[Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʼān, 18th century?].

Abstract

Elegant though incomplete copy of the alphabetic lexicon of Qurʼānic vocabulary compiled by Abū al-Qāsim al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal al-Rāghib al-Isfahānī (d.1108 or 9).Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 1030Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; paper, decoration, etc. would suggest 18th century.Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 179Binding: Pasteboards covered in red leather ; Type II binding (with flap, now lost) ; lower doublure (board lining) in olive green-tinted and gold-flecked paper ; lower cover carries stamped and gold-painted mandorla (filled with symmetrical vegetal composition reminiscent of Déroche class. OSd 3 or 9) and pendants with gold-tooled and painted accents in small rosettes and strokes, as well as tooled guilloché roll border and gold-painted rules ; once sewn in light blue thread, two stations, now failed ; worked endbands in light blue and gold, only traces of tailband and primaries remain ; overall in extremely poor condition with spine leather and lining, upper cover and flap entirely lost, partial losses and severe staining / abrasion to lower cover (also fully detached), pest damage, etc. ; housed in box for protection.Support: European laid paper of several types ; mainly a type with 10 laid lines per cm. (horizontal), chain lines spaced 27-29 mm. apart (vertical), and watermark of scrollwork (see p.22, 388, 500, etc.) ; another type with 12 laid lines per cm. (horizontal), chain lines spaced 21-25 mm. apart (vertical) and watermark of large double-headed eagle under crown and scroll with "B G" underneath and shield / escutcheon at center with six circles and band of smaller eagles (see p.112, 132, 172, etc.) ; another type with 10 laid lines per cm. (horizontal), chain lines spaced 25-27 mm. apart (vertical), and watermark of grapes / raisin (see p.346, etc.) and name "...MON" (see p.324, 348, etc.) ; another type with 9 laid lines per cm. (horizontal), chain lines spaced 25-29 mm. apart (vertical), watermark of grapes (raisin) under crown (see p.378, etc.) and "P G" countermark (see p.394, etc.) ; burn and losses to leaves (with loss of text in final leaves, p.505 to close).Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) in at opening on p.4 consisting of rectangular panel with empty gold cartouche flanked by floral accents in gold, blue, and orange-red on grounds of blue and gold, surmounted by scalloped w-shaped piece filled with swirling floral vegetal decoration in gold with blue and orange red accents on a blue and gold ground, all set in a well consisting of bands of blue, gold interlace and orange red and surmounted by vertical stalks (tīgh) in blue with red accents ; section headings set off in simple illuminated rectangular pieces ; written area surrounded by a heavy gold frame defined by black fillets and outermost red rule ; keywords, section headings, notabilia, occasional vocalization and some abbreviation symbols rubricated ; occasional textual dividers in the form of hāʼ in red.Script: Naskh ; elegant, carefully executed Ottoman hand in a thin line ; mainly serifless (though very subtle head-serif occasionally appears) with effect of tilt to the left though adhering to baseline, marked elongation of horizontal strokes, curvilinear descenders (many sweeping), pointing mainly in distinct dots, many open counters, partially vocalized.Layout: Written in 25 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: i, V-1 (9), 13 V(139), IV (147), 12 V(267) ; almost exclusively quinions ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes front flyleaf).Explicit: "قال الله تعالى واتوا النساء وصدقاتهن نحلة والانتحال ادعاء الشيء وتناوله ومنه يقال فلان ينتحل الشعر ونحل جسما"Incipit: "الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلواته على نبيه محمد واله اجمعين قال الشيخ ابو القاسم الحسين ابن محمد ابن المفضل الراغب ... كنت قد ذكرت في الرسالة المنبهة على فوائد القرآن ان الله تعالى كما جعل النبوة بنبينا مختتمة وجعل شرائعهم شريعة من وجه منتسخة ... فالفاظ القرآن هي لب كلام العرب وزبدته وواسطته وكرائمه ... وقد استخرت الله تعالى باملاء كتاب مستوفى فيه مفردات الفاظ القرآن على حروف التهجي ..."Title supplied by cataloguer from opening matter on p.6.Ms. codex.Rowson, E.K. "al-Rag̲h̲ibal- Iṣfahānī, Abu 'l-Ḳāsim al-Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad b. al- Mufaḍḍal." In EI2,Brockelmann, C. GAL,Elegant though incomplete copy of the alphabetic lexicon of Qurʼānic vocabulary compiled by Abū al-Qāsim al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal al-Rāghib al-Isfahānī (d.1108 or 9).Mode of access: Internet.Purchased in Egypt by Mr. Sulaiman ;UM Library inscription on verso of added front flyleaf (p.2) "Spec. Coll. Lib. 690713-156 Sulaiman 1968" ; on 'title page' now obscured by affixed bifolium, a waqf statement dated 1212 [1797 or 8] in name of Katkhudā-yi Baghdād Aḥmad Pāshā ( كتخداى بغداد احمد پاشا / Kethüda-yi Bağdad Ahmet Paşa ) accompanied by two oval seal impressions (compare statement in Isl. Ms. 1014) ; notabilia (side-heads)