نسخ خطی

Manuscripts and handwritten documents from past generations hold significant scientific, artistic, and cultural heritage value. These works play a crucial role in transmitting the scientific achievements and experiences of previous civilizations. Therefore, identifying, introducing, and preserving manuscripts is an essential and unavoidable task. The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, established in 1992, aims to compile a list of archives and libraries that are at risk of damage or destruction. Given this context, conducting case studies on manuscripts from various perspectives, particularly in terms of preserving civilizational heritage, is necessary. This article, emphasizing the importance of such studies, examines the content of the manuscript ‘The Seeker’s Guide to the Rulings of Religion’. The manuscript ‘The Seeker’s Guide to the Rulings of Religion’, authored by Abu Taleb Qayeni (1230 AH – 1293 AH), belongs to the category of Ajwibah (collections of legal questions and answers). These Ajwibah consist of a compilation of religious queries and responses, systematically organized under the titles of Questions and Answers or Ajwibat al-Masā’il. Abu Taleb Qayeni was a prominent 13th-century AH jurist with numerous works in the field of Islamic jurisprudence and other religious sciences such as Dirāyah (narration analysis) and Rijāl (biographical evaluation of narrators). Due to his extensive knowledge of Islamic and legal sciences, he employed rational arguments and scriptural evidence from the Qur'an and the sayings of Shi'a Imams to address religious inquiries. From a content perspective, ‘The Seeker’s Guide to the Rulings of Religion’ falls within the category of Ajwibah manuscripts. Historically, after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Shi’a Imams were entrusted with the responsibility of answering religious inquiries and resolving ambiguities. Following the Imams, this duty was carried out by the deputies of the Hidden Imam (Mahdi). After the passing of the last deputy, Shi’a scholars and jurists assumed this critical role. Over time, the questions and answers posed to scholars in different periods were compiled into treatises, forming the tradition of Ajwibah-writing, which has continued throughout Iranian history. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the structural and content-related aspects of ‘The Seeker’s Guide to the Rulings of Religion’ and to elucidate its role within Islamic culture and civilization.

This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach. 

The treatise ‘The Seeker’s Guide to the Rulings of Religion’ shares structural and formal similarities with other Ajwibah compilations authored by scholars, containing numerous religious and social inquiries. The most prominent topics covered in this manuscript include Islamic legal rulings, economic issues, endowments, legal matters, and social affairs. The manuscript provides valuable insights into the religious beliefs, way of life, and socio-economic characteristics of the Qā’ināt region.The functional significance of this Ajwibah can be summarized as follows:Understanding the local history and socio-cultural characteristics of Qaenat and the lifestyle of its inhabitants.Recognizing the scholarly position of Abu Taleb Qayeni.Preserving and promoting the written heritage of Shi'ism.Studies on Ajwibah in general, and this particular Ajwibah specifically, reveal that these works served as a means to address topics not extensively covered in the juristic treatises of Mujtahids. Consequently, Ajwibah have contributed to the dynamism of Islamic legal discussions.

In terms of objectives and findings, this article aligns with the work of Alizadeh Birjandi and colleagues, titled The Function of Shi’a Scholars’ Ajwibah in the Social History Studies of Iran, which highlights the importance of Ajwibah and their various roles in historical and civilizational studies. However, Alizadeh Birjandi and colleagues specifically emphasize the significance of Ajwibah in social history studies, particularly in local historical research.

The addition of marginal notes to the main text is one of the types of scribal errors that occasionally occurred in the process of scribing ancient works in manuscripts. This led to the obscurity, misinterpretation, or inconsistency of certain passages in these texts. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāḍī (d. 606 AH), the renowned Ash‘arite scholar, discusses the confusing and misleading scribal errors of adding marginal notes to the main text in manuscripts in two instances in his commentary on Ibn Sina's (d. 428 AH) famous work, "‘Uyūn al-Ḥikmah". He mentions that such scribal errors also occurred in his own works. His testimony is noteworthy from several aspects, particularly as it indicates the early occurrence of these types of errors and alterations in manuscripts, and that such problematic scribal errors could occur not only over several centuries but sometimes even within a few decades or year.

“Kelileh va Demneh”, translated by Abul Maali Nasrullah bin Muhammad Munshi, is one of the valuable and lasting works of Persian prose of the 6th century, which has been edited and published many times in Iran and abroad. Undoubtedly, the revised edition of Mojtaba Minavi in 1343 in Tehran is the best of them. Among the other corrections and explanations of this book, which researchers do not need to refer to when reading the text of “Kelileh va Demneh”, the correction and annotations are by Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, who published the sixth edition of it in 2019 from Bostan publisher. Although Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli prepared this work from several manuscripts and with Arabic “Kelileh va Demneh”, and he also reminded me of the misreading, distortions, and other defects in the printed documents, the author has found errors and slips in the correction, research, and annotations of Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli of “Kelileh va Demneh”, which he criticizes and evaluates some of them by comparing the printings of Minawi and Gharib as well as some other manuscripts in this essay.

“Ruh ol-Arwah fi Sharh Asma al-Mulk al-Fattah” by Shahab al-Din Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn Mansour Sam'ani (487-534 AH) is the oldest independent work in Sharh Asma' Allah in Persian, which has had a direct impact on some literary and mystical works, including Kashf ol-Asrar Meybodi. The prose of this book is fluent, smooth, and at the same time poetic, and sometimes it has used melodic or eloquent prose to express mystical concepts. This book is full of literary, lexical, linguistic and mystical benefits. Najib Mayel Heravi first published this book based on five manuscripts in Elmi va Farhangi publications in 1368, which has been reprinted several times. Unfortunately, this correction is not without its flaws, and there are many bugs in it. The present paper has tried to carefully confront the printed text with the corrected copies and to show some of the main drawbacks of this correction, including inclusions, misreadings, corrections and non-observance of the principle of fidelity in correcting texts. The result of this research indicates that due to the numerous problems that have arisen in the text of the Spirit of the Souls, it is necessary to correct it again.

“Catalogue of handwritten manuscripts on alchemy and related sciences within Iranian libraries” by Zohre Māziār and Nasibe Ranjbardār has been published in 2013/1392, along with an introduction made by Yousof Beyg Bābāapour. Nowadays, since the research on Islamic alchemy is in its infancy, compilation of such a catalogue could be acknowledged as a necessary reference for future studies on alchemy. But, as concluded in this paper, that contribution would not be useful in the subject, in spite of its proper title. In our view, this catalogue shall mislead the researchers in detection of manuscripts. In present critical analysis, we have remarked six major deficiencies of this catalogue. Exclusive quotation from previously published DENA catalogue without appropriate referencing to it, frequent writing mistakes and omitting significant number of manuscripts could be reported as three major defects of this catalogue.

Jame› ol-Hikāyāt, by Nasrollāh bin Shahrollāh Teromezi, includes 200 anecdotes regarding the righteous, and is one of the unique manuscripts in the Library of Iran Parliament. Being selected and corrected by Alireza Zakāvati Qarāgozloo, the book was published by Haqiqat Publication in 1396. In the present paper, the author, first of all, makes a list of the  chapters of the book, and talks about some of the anecdotes of this book. Then, he mentions some of the mistakes found in the book along with their number of the pages.

Saffron is echo type plant of Iran. Its cultivation, nutrition and drug applications and drug were known from ancient historical period. Iranian people have excellent indigenous knowledge about saffron. In Persian literature, saffron is symbol of expensive cost and the lover that abounded form his love. The botany and cultivation of saffron were noted in old agriculture manuscripts. Two time irrigation was advised for saffron. Mouse and rabbit are two pest of saffron based on old manuscripts. In traditional medicine book , saffron was effective in internal organs and caused happiness in psychological treatment. Dangerous saffron over dosage application In some texts warned.Saffron is echo type plant of Iran. Its cultivation, nutrition and drug applications and drug were known from ancient historical period. Iranian people have excellent indigenous knowledge about saffron. In Persian literature, saffron is symbol of expensive cost and the lover that abounded form his love. The botany and cultivation of saffron were noted in old agriculture manuscripts. Two time irrigation was advised for saffron. Mouse and rabbit are two pest of saffron based on old manuscripts. In traditional medicine book , saffron was effective in internal organs and caused happiness in psychological treatment. Dangerous saffron over dosage application In some texts warned.

The Arabic Manuscript Tradition: A Glossary of Technical Terms and Bibliography by Adam Gacek is a book about manuscript writing and manuscript terms which is translated into Persian by Ali Qolināmi. The author of the present paper has criticized the Persian translation of the book. Regarding this, he, first of all, scrutinizes the general and structural problems of the translation, and then talks about the technical problems by providing some examples of the book.

While the manuscripts should be taken care of in the best way because of their being aged and precious, they must be available to the researchers to be researched about in various aspects. In addition, being edited and corrected, they should be printed to be accessible to all. Meanwhile, the most effective step on the way of their restoring is to introduce them in the form of lists. Thus, cataloging these manuscripts is a matter of importance. In this article, the author tries to introduce the Persian works such as books, essays, thesis, conferences, and interviews which were published with regard to the cataloging of the manuscripts.