Manuscript. Persian and Arabic. Caption title. Scribe not identified. Gift of A.A. Kachif, Nov. 20, 1930. Written in Iran. Paper; thick, polished light cream color paper with no watermarks; elaborate floral unwan in gold, blue, red, and white with wide borders of a similar floral pattern and similar colors of fol. 1b and 2a; an outer border of two very thin lines accompanies all the text on facing pages; the text itself is enclosed in a border of black, white, gold, and red; floral section headings in gold, red and blue; lines of the text are separated by a cloud design in gold; text in black ink with small red overlining of some letters; catchwords. Nastaʻliq; in written area 13 x 7.5 cm. Fol. 1b-24a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M100. Binding; dark brown half leather with lacquered papier-mâché floral design on a copper colored background surrounded by contrasting green, red and green borders also with floral designs; inner sides of cover also lacquered with a paintings of dark pink roses on a brown background. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Shiite prayer book; consists of prayers to be said on the visitation of Caliph ʻAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib's tomb. This manuscript of Durrat al-tāj (The crown jewel) is a Shiite prayer book, consisting of prayers to be said when making a visitation to the tomb of Caliph ʻAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (circa 601-61). 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib is one of the most revered religious and holy figures of Islam. In Iran, he is referred to by the honorary name Amir al-Muʼminin, which translates from Arabic as “Commander of the Faithful” and is used to refer to him in Persian. Written works by 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and sayings attributed to him are sacred to the Shiite faithful, particularly among Persian speakers. The manuscript was probably written in Iran, possibly in the 17th century. The paper is of a thick, cream-colored polished Middle Eastern style, without distinctive chain or laid lines, and no watermark. The text is written in black ink in naskhī script, nine lines on each page, with gold decorations between lines. The borders of the written area are lined with black ink, with profuse decoration outside of the written area. The text is rubricated. The title was added by a later hand. There is no colophon. The binding is referred to as chahargusheh, meaning a frame binding made around a Kashmiri shawl dating from the first half of the 1700s (circa 1740s). World Digital Library.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from unwan. Name of scribe not indicated. Written in Iran or India. Paper: cream color laid paper with no visible chain lines or watermarks; elaborate unwan and gold highlighting between lines of text on first two leaves; black ink with red section titles; blue and gold borders; few marginal corrections and additions; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʻliq; 12 lines in written area 10.5 x 5.5 cm. Folios 1b-129a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M57. Contemporary dark brown leather binding; exterior is elaborately embossed, interior embossed with gold and blue medallions in center and at corners. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied from container. Scribe not identified. Written in India? Paper; thin, lightly polished laid paper with vertical laid lines and no visible chain lines or watermarks; elaborate floral carpet page in blue, gold, pink, and black surrounded by three borders: the outer of a gold floral design, the next of a repeating design in blue and gold and the inner of a floral design of repeating flowers in alternating rose and pink on a gold background; remainder of text has outer ruled bord of thin blue, white, gold, red and dark blue; text block within ruled border in blue, white, red, blue, a wider floral border and an inner border of blue and red; sections separated by a horizontal block in gold; hemistichs divided by a wide dark blue vertical divider with gold highlighting; black ink; catchwords. Nastaʻlīq; 15 lines in written area 13 x 6.2 cm. Numerous miniatures throughout the text. Fol. 1b-466b (incomplete) Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M19. Binding; disbound; text block and many pages loose in remainder of binding which is brown leather; spine lacking. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied by cataloger. Colophon: ʻAbd al-Rashīd al-Daylamī. Written in India. Paper; thick, cream color oriental paper; black ink; decorated unwan on fol. 1b in blue and gold; six lines to the page; text of each line in text-box alternatingly aligned right and left; entire text within an outer gold border near the page edges; and a second smaller gold border surrounding the text proper; each text line is separated be a blank space within the borders defined by the text boxes; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʼliq; 6 lines in written area 13.5 x 9.2 cm. Folios 1b-14b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript [number]. Modern tan leather binding with center medallions back and front; remains of original binding preserved in box with manuscript. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Explicit/Colophon: حرره عبد الرشيد الديلمي.
Manuscript. Persian. Title from fol. 1a. Ghulām Nabī walad Miyān ʻAbd al-Ghafūr. Copied in Pir Ramzan Ghazi neighborhood, Multan, Pakistan. Paper: glossy laid paper of varying thickness with no visible chain-lines or watermarks; small unwan in red, green, gold and black ink with a thick black border; black ink, section headings in red ink; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʻliq; 13 lines in written area 14.5 x 8.3 cm. Folios 1b-135a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, 1. Contemporary red Indian binding. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Incipit: هذه النسخة المسماة هشت بهشت من تصنيف ختم الشعراء وافصح الفصحاء دركاه اله امير خسرو ... Colophon: تمت تمام كتاب هشت بهشت از يد فقير حقير پير تقصير غلام نبي ولد ميان عبد الغفور ... ساكن محله پير رمضان غازي ...
An incomplete compilation including an Arabic treatise on the sultanate and caliphate based on a hadith of Kaʻb al-Akhbār with an interlinear Persian translation, an Arabic treatise on the legal division of human actions into lawful and unlawful, and two unidentified poems in Persian; the last of the poems is incomplete.
Caliph 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (circa 601-61) is one of the most revered religious and holy figures of Islam. In Iran, he is referred to by the honorary name Amir al-Muʼminin, which translates from Arabic as “Commander of the Faithful” and is used to refer to him in Persian. Written works by 'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and sayings attributed to him are sacred to the Shiite faithful, particularly among Persian speakers. Shown here is an illuminated 18th-century manuscript copy of the Munājāt (Supplication) of ʻAli ibn Abī Ṭālib. Included are both the original Arabic and a translation into Persian. The text is written on a moderately heavy cream-colored paper in gold (folio 1b and 2a) and black ink (folio 2b to the end) within five borders. The borders are colored in, from the outermost to the innermost, in blue, red, gold, red, and green. The pages are divided into four boxes to accommodate the main text and the translation, three containing two lines and one containing one line, or seven lines for each page. The Arabic text, in naskhi script, is in larger boxes with elaborate interlinear decoration; the Persian translation, in nastaʻlīq script, is in narrower boxes with panels of floral decoration on either side. An unknown Persian text appears on folio 1a, part of which is missing along the left margin due to trimming and on the upper-right margin due to damage to the first folio (mended with some loss of this text but no damage to main text). The name and date "Vahīd Ḥusaynī 1209" (1794 or 1795) appears at the lower-left corner of the written area of folio 7b; an unknown Persian text in a later hand appears on the endpaper. World Digital Library. Munājāt (Supplication) of ʻAli ibn Abī Ṭālib.
Anonymous miscellany in prose and poetry dealing with spring, education, medical matters, trades, military matters and finally a lengthy section in praise of an unnamed individual. This manuscript is an anthology of works in prose by the Persian poet Tughra-yi Mashhadi (died before 1667-68). Risālah-ʼi Firdawsīya (The paradisal epistle) is the name of the first item in the anthology. It is both an evocation of the beauties of Kashmir and a panegyric to the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan (1592-1666). Nothing is known of Tughra's childhood and youth, other than that he probably was born in Mashad (although Tabriz also has been proposed as his native town). Tughra moved to India and the court of Jahangir (reigned 1605-27) towards the end of the latter's reign. During the reign of Jahangir's successor, Shah Jahan, Tughra joined the court of one of Shah Jahan's sons, Murad Bakhsh, and accompanied him on the Mughal campaign in Balkh (1646). Although unsuccessful, this campaign is nonetheless commemorated by the poet as a victory in his panegyric to Murad Bakhsh, Mir'āt al-futūḥ (Mirror of victories), which appears near the end of the present collection. Tughra subsequently settled in Kashmir, where he died. He is buried in Srinagar in a plot adjacent to that of Kalim Hamadani, one of the foremost Persian poets of the 17th century. Tughra composed verse in all the popular forms of Persian poetry, but he is most famous for his prose works known as risālahs (epistles) which include Risālah-ʼi Firdawsīya and Mir'āt al-futūḥ. More than 30 of these risālahs have survived in numerous anthologies, serving as a testament to the high esteem in which Tughra was held by succeeding generations as a prose stylist. World Digital Library.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Manuscript. Persian. Title based on comparison with other copies. Scribe not identified. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Written in Iran? Paper: yellowish, polished cream color laid paper with vertical chain line and no visible watermarks; black ink; catchwords. Folio 59 on modern paper, with inscription in purple ink, dated 29/9/1332 [December 1, 1953]. Nastaʻliq; 12 lines in written area 11 x 7 cm. Folio 1a-131b (incomplete). Library of Congress. Manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding: Modern cardboard with gray stone motif.