, ed., Fehrestvāra-ye dastnevešthā-ye Īrān 1-12 (Tehran: Ketābḫāna, mūza o markaz-e asnād-  e Maǧles-e šūrā-ye eslāmī, 1389/[2010]).
François Déroche [et al.], Islamic Codicology. An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script,         trans. Deke Dusinberre and David Radzinowicz, ed. Muhammad I. Waley (London: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage     Foundation, 1427/2006).
EI3 = The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 3rd ed. Gudrun Krämer [et al.], Leiden 2007-.
EIr = Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater [et al.], New York 1985-.
Mahdī Ferehānī Monfared, "Noktehāī-ye čand darbāre-ye Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥosayn
Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī," Maqālāt o bar-rasīhā 66 (1378/[1999]): 193-204.
Lisa Golombek, "Early Illustrated Manuscripts of Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 615-43.
Dennis Halft, "Schiitische Polemik gegen das Christentum im safawidischen Iran des 11./17. Jahrhunderts. Sayyid Aḥmad ʿAlawīs Lawāmiʿ-i rabbānī dar radd-i šubha-yi naṣrānī," in Contacts and Controversies between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Ottoman Empire and Pre-Modern Iran, ed. Camilla Adang and Sabine Schmidtke (Würzburg: Ergon, 2010), 273-334.
Ḥasan Ḥażratī and Ġolāmḥasan Moqīmī, "Negāhī eǧmālī be ḥayāt o andīše-ye seyāsī-ye Mollā Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī," Faṣlnāme-ye ḥokūmat-e eslāmī 9 (1377/ [1998]): 125-51.
Romuald Henz, "Handschriften-Katalog" (private library of the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda, Vienna 1916).
Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšef ī, "Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī," MS Cod. 366/262a (private library of the Dominican Priory Maria Rotunda, Vienna).
——, "Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī," MS Diez A quart. 77 (Staatsbibliothek, Berlin).
Aḥmad Monzavī, Fehrest-e nosḫahā-ye ḫaṭṭī-ye fārsī 1-6 (Tehran: Moʾassasa-ye farhangī-ye menṭaqaʾī, 1348-53/ [1969-74]).
——, Fehrestvāra-ye ketābhā-ye fārsī 1- (Tehran: Markaz-e dāʾerat al-maʿāref-e bozorg-e eslāmī, 1374-/[1995-96-]).
Wilhelm Pertsch, ed., Die Hss.-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, Verzeichniss der persischen Hss. 1-4 (Berlin: Asher, 1888).
Maria E. Subtelny, "Husayn Vaʿiz-i Kashifiji: Polymath, Popularizer, and Preserver," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 463-7.
——, "A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī," Iranian Studies 36 (2003): 601-14.
Jan Just Witkam, Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and other Collections in the Netherlands: A General Introduction, Leiden 1982.

 

 

 

mss2

Fig. 1. The opening page of Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī (MS Vienna, Library of the Dominican Priory, Cod. 366/262a, fols. 1b-2a).

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title2

Fig. 2. The title page of Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī, partly damaged, showing various notes by readers (MS Vienna, Library of the Dominican Priory, Cod. 366/262a, fol. 1a).

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SealStamp

Fig. 3. The seal stamp of a certain Ḫeżr b. Qobād Monšī (MS Vienna, Library of the Dominican Priory, Cod. 366/262a, detail of fol. 1a).

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Seal

Fig. 4. Unknown stamp with a floral motif (MS Vienna, Library of the Dominican Priory, Cod. 366/262a, detail of fol. 56a).

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