I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
This book is also available OPEN ACCESS to .
The past few decades have seen a burgeoning interest in the manuscript cultures of the Muslim world. The study of manuscripts has brought to light new perspectives on the transmission of texts and larger questions of cultural practices passed down within the learned circles of premodern Muslim societies. The intellectual and literary heritage of Ismaili communities, who form a branch of Shi士i Islam, has until recently been preserved in private and largely inaccessible libraries. This open access volume brings together studies offering insights on different aspects of manuscript cultures nurtured by Ismaili communities until well after the widespread dissemination of printed books. The range of materials transmitted via these manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Indic languages also reflects the doctrinal and literary preoccupations of Muslims at large and of other groups from the societies in which Ismailis lived. Hence, the manuscripts bear the imprint of their respective cultural contexts, namely a number of regions from the Near East to Central and South Asia. In addition to engaging with multifaceted questions surrounding the processes of textual transmission, the chapters in this book deal with other connected aspects, like codicology, scribal and reading practices, educational and social history, authorship, communal script, religious identity and interactions of ideas across ideological denominations. With contributions from specialists and early-career scholars, this volume will be of interest to those working on textual scholarship, manuscript and literary cultures, and Islamic studies.
Acknowledgements
Note on Contributors
Transliteration, Dates, and Abbreviations
Introduction
Wafi A. Momin
SECTION I: THE SHAPING OF A NEW FIELD
1. Ismaili Manuscripts and Modern Scholarship in Ismaili Studies
Farhad Daftary
2. Husain Hamdani, Paul Kraus, and a Suitcase Full of Manuscripts
Fran莽ois de Blois
SECTION II: RAS膧示IL IKHW膧N AL-峁F膧示, KIT膧B AL-Z莫NA, AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
3. The Ikhw膩n al-峁f膩示鈥檚 Epistles on Logic in Some Manuscripts of the IIS Arabic Collection
Carmela Baffioni
4. The Missing Link? MS 1040: An Important Copy of the Ras膩示il Ikhw膩n al-峁f膩示 in the Collection of 澳门六合开奖记录
Omar Al铆-de-Unzaga
5. The Manuscript Copies of Ab奴 岣つ乼im al-R膩z墨鈥檚 Kit膩b al-Z墨na at 澳门六合开奖记录
Cornelius Berthold
SECTION III: EXPLORING TWO EARLY 峁珹YYIB莫 WORKS AND THEIR TRANSMISSION
6. The Majm奴士 al-tarbiya between Text and Paratext: Exploring the Social History of a Community鈥檚 Reading Culture
Delia Cortese
7. Textual, Orthographic Variations and Scribes鈥 Annotations: A Possible Tool for the Transmission Analysis of the Text?
Monica Scotti
SECTION IV: REVISITING NIZ膧R莫 HISTORY OF ALAM弄T TIMES
8. Alam奴t and Badakhsh膩n: Newly Identified Sargudhasht-i Sayyidn膩 Manuscripts and their Background 207
Mikl贸s S谩rk枚zy
9. 士Ahd-i Sayyidn膩, a Newly Discovered Treatise on the Consolidation of the Niz膩r墨 Da士wa in Alam奴t 237
Karim Javan
10. The Discovery, Description and Publication of the Manuscripts of Two Major Niz膩r墨 澳门六合开奖记录 Texts from the Alam奴t Period: The Haft B膩b and the D墨w膩n-i Q膩示imiyy膩t of 岣san-i Ma岣奴d-i K膩tib
S.J. Badakhchani
SECTION V: COMMUNAL SCRIPT, SCRIBAL ELITE, AND SATPANTH MANUSCRIPT CULTURE
11. Khw膩jah Sindhi (Khojki): Its Name, Manuscripts and Origin
Shafique N. Virani
12. A Forgotten Voice: The Agency of the Scribal and Literate Elite and the Satpanth Manuscript Culture
Wafi A. Momin
SECTION VI: IDENTITY, CULTURAL INTERACTIONS, AND ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION AMONG CENTRAL ASIAN ISMAILI COMMUNITIES
13. Ismaili-Sufi Relationships in the Light of the Ni士mat All膩h墨 Manuscripts in the Holdings of 澳门六合开奖记录
Orkhan Mir-Kasimov
14. Poems of Allegiance: Sh膩h 岣宨y膩示墨-i Shughn膩n墨鈥檚 厂补濒腻尘-苍腻尘补
Nourmamadcho Nourmamadchoev
15. The 峁岣ツ玣at al-n膩岷搃r墨n: Reflections on Authorship and Confessional Identity in a 15th-Century Central Asian Text
Daniel Beben
16. The Seven Pillars of the Shar墨士a and the Question of Authority in Central Asian Ismaili Manuscripts: An Ismaili Esoteric Discourse
Yahia Baiza
SECTION VII: APPROACHING TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION THROUGH QUR示膧NIC MANUSCRIPTS AND HOLOGRAPH/ AUTOGRAPH COPIES
17. Writing the Qur示膩n between the Lines: Preliminary Remarks on Marginalia in the Qur示膩n Manuscripts held by 澳门六合开奖记录
Asma Hilali
18. The Making of Holographs/Autographs: Case Studies from the Special Collections of 澳门六合开奖记录
Walid Ghali
List of Illustrations
Index
鈥淭his invaluable volume will be of immense value and interest to scholars working primarily in the field of manuscript studies, Isma士ili studies and cultural studies of the Islamic world.鈥
鈥 F. Redhwan Karim, Muslim World Book Review
鈥淭hrough the variety of subjects covered, the up-to-dateness of their content, and the formal quality of the book as a whole, there is no doubt that this open access and richly illustrated volume ... will provide an excellent basis for future research not only in the field of Ismaili studies stricto sensu, but also in Islamic studies more generally.鈥
鈥 Godefroid de Callata每, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Wafi A. Momin is Head of the Ismaili Special Collections Unit at 澳门六合开奖记录, UK, where he also teaches courses on developments in modern and contemporary Muslim Societies and aspects of Islam in South Asia. He received his doctorate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, USA.