A Wedding Gone Wrong The Rather Worldly Woes of a Rather Wealthy Qādirī Sufi Shaykh. Two 18th Century Documents from the Ottoman Court Records of Ḥamā and Aleppo

A rather intricate legal case took place first in Ḥamā’s and then in Aleppo’s Ottoman Islamic courts around the middle of the 18th century. The setting, the social standing of the individuals involved, and the alleged circumstances of the case all contribute to make clear that this was not just another routine court case. Altogether, the two documents are a good example of the scope and quality of the information preserved in the archives of local courts and they both demonstrate the extent and modes of implementation of Islamic law in a specific Ottoman milieu. The long inventory of personal property in the Aleppo document gives us a good idea of the social status and affluence enjoyed by the plaintiff – a member of the Jīlānī/Qādirī family - and an interesting insight into material culture and what constituted wealth and affluence at the time.

Tanwīr al-baṣāʼir ʻalá al-Ashbāh wa-al-naẓāʼir, [early 17th century?].

Neat copy of the gloss by Sharaf al-Dīn ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Ghazzī (d.1005/1596) on Ibn Nujaym's treatise on Ḥanafī law.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 77Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; very likely early 17th century as suggested by paper.Former shelfmark: British Museum, London "No. 76. Tanwir al-absar."Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark red brown leather (edges and turn-ins) and laid paper ; Type II binding (with flap) ; sewing in cream thread, two stations ; endbands lacking ; in poor condition with leather lifting from spine exposing spine lining ; much abrasion, staining, moisture and pest damage ; cover completely detached from textblock exposing sewing.Support: European laid paper with laid lines running vertically, spaced roughly 8 laid lines per cm. and chain lines running horizontally, spaced roughly 29 mm. apart ; anchor watermark (in circle, single line, with trefoil above [?] ; compare Heawood 2 and 4) ; only lightly burnished ; much staining and water damage (tide lines) ; quires loose, care should be taken to avoid loss and damage.Decoration: Textual dividers in the form of inverted commas ; text rubricated with keywords (قلت، فان قلت، الخ), overlining, textual dividers, etc. in red.Script: Naskh ; clear Turkish or Syrian hand (?) ; partially seriffed with right-sloping head serif on joined alif, lām ,etc. and sharp left-sloping head serif on alif of lām alif ligature ; the lām alif al-warrāqīyah preferred ; quite rounded ; freely ligatured ; slight effect of certain words descending to baseline, particularly words ending in descenders ; kāf mashkūlah preferred with bar of kāf often not fully joined to shaft ; mix of closed and open counters.Layout: Written in 25 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: V+1 (11), 7 V(81), IV(89), 4 V(129), IV(137), 6 V(197), III (203) ; chiefly quinions ; initial leaf and final three leaves contains extratextual material on legal decisions, much in hand of copyist ; quire numbering, mainly black but occasionally red ink, in the form of Hindu-Arabic numerals appearing on the recto of the first folio of each quire ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization, mistakenly skips two pages (unmarked) between pp.99-100.Explicit: "فبقيت اليمين فاذا تزوج بعد ذلك صحيحا وجد شرط حنثه وهو التزوج الصحيح فيحنث والله سبحانه وتعالى اعلم بالصواب واليه المرجع والماب وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد واله وصحبه سلم تسليما كثيرا امين تم"Incipit: "الحمد لله الذي أهل الفضلا لادراك المعاني ومعارف الاقطار ... وبعد فيقول الراجي عفو ربه الغافر الفقير شرف الدين بن عبد القادر الغزي الحنفي ... اذ عرض لي خاطر ان اضع عليه حاشية فاهتزيت لذلك كالروض للامطار وسارعت [كذا] في امتثاله ولا الما [كالماء؟] للقرار سميتها تنوير البصائر على الاشباه والنظائر..."Title from opening on fol.2b (p.4).Ms. codex.Brockelmann, C. GAL,Neat copy of the gloss by Sharaf al-Dīn ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Ghazzī (d.1005/1596) on Ibn Nujaym's treatise on Ḥanafī law.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired by purchase along with Abdul Hamid Collection (funds donated by Horace Rackham).Bookplate of British Museum, London on inner front cover,"No. 76. Tanwir al-absar." ; circular seal impression with figure of goat/gazelle in purple ink as well as inscription "128" in Western numerals on interior of upper cover ; book price inscribed on interior of upper cover in black ink, unpointed "قيمت غروش ..." ; traces of seal impression on fol.1a (p.1) ; possible ownership statement on fol.2a (p.3) ; on paper (tinted) pasted on fol.2a (p.3), a detailed waqf statement in the name of al-Sayyid ʻAbd Allāh Adīb (Abdullah Edip), known as Jannatʹzādah (Cennet-zade), qāḍī of Erzurum, accompanied by his seal, reads: "وقفت وقفا صحيحا شرعيا على ان لا يخرج من بيت الكتب الملتصق بداري الا لعلماء سكنوا بارضروم بكفيل مرعى اورهن قوي وانا الفقير اليه عز شانه السيد عبد الله اديب الشهير بجنتزاده القاضي بمدينة ارضروم في سنة اثنى وستين ومائتين والف" ; occasional notabilia (side heads) marked "مطلب", many others unmarked and appearing to be in hand of copyist ; numerous marginal corrections

[Maslak al-iʻtidāl ilá fahm āyat khalq al-aʻmāl maʻa Sharḥ Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar, 16th and 17th century?].

Careful copy of a work on divine determination of human action by Burhān al-Dīn Ibrāhim ibn Ḥasan ibn Shihāb al-Dīn al-Kurdī al-Kūrānī al-Shahrizūrī thumma al-Madanī (d.1690) followed by a commentary by Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzī (d.1577) on his own Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar.Origin: As appears in authorial colophon on p.24, composition (and transcription?) of opening work completed 10 Dhū al-Qaʻdah 1075 [ca. 25 May 1665]. As appears in colophon on p.79, composition of second work completed 19 Muḥarram 932 [ca. 5 November 1525] with transcription of this copy likely contemporary or completed shortly after given collation statements in the hand of the author.Former shelfmark: "۷۷" on pasted label affixed to upper cover ; "491 T. D. M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis] on back flyleaf.Binding: Pasteboards covered (faced) in a dark red, coated paper with dark brown leather over spine and edges/turn-ins (leather edged framed binding) ; Type III binding (without flap, two-piece with overlapping flanges visible at spine) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in a spring-green surface-dyed, coated wove paper ; upper and lower covers carry gold-painted rule-border ; sewn in yellow thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in red and yellow, good condition (protected by extended spine leather) ; overall in fair condition with some abrasion, etc.Support: European and non-European laid papers ; opening work on European laid paper with 11 laid lines per cm. (vertical) and chain lines spaced 24 mm. apart (horizontal), and sturdy, medium cream in color, quite well-burnished ; second work on a non-European (likely Arab) laid paper with 8 laid lines per cm. (vertical, fairly distinct) and chain lines grouped in threes with 13-14 mm. between chains and roughly 38 mm. between groups, quite sturdy, fairly thick, and well-burnished to glossy.Decoration: Keywords and some abbreviation symbols rubricated ; textual dividers in the form of red inverted commas.Script: Naskh ; two main hands, distinct hand for each work ; opening work in a clear naskh, virtually serifless, with slight effect of tilt to the right and left, quite rounded with some elongation of horizontal strokes, curvilinear descenders, and pointing in distinct dots ; second work in a clear but larger and more spacious naskh, written in quite a thin line, virtually serifless displaying an open and horizontal character (elongated in the horizontal), with curvilinear but somewhat flattened descenders, kāf mashqūqah preferred, pointing in distinct dots.Layout: Written in 29 and 23 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: ii, V (10), V-1 (19), V (29), ii ; exclusively quinions (one anomalous) ; catchwords present ; quire numbering in the form of whole words in the upper outer corner of the recto of the opening leaf ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes flyleaves).Colophon: [Maslak al-iʻtidāl] "Authorial," reads: "قال المؤلف ابراهيم بن حسن الكوراني سامحه الله تعالى تم يوم الثلثا عشار ذي القعدة سنه ۱۰۷٥" ; [ Sharḥ Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar] ; "Authorial," reads: "قال مؤلفه هذا اخر ما قصدنا ايراده من هذا الكتاب المبارك النافع ان شاء الله تعالى وكان الفراغ من تأليفه يوم الاثنين وقت الظهر تاسع عشر شهر الله المحرم الحرام عام اثنين وثلاثين وتسعمائة ... ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم"Explicit: [Maslak al-iʻtidāl] "اقتضت الحكمة اظهارها جودا ورحمة وبالله التوفيق ولي النعمة والحمد لله رب العالمين قال المؤلف ابراهيم بن حسن الكوراني سامحه الله تعالى تم يوم الثلاثا عاشر ذي القعدة سنه ۱۰۷٥" ; [ Sharḥ Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar] "توفي سنة خمس وخمسين على اختلاف في وفاته عن ثلاث وسبعين ينة واكثر وقيل جاوز الثمانين رضي الله عنهم اجمعين وحسبنا الله اي كافينا ونعم الوكيل اي الحافظ"Incipit: [Maslak al-iʻtidāl] "الحمد لله الذي هدى الى توحيد الافعال في عين اثبات الكسب للعبد باذن الله العزيز الحكيم ... اما بعد فهذا بتوفيق الله مسلك الاعتدال الى فهم آية خلق الاعمال ينكشف فيه ان شاء الله اثبات الكسب للعبد باذن الله في عين توحيد الافعال ويظهر منه اختلال ما جرى عليه صاحب الكشاف بنا على قواعد الاعتزال ..." ; [ Sharḥ Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar] "الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونستهديه ونؤمن به ونتوكل عليه ونسأله الخير كله ... وبعد فهذا تعليق على قصيدتي التي جمعت فيها موافقات امير المؤمنين عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه المسماة بنظم الدرر في موافقات عمر يبين مرادها ويتمم مفادها اجابة لسؤال من سألني في ذلك ..."Title supplied by cataloguer.Ms. codex.4. p.80 : [brief excerpt being a copy of a legal question raised before Ebusuud Efendi (d.1574) and the response].3. p.25-p.79 : Sharḥ Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar / Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzī.2. p.5-p.24 : Maslak al-iʻtidāl ilá fahm āyat khalq al-aʻmāl / Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥasan al-Kūrānī.1. p.1-p.4 : [blank].Brockelmann, C. GAL,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Careful copy of a work on divine determination of human action by Burhān al-Dīn Ibrāhim ibn Ḥasan ibn Shihāb al-Dīn al-Kurdī al-Kūrānī al-Shahrizūrī thumma al-Madanī (d.1690) followed by a commentary by Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazzī (d.1577) on his own Naẓm al-durar fī muwāfaqāt ʻUmar.Mode of access: Internet.Acquired by purchase (funds donated by Horace Rackham).Collation statements (likely in the hand of the author) attest that this copy was collated with the exemplar e.g. "بلغ مقابلة على اصل المؤلف وهذا خطه" (see p.31, 42, 53, 62) ; glosses and numerous marginal corrections (in second work) ; some notabilia (side-heads)