Review of a translation of Mazamir-e Davud (Book of Psalms) at Namazi Library in Khoi

Mazamir-e Davud (Tehillim) has an outstanding place in the spiritual life of those with sacred books and is known in the Muslim world as Zaboor. What has attracted public attention during the recent years are the Arabic translations of this book the beginning parts of which are a rendering of Tehillim, but the ensuing portion (especially from the third Psalm on) constitutes a composed-concocted text with an approach of homily and sermon nature. These texts are technically referred to as Pseudo-Psalms. The present article examines one of these texts (scribed in 706 H./1307) kept at Namazi Library in Khoi. In its preface, it is claimed that this translation was undertaken by order of Ma’mun and endorsed by Imam Reza (Peace be upon him). This article looks at the manner of reading the Psalms by a 7th/13th-century Muslim, in four stages, 1. How the Khoi manuscript compares in contents with the original Psalms (Tehillim); 2. The traces of the contents of the Khoi MS in the old Islamic sources; 3. The echoing of some of the moral-social difficulties of the society at the time of the writing of this manuscript; 4. Kalāmi-theological discourses reflected in the Khoi MS.