مجله آینه میراث
سال بیست و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 72، بهار و تابستان 1402)

The story of Rustam and Suhrab is one of the two controversial stories of the Shahnameh, whose textual problems have not all been solved yet.In this article, a hemistich of this story characterizing Rustam is discussed in terms of its recordings and meaning. It appears in the Shahnameh manuscripts in twenty-six different forms, and in printed and edited versions of the book, in seven variations. In the end, the recording “ke az abr, peel ārad andar nahān is recommended. In this recording, the word abr is probably a metaphoric expression for “sword”. Thus, the meaning of the hemistich is: [Rustam can] kill an elephant with his sword and terminate it.

The Arabic-Persian dictionary of the “Law of Literature” authored by Hobaysh of Tbilisi, a 12-century scholar, literat, physician, and author, seems to have been compiled in 545 H./1150 CE. Containing over sixty thousand entries, this word book that was put together by utilizing some fifty well-known works (including books on the science of literature; Arabic- Arabic as well as Arabic-Persian dictionaries) represents one of the old extensive bilingual lexicons. Aside from its invaluable contents, it holds a distinct standing from language viewpoint as a text from the extreme north-western domain of Iranian culture.Quite a long time ago, Gholam Reza Taher strenuously and ambitiously produced a corrected version of the Qanun-e adab based on the credible four-hundred-page manuscript preserved in the Hafid Efendi Library in Turkey (dated 548 H./1153 CE.) and had it published in 3 volumes (by Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran, 1350-1351 Sh./1971-72 CE).In the present article, with the help of the above-mentioned manuscript and by benefiting from other sources, some supplementary notes have   been added to several entries of the book.

Sharif Raḍi (d. 406 H./1016) collected evidence of the eloquent words of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) in the Nahj al-Balagha. Since he did not commit to mentioning his sources, he has made no mention of any of them except in about 17 cases. In the contemporary era, despite numerous studies about the chain of transmitters and sources of Nahj al-Balāgha, there is still a long way to go. One of the important undertakings in this field is the examination of the works whose manuscripts have recently been identified, edited, and published by researchers. Kitāb al-Tawhīd by Qaḍi Nuʿman Maghribī (d. 363 H./974) is one of such works.In the present research, along with a brief biography of Qadi Nu’man and an introductory note to his Kitab al-Tawhid and its significance, some of the sections of the  Nahj al-Balagha that can be traced back in this older source, have been identified through  a comparative analysis. Since Sharif Razi picked out from the texts he referred to, this research can be regarded as one step forward to complete those texts.

One of the remarkable phenomena in the studies of Iran’s hthe centuries is the emergence as from 2010 of a concept called ruykard requiring university researchers to work in accordance with one of the Western philosophical theories, whereas the westerners themselves, despite their much longer history in the Islamic art studies, have hardly looked at the  centuries-old Islamic art from the perspective of  contemporary philosophers – except in special cases.The present article seeks (1) to trace back the beginnings of the formation of this outlook in Iran’s academic papers, (2) to find out the possible causes of the increasing prevalence of the idea of ruykard, and (3) to analyze its potential effectiveness. Due to the enormous variety of approaches and the wide range of artistic subjects, the degree of the efficacy of intertextuality and other similar theories in analyzing the Islamic arts has been investigated. Our findings reveal that the results of such academic papers make little contribution to the understanding of the Islamic works of art and the factors related to them.  Rather, they are more of instructional significance or represent a repeated explanation of intertextuality theory along with some examples. Thus, they do not appeal to the audience, and are little in accordance with any new discovery in the field of history of art and culture that could widen the boundaries of knowledge.

Hakim Maysari’s  Dāneshnāmeh is the oldest versified medical collection in Persian. It was edited by Barat Zanjani in 1366 S./ 1987 and published in the Tehran University publications series and reprinted several times. Aside from its benefits, unfortunately this edition suffers from many imperfections.The present article attempts to closely compare the printed text with the very manuscript used by the editor [Zanjani] and reveal some of the critical inaccuracies of his correction including faulty recordings, misreading of the manuscript, typos, and the editor’s unwarranted interferences (disregarding the principle of faithfulness). The findings of this research indicate that, because of the numerous problems finding their way into the printed text of the Daneshnāmeh, a new correction of the book is called for.

One of the less known legacies of the Kobraviyyeh-Ferdowsiyyeh reaching us from Shah Sho’a b Ferdowsi (d. after 844 H/1440) is a Sufi hagiography entitled Manāqeb al-Asfiyā (completed after 1440 CE), which was printed lithographically in Calcutta, 1313 H/1895. This book is significant from different viewpoints and therein can be found the ideas of Sharaf al-Din Manyari (d. 782 /1380), the most celebrated Kobravi-Ferdoasi Sheikh as well as the manifesto of this Order and the teachings of Ferdowsi Sheikhs.The writers of the present article have investigated the death date of Sheikh Sho’aib, the years he was his book was and its completion date, coming to some clear conclusions. Also, besides a full introduction of the manāqeb al-Asfiyā, the writers have demonstrated its importance for a more and better understanding of the Kobravi-Ferdowsi Order and Sharaf al-Din Manyari himself.

Versified examples from pre-Islamic period are regarded as an inevitable source for understanding the real and figurative meanings of certain Qur’anic words. One of the efficacious commentaries in presenting the literary points and benefiting from Arabic poetry for the interpretation of the Qur’anic verses is the Al-Kashshāf Of the more than one hundred annotations and glosses to Zamakhshari’s Commentary, there has remained a newly found old manuscript entitled Sharh-o abyāt-el Kashshāf [Commentary on the al-Kashshāf’s poems) that can be counted as the oldest work on the explication of the poems cited by this Commentary. Most probably this manuscript dates to the 7th century H./13 century CE, written by one oh the students of Zahir al-Din Sahhāf.The present article focuses on the following: the examination of the above-mentioned text with respect to its content; the impact it has received from previous sources; its influence on the later sources, and some critical remarks regarding the commentator.

In his Tarikh-e Neyshabur, among the biographies of his Sheikhs (mentors), Hākem of Nishapur gives a biography of his Ostad, Abu al-Abbas Mikāli (d. 362 H/973 CE). Having mentioned his Sheikh’s name and genealogy and his study in Fars, Hākem states that Mikāli read Mālek’s Al-Mowatt’ with an unidentified scholar, known as “Sheikh-e Bahr-e Pars”, who, in turn, studied this book under the Mālek’s student and narrator, Abu Mos’ab Zohari (d. 243 H/857 CE).By using Hadith and biographical evidence, the author of the present article has addressed the possible identity of this man, concluding, according to his findings, that “Sheikh-e Bahr-e Pars’’ may well be the same person as Ebn-e Zirak-e Farsi.

The most accurate conclusion reached so far regarding the inauthentic book entitled Maqtal al-Hosein (Book of Hosein’s sufferings) is that, due to numerous interpolations made into various places of the book, none of its different recordings in its separate extant manuscripts can possibly belong to Abu Mekhnaf.  The dating of this book has also been the subject of some discussion and disputation.The present article addresses one of the oldest studies made about this fake work by Heinrich Ferdinand Wustenfeld. He only translated this work into German and, together with a scholarly introduction had it published in Göttingen, 1883. In this this article, for the first time, a Persian translation of the entire text of Wustenfeld’s introduction, is presented along with a relatively extensive bibliography of his research on Islamology and the correction of Islamic texts, his sources and methodology in examining the counterfeit “Maqtal al-Hosein as well as some remarks about the book.

In various historical periods of the Indian Subcontinent, there have surged fatal pandemics causing thousands of people to die. This catastrophic happening has come to be a source of inspiration for a number of literary works revealing personal and social reactions of the populations around the land to infectious diseases, particularly plague and cholera. The historians at the courts of the Gurkāni (Mughal) Emperors have addressed this calamity - which affected various parts of India - in their history books such as Tabaqāt-e Akbari, Jahāngir-nāmeh, Shāhjahān-nāmeh and so forth. Poets like Tāleb-e Āmoli, Kalim-e Kāshāni and others serving the Gurkān court have mentioned this issue in their works. They have even created separate verses in this respect. Furthermore, a religious and Sufi perspective regarding the transmission of plague and other communicable diseases.The present article tracks down infectious diseases, especially plague, in the books produced in the Subcontinent to demonstrate how this occurrence has become the focus of attention in the creation of several literary, mystical, and historical works.