Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá : manuscript
شمس المعارف الكبرى : مخطوطة
Found In:
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library > Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá : manuscript, شمس المعارف الكبرى : مخطوطة
Description
- Title
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Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá : manuscript
شمس المعارف الكبرى : مخطوطة - Alternative Title
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Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif
شمس المعارف ولطائف العوارف - Creator
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Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225
بوني، أحمد بن علي، -1225 - Published / Created
- 1874.
- Publication Place
- Place not identified
- Abstract
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Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá (Larger Sun of knowledge), by Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī (died 1225), a well-known Ṣufī scholar from the city of Būnah (Bône), now ʻAnnābah (Annaba, Algeria), who died in Cairo. This work is designated "al-kubrá" (the larger) to distinguish it from the author's two other treatises: "al-wusṭá"́ (the middle) and "al-ṣughrá" (the smaller). It is also listed in the text under the title "Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif" (Sun of knowledge and intricacies of diviners), a treatise on magic, alchemy, astrology, divination, Islamic occultism, the name of God (including 'al-Asmāʼ al-Ḥusná', the 99 beautiful names of God), the magical use of the Arabic Alphabet, and talismans. The present work is a lithographed edition, printed from an original copy from India, in four parts, as follows: al-Juzʼ al-awwal (Part one: Pages 1-132), al-Juzʼ al-thānī (Part two: pages 1-116), al-Juzʼ al-thālith (Part three: pages 1-124), al-Juzʼ al-rābiʻ (Part four: Pages 1-148), followed by an index of contents for the four parts (Pages 1-7). The work was printed on 20 Shawwāl, 1291 of the Hijrah (30 November, 1874). Place and name of the printer not mentioned
- Description
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In Arabic.
Title from cover.
Romanization supplied by cataloger.
Incipit: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. Shahādat azal, fa-min nūr hādhihi al-shahādah ightarafa al-muṣannifūn ʻilman. Fa-ifham dhālik. Wa-al-tartīb al-abadī fī al-shahādatayn al-muttaṣilatayn bi-al-malāʼikah al-kirām. Wa-awwal al-ʻilm fa-hādhihi shahādat al-abad. Fa-man fahima sirr hātayn al-shahādatayn shāhad al-malakūtayn wa-mā awdaʻāhu bi-sirr al-ittiṣāl bi-al-kashfīyāt ..."
Secundo folio: Ammā baʻd, fa-lil-ḥaqq aʻlām.
16.5 x 23.5 cm; written surface: 12 x 20 cm; 31 lines per page.
Binding: In green cardboard cover and dark brown paper on the spine.
In naskh script, in black ink, on white paper; many illustrations and magic squares; text within double frames; catchwords. At the head of the opening page of each of the four parts is a decorative design.
On cover: "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá", printed in silver.
On page 1 of al-Juzʼ al-awwal: "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif, fī arbaʻat ajzāʼ, lil-Quṭb al-Imām Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī, wa-bi-nihāyat al-arbaʻat kutub, [al-kutub] al-ātiyah: 1. Kitāb Mīzān al-ʻadl fī maqāṣid aḥkām al-raml. 2. Kitāb Fawātiḥ al-raghāʼib fī khuṣūṣīyāt awqāt al-kawākib. 3. Kitāb Zahr al-murūj fī dalāʼil al-burūj. 4. Kitāb Laṭāʼif al-ishārah fī khaṣāʼiṣ al-kawākib al-sayyārah." "Maṭbūʻ ʻalá al-nuskhah al-Hindīyah al-aṣlīyah." These four books are not included in this codex and seem to serve as an advertisement for works to follow.
al-Juzʼ al-thānī (Part two), starts with: "al-Faṣl al-khāmis ʻashar. Fī al-shurūṭ al-lāzimah li-baʻḍ dūna baʻḍ fī al-bidāyāt wa-al-nihāyāt."
al-Juzʼ al-thālith (Part three), starts, after al-Basmalah, with: "al-Faṣl al-ḥādī wa-al-ʻishrūn. Fī Asmāʼ Allāh al-Ḥusná, wa-anmāṭihā, wa-mā li-kull namaṭ min al-daʻawāt."
al-Juzʼ al-rābiʻ (Part four), starts, after al-Basmalah, with: "al-Faṣl al-thāmin wa-al-thalāthūn. Fī istikhdāmāt al-ḥurūf wa-khalawātihā."
Colophon: "Tamma Kitāb Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá lil-Imām al-Būnī fī ʻishrīn min Shawwāl, sanat 1291 Hijrīyah. Wa-lammā kādat shams ṭabʻihā tabzughu lil-ṭulūʻ arrakhahā baʻḍ al-madmīyīn [al-mādiḥīn] bi-qawlihi, shiʻr [in Ḥisāb al-jummal (Alphabetical reckoninig)]: ... Wa-fīhā ará al-tārīkh jāda bi-qawlihi // yufīdu al-amānī ṭabʻu Shams al-maʻārif. Sanat 1291."
Translation of the colophon: "The book 'Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá' of al-Imām al-Būnī was completed on 20 Shawwal, 1291 of the Hijrah [30 November, 1874]. When the sun of its printing started to rise, someone praised it and mentioned the date of printing, in verse [using Ḥisāb al-jummal "Alphabetical reckoning"], saying: ... In it I see the date, saying generously: The printing of Shams al-maʻarif satisfies the wishes. The year 1291." - Provenance
- Purchased from Bloomsbury Auctions on the Herman W. Liebert Book Fund, 2018.
- Extent
- 1 volume (259 leaves) ; 24 cm
- Extent of Digitization
- This object has been completely digitized.
- Language
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Arabic
Collection Information
- Repository
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Call Number
- Arabic MSS suppl. 759
Subjects, Formats, And Genres
- Genre
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Manuscripts, Arabic 19th century
Arabic manuscripts - Resource Type
- text
- Subject (Name)
- Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225.
- Subject (Topic)
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Alchemy
Arabic alphabet
Astrology
Divination
God (Islam)
Name
Islamic magic
Islamic occultism
Lithographed books
Magic
Talismans - Subjects
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Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225
Alchemy
Arabic alphabet
Astrology
Divination
God (Islam) > Name
Islamic magic
Islamic occultism
Lithographed books
Magic
Talismans
19th century
Arabic manuscripts
Access And Usage Rights
- Access
- Public
- Rights
- The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
- Citation
- Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī, Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Identifiers
- Orbis Record
- 13846942
- Object ID (OID)
- 32304220