SMC 5
Variance in Arabic Manuscripts -
Arabic Didactic Poems from the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Centuries: Analysis of Textual Variance and Its Control in the Manuscripts
By Florian Sobieroj
In Arabic and Islamic studies, the subject of variance in general and that of textual variation in particular has not been investigated exhaustively so far.
In the present book the variation in texts of the “closed transmission” will be studied, focusing on a small corpus of didactic and model poems, with a view to establishing what degree of text stability and change was allowed by the medium manuscript. Categories of variance (relating to work-titles, text, number of verses and their sequence, page-layout, context) and the means of controlling them in the manuscripts of the poems are identified and detailed descriptions of the copies are given.
The monograph also includes a presentation of some major traits of the cultural background to the study of Arabic didactic poetry and of its dissemination in which memorization has played a crucial role.
The intended readers, editors and other users of manuscripts, are helped to acquaint themselves with the methods employed in the manuscripts to control variation and they are given an overview of the large spectrum of Arabic didactic poetry and of its place in the traditional culture of learning in Islamicate societies.
Frontmatter, Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Introduction1
1.1 State of the art1
1.2 Programme of work5
1.3 Manuscript as a medium7
1.4 Corpus of manuscripts studied9
2 Main categories of variance11
2.1 Work titles11
2.2 Textual Variance16
2.3 Variance relating to the number and sequence of verses14
2.4 Variance in relation to page layout33
2.5 Variance in relation to context37
2.6 Variance in dependency of the medium41
3 Means of stabilization43
3.1 Deletion43
3.2 Substitution43
3.3 Addition44
3.4 Correction of verse divisions46
3.5 Vocalization46
3.6 Glosses46
3.6.1 Content-related explanations47
3.6.2 Explanations by synonyms47
3.7 Syntactical explanatory markers48
3.8 Signs of reference48
3.9 Collation50
3.10 Abbreviations of authorities50
3.11 Place of insertion of manuscript notes relating to control of text variance 51
3.12 Evaluation 52
4 Cultural background53
4.1 Didactic Poems and the institutions of learning53
4.1.1 Elementary education53
4.1.2 The madrasa62
4.1.2.1 The classroom situation65
4.1.2.2 Curriculum66
4.1.2.3 Didactic poems in some scholars’ fahrasa67
4.1.2.4 Didactic poetry in the Core Curriculum of West Africa and the Southern Sahara72
4.1.2.5 A case study: Didactic poetry in an Algerian Sufi convent74
4.2 Orality, scripturality and memorization78
4.2.1 The oral and the written79
4.2.1.1 Ijāzāt81
4.2.2 Memory and memorization83
4.2.2.1 Development of memory83
4.2.2.2 Aids to memorization85
4.2.2.2.1 Translation of texts into Arabic85
4.2.2.2.2 Versification86
4.2.2.3 Ways of increasing strength of memory89
4.2.2.3.1 Prayer89
4.2.2.3.2 Religious magic as an aid to memorization93
4.2.2.4 Motivations for memorizing didactic poems94
4.2.2.4.1 Realization of perfection in belief94
4.2.2.4.2 Realization of the ideal of perfection, regarding manners95
4.2.2.4.3 Entering paradise: the case of the -Shāṭibiyya96
4.3 Performative usages of didactic poems98
4.3.1 Qaṣīdat al-Burda99
4.3.1.1 Liturgical usage in Muslim Northwest China101
4.3.1.2 Therapeutic and theurgical usages102
4.3.2 al-Qaṣīda al-Juljulūtiyya of Pseudo-ʿAlī: magical usages103
5 Corpus of Didactic Poems: Ibn Zurayq, al-Ūshī, Ibn al-Wardī, al-Laqānī107
5.1 Ibn Zurayq, al-Qaṣīda al-Andalusiyya107
5.1.1 Author107
5.1.2 al-Qaṣīda al-Andalusiyya107
5.1.2.1 Work title108
5.1.2.2 Commentaries108
5.1.2.3 Manuscripts108
5.1.2.4 Number of verses109
5.1.2.5 Variance relating to context: traditions concerning ẓarf and the circumstances of
composition in the introduction110
5.1.2.6 Edition of Text according to al-Ṣafadī, Wāfī l-wafayāt113
5.1.2.7 Description of manuscripts114
5.1.2.8 Synopsis of verse sequences123
5.1.2.9 Evaluation124
5.2 Al-Ūshī, Qaṣīdat Badʾ al-amālī126
5.2.1 Author126
5.2.2 Qaṣīdat Badʾ al-amālī127
5.2.2.1 Commentaries on al-Ūshī130
5.2.2.2 Manuscripts of the text131
5.2.2.2.1 Dated manuscripts133
5.2.2.2.2 Number of verses134
5.2.2.3 Concordance of work titles134
5.2.2.4 Edition of al-Ūshī135
5.2.2.5 Description of manuscripts139
5.2.2.5.1 Manuscripts in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB) – Preussischer Kulturbesitz (PK)139
5.2.2.5.2 Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen149
5.2.2.5.3 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München 150
5.2.2.5.4 Princeton University Library152
5.2.2.5.5 Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi 158
5.2.2.5.6 Commentaries in some manuscripts of Princeton University Library 169
5.2.2.6 Synopsis of verse sequences 177
5.2.2.7 Apocryphal verses 182
5.3 Ibn al-Wardī, al-Lāmiyya al-Wardiyya 184
5.3.1 Author 184
5.3.2 Al-Lāmiyya 184
5.3.2.1 Commentaries 185
5.3.2.2 Manuscripts 186
5.3.2.3 Concordance of work titles 188
5.3.2.4 Edition 189
5.3.2.5 Description of manuscripts 192
5.3.2.5.1 Manuscripts in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz 192
5.3.2.5.2 BSB München203
5.3.2.5.3 Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi 206
5.3.2.6 Synopsis of verse sequences 209
5.3.2.7 Apocryphal verses 214
5.4 Al-Laqānī, Jawharat al-tawḥīd 216
5.4.1 Author 216
5.4.2 Jawharat al-tawḥīd 217
5.4.2.1 Commentaries on Jawharat al-tawḥīd219
5.4.2.1.1 Commentary of Aḥmad al-Jawharī 220
5.4.2.2 Manuscripts 221
5.4.2.3 Concordance of work titles 221
5.4.2.4 Edition of text 222
5.4.2.5 Description of manuscripts 226
5.4.2.5.1 Mss. in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz 226
5.4.2.5.2 Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi 233
5.4.2.6 Synopsis of verse sequences 235
5.4.2.7 Apocryphal verses 236
5.5 Al-Sanūsī, al-ʿAqīda al-ṣughrā 237
5.5.1 Author237
5.5.2 Al-ʿAqīda al-ṣughrā 237
5.5.2.1 Contents, edition and translations 237
5.5.2.2 Commentaries and other derivative works 239
5.5.2.3 The manuscripts 240
5.5.2.3.1 Condition of the manuscripts 240
5.5.2.3.2 Dated manuscripts 240
5.5.2.4 Variance in the manuscripts 240
5.5.2.4.1 Work titles 240
5.5.2.4.2 Page layout 241
5.5.2.5 Edition of the -Sanūsiyya241
5.5.2.6 Description of manuscripts247
5.5.2.6.1 Manuscripts in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz247
5.5.2.6.2 Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi 255
5.5.2.7 Evaluation of textual variants 256
6 Appendix I: Survey of didactic poems259
6.1 Recitation of the Koran259
6.1.1 -Shāṭibī (Ḥirz al-amānī, Nāẓimat al-zahr, etc.)259
6.1.2 Ibn al-Jazarī261
6.1.2.1 Commentaries262
6.2 Orthography of the Koran: -Shāṭibī (ʿAqīlat atrāb alqaṣāʾid)263
6.3 Dogma of Sunnī Islam: -Zawāwī, -Ramlī263
6.4 Mysticism: -Bakrī, -Dīrīnī266
6.5 Prayer: -Sammān, -Aqfahsī268
6.6 Jurisprudence: Ibn al-Wardī, -ʿImrīṭī, Ibn al-Mutaqqina,
Ibn al- Hāʾim, -Zaqqāq, -Rifāʿī, Ibn ʿĀshir270
6.7 Logic: -Akhḍarī276
6.8 Disputation: -Kawākibī278
6.9 Algebra: Ibn al-Hāʾim279
6.10 Medicine: Ibn Sīnā279
6.11 Grammar: -Ḥarīrī, Ibn Mālik, -ʿImrīṭī281
6.12 Rhetoric: -Akhḍarī, -Munayyir286
6.13 Historiography: -Bāʿūnī287
7 Appendix II: Synopses of textual variants289
7.1 Ibn Zurayq, al-Qaṣīda al-Andalusiyya289
7.2 -Ūshī, Qaṣīdat Badʾ al-amālī305
7.3 Ibn al-Wardī, al-Lāmiyya al-Wardiyya323
7.4 -Laqānī, Jawharat al-tawḥīd352
7.5 -Sanūsī, al-ʿAqīda al-ṣughrā365
References 395
Index of work titles403
Index of persons413
Index of subjects, terms and toponyms423