A richly illuminated 16th Century [CE] copy of the Persian version of Qazwini's ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʼib al-mawjūdāt, "The marvels of creation and the oddities of existence", commonly known as "The cosmography of Qazwini".. The text is structured according to a hierarchical cosmological order, with the celestial spheres, incorporating the fixed stars, the 12 signs of the Zodiac, stellar constellations and the surrounding spheres, which make up the observable celestial phenomena, followed by the invisible phenomena, the "Guardians of the Kingdom of God" and other angels, and the division of time and calendars. In the second section of the work the elemental division of the sublunar sphere is classified into the four elements fire, wind, water and earth. The seas, oceans and islands including their inhabitants, are governed by Water, while Earth contains the mountains, wells, rivers, minerals, plants and the animal kingdom, including human beings and their cultures. Numerous illustrations of commonly known mammals, birds, insects and reptiles can be found, along with strange beings, which conclude the text.Layout: 17 lines to the pageAdditions: A description of the manuscript on 243r in Latin signed by Saloman Negri Saloman Negri
This manuscript, entitled A collection of mystical and theological treatises contains four separate works. The first is a commentary on the Awarif al-Ma`arif (عوارف المعارف) of Suhrawardī , a well known work on Sufi doctrine in 63 chapters. The explanations, which are partly in Persian and partly in Arabic, are on selected words and passages of the text. In his introduction (ff. 1v-3v) the author states that he used the translation of his grandfather, Ẓāhir al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAlī al-Shīrāzī, d. 1316 (ظاهر الدين عبدالرحمن بن علي الشيرازي) Ẓāhir al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAlī al-Shīrāzī, d. 1316 (2r), praising it as the best translation of the original work. The same translation is also mentioned by Jāmī, 1414-1492 (جامی) Jāmī, 1414-1492 in his Nafaḥāt ʼal-ʼuns (نفحات الانس). The second is on a number of traditions from the al-ṣaḥīḥ (الصحيح of Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl, 810-870 Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl, 810-870 (البخارى، ابن عبد الله محمد بن اسمعيل) The third is a work entitled Kitāb al-Qaṣd ilā Allāh, which contains a collection of al-Shādhilī’s mystical sayings organized into 57 chapters. The works of the Moroccan Ṣūfī, who lived between ca. 593-656 A.H./ca. 1196-1258 C.E., have not survived; and only the texts collected by his disciples have come down to us, notably those included in the Laṭāʾif al-Minan by Ibn ʻAṭāʼ Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, d. 1309 Ibn ʻAṭāʼ Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, d. 1309 and the Durrat al-Asrār by Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Qāsim Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Qāsim The importance of this manuscript lies both in the text it has preserved and in its arrangement. A collation of the sayings of the Kitāb al-Qaṣd ilā Allāh with those transmitted by Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh and Ibn al-Sabbāgh reveals that this manuscript contains unedited content which has not been collected in other works. Although the name of the compiler is unknown, the coherent arrangement of the chapters and the completeness of their contents also suggest that this work was copied or compiled from a source that predated the aforementioned works of al-Shādhilī’s pupils.Layout: 23 linesAdditions: Catchwords in the interior bottom-margin of versos