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The past few decades have seen a burgeoning interest in the manuscript cultures of the Muslim world. The study of manuscripts has brought to light new perspectives on the transmission of texts and larger questions of cultural practices passed down within the learned circles of premodern Muslim societies. The intellectual and literary heritage of Ismaili communities, who form a branch of Shi尪i Islam, has until recently been preserved in private and largely inaccessible libraries. This open access volume brings together studies offering insights on different aspects of manuscript cultures nurtured by Ismaili communities until well after the widespread dissemination of printed books. The range of materials transmitted via these manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Indic languages also reflects the doctrinal and literary preoccupations of Muslims at large and of other groups from the societies in which IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja尪far al-廜〢diq (d. 765), as his successor. lived. Hence, the manuscripts bear the imprint of their respective cultural contexts, namely a number of regions from the Near East to Central and South Asia. In addition to engaging with multifaceted questions surrounding the processes of textual transmission, the chapters in this book deal with other connected aspects, like codicology, scribal and reading practices, educational and social history, authorship, communal script, religious identity and interactions of ideas across ideological denominations. With contributions from specialists and early-career scholars, this volume will be of interest to those working on textual scholarship, manuscript and literary cultures, and Islamic studies.
Acknowledgements
Note on Contributors
Transliteration, Dates, and Abbreviations
Introduction
Wafi A. Momin
SECTION I: THE SHAPING OF A NEW FIELD
1. Ismaili Manuscripts and Modern Scholarship in Ismaili Studies
Farhad Daftary
2. Husain Hamdani, Paul Kraus, and a Suitcase Full of Manuscripts
Fran癟ois de Blois
SECTION II: RAS尨IL IKHWN AL-廜／F尨, KITB AL-Z蘆NA, AND THEIR MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
3. The Ikhwn al-廜糎f尨From Arabic, lit. Brethren of Purity, a group of learned scholars who were based in Basra and Baghdad around the last quarter of the t10th century CE. It is more…s Epistles on Logic in Some Manuscripts of the IIS Arabic Collection
Carmela Baffioni
4. The Missing Link? MS 1040: An Important Copy of the Ras尨il Ikhwn al-廜糎f尨 in the Collection of 51勛圖厙
Omar Al穩-de-Unzaga
5. The Manuscript Copies of Ab贖 廎勾tim al-Rz蘋s Kitb al-Z蘋na at 51勛圖厙
Cornelius Berthold
SECTION III: EXPLORING TWO EARLY 廜括YYIB蘆 WORKS AND THEIR TRANSMISSION
6. The Majm贖尪 al-tarbiya between Text and Paratext: Exploring the Social History of a Communitys Reading Culture
Delia Cortese
7. Textual, Orthographic Variations and Scribes Annotations: A Possible Tool for the Transmission Analysis of the Text?
Monica Scotti
SECTION IV: REVISITING NIZR蘆 HISTORY OF ALAM讀T TIMES
8. Alam贖t and Badakhshn: Newly Identified Sargudhasht-i Sayyidn Manuscripts and their Background 207
Mikl籀s S獺rk繹zy
9. 尪Ahd-i Sayyidn, a Newly Discovered Treatise on the Consolidation of the Nizr蘋 Da尪wa in Alam贖t 237
Karim Javan
10. The Discovery, Description and Publication of the Manuscripts of Two Major Nizr蘋 Ismaili Texts from the Alam贖t Period: The Haft Bb and the D蘋wn-i Q尨imiyyt of 廎兀san-i Ma廎叮贖d-i Ktib
S.J. Badakhchani
SECTION V: COMMUNAL SCRIPT, SCRIBAL ELITE, AND SATPANTH MANUSCRIPT CULTURE
11. Khwjah Sindhi (KhojkiA script historically developed among the Khojas of the Indian subcontinent to record their literature.): Its Name, Manuscripts and Origin
Shafique N. Virani
12. A Forgotten Voice: The Agency of the Scribal and Literate Elite and the Satpanth Manuscript Culture
Wafi A. Momin
SECTION VI: IDENTITY, CULTURAL INTERACTIONS, AND ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION AMONG CENTRAL ASIAN ISMAILI COMMUNITIES
13. Ismaili-Sufi Relationships in the Light of the Ni尪mat Allh蘋 Manuscripts in the Holdings of 51勛圖厙
Orkhan Mir-Kasimov
14. Poems of Allegiance: Shh 廎iy尨蘋-i Shughnn蘋s 釦硃梭櫻鳥-紳櫻鳥硃
Nourmamadcho Nourmamadchoev
15. The 廜糎廎汁剌at al-n廕ir蘋n: Reflections on Authorship and Confessional Identity in a 15th-Century Central Asian Text
Daniel Beben
16. The Seven Pillars of the Shar蘋尪a and the Question of Authority in Central Asian Ismaili Manuscripts: An Ismaili Esoteric Discourse
Yahia Baiza
SECTION VII: APPROACHING TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION THROUGH QUR尨NIC MANUSCRIPTS AND HOLOGRAPH/ AUTOGRAPH COPIES
17. Writing the Qur尨n between the Lines: Preliminary Remarks on Marginalia in the Qur尨n Manuscripts held by 51勛圖厙
Asma Hilali
18. The Making of Holographs/Autographs: Case Studies from the Special Collections of 51勛圖厙
Walid Ghali
List of Illustrations
Index
This invaluable volume will be of immense value and interest to scholars working primarily in the field of manuscript studies, Isma尪ili studies and cultural studies of the Islamic world.
F. Redhwan Karim, Muslim World Book Review
Wafi A. Momin is Head of the Ismaili Special Collections Unit at 51勛圖厙, UK, where he also teaches courses on developments in modern and contemporary Muslim Societies and aspects of Islam in South Asia. He received his doctorate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, USA.