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Lot Essay
Though the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' remains one of the most important philosophical works to have been produced in the Islamic world, much about it remains frustratingly vague. Its authorship remains disputed, and though it has been associated with both the Isma'ili and Mu'tazili schools, certain parts of the text do not fit easily into either. Nonetheless, the style of the writing and ideas expressed remain consistent throughout, suggesting that the epistles were written by a tightly-knitted group over a short space of time, probably in the third quarter of the 10th century. The text is intended as a summary of knowledge produced in the previous millennium by direct revelation from God and the work of philosophers, who are themselves regarded as divinely-inspired. However, rather than being regarded as a work of reference, André Miquel suggests that the epistles 'incite not only to knowledge, but also to action', urging its readers to draw nearer to God through the pursuit of knowledge (Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Leiden, 1986, volume III, p.1076). This ideal was steeped in philosophical traditions from across the Abbasid world: it includes quotations from the Torah, Babylonian Astrology, and the works of the Greek philosophers. Its Neoplatonist emphasis on divine unity and the striving of human souls to reach that state of unity has had an enduring impact on mystic movements within the Islamic intellectual tradition.
THE SCRIBE
The shamsa at the opening of the manuscript includes a lengthy note, providing details about the work and establishing the credentials of this manuscript as an authoritative copy. It details the names of five of the scholars to whom the scribe attributes authorship of the rasa'il. Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Ramnias [?], Muhammad ibn Ma'shar al-Muqdisi, Abu Ahmad al-Naharjuri al-Busti, Zayd ibn Rifa'i, and 'Ali ibn Harun al-Sabi. This broadly lines up with the authors identified by the contemporary writer al-Tawhidi, though with some slight alterations: he ascribes the laqab al-Busti to Muhammad ibn Ma'shar, and identified 'Ali ibn Harun as al-Zandjani. Only ibn Ramnias is not mentioned by al-Tawhidi, though he may be identified as al-'Awfi, the only figure mentioned by al-Tawhidi whom the colophon neglects to mention. The scribe of our manuscript identifies the chancery scribe Zayd ibn Rifa'i as an author and not only a compiler.
The note also states that the manuscript was copied from another which had been copied by Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Sadr al-Din al-Hussaini al-Hassani al-Farsi dated to 12 Shawwal AH 955 / 13 November 1548 AD. This may be associated with the grandson of the Shi'i philosopher Sadr al-Din al-Dashtaki, founder of the Mansuriyya madrasa in Shiraz. It is only after this lengthy preamble that the scribe introduces himself by name, identifying himself as Muhammad Baqir al-Hafiz. He is also known from two further signed manuscripts: a Persian translation of the Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabitah in the New York Public Library (acc.no. Spencer MS.6) and of the Kitab al-Hashayish reportedly in the Gulistan Library, Tehran. The scribe has signed the manuscript repeatedly at the end of letters - not just in the shamsa - over the course of AH 1041-42 / 1631-33 AD. Despite this being a huge project across two years the hand is impressively strong and consistent throughout.
THE COMMISSION
The text of the Suwar al-Kawakib was translated by Hasan ibn Sa'd Qa'ini at the behest of the Governor of Mashhad, the Georgian ghulam Manuchihr Khan (Sonja Brentjes, "Safavid Art, Science, and Courtly Education in the Seventeenth Century'', in Nathan Sidoli and Glen Van Brummelen (eds.), From Alexandria, through Baghdad, New York, 2014, p.494). Given the quality of that manuscript, it is likely that it was produced directly for Manuchihr Khan's own library. This is reflected not just in the strength and neatness of the hand but the high quality of illumination. The large illuminated headpieces and panels at the beginning of each letter is of the fineness associated with the best 17th century Safavid manuscript production. The similarities between our manuscript and this one in New York are several: both are dated throughout to AH 1041, written in a similar hand by the same scribe, and are of the same size. The illumination to the opening bifolio is also extremely similar with a floral lattice to the margins and a very similar headpiece above the incipit. It is interesting to note that although the New York manuscript, together with the Golestan Kitab al-Hashayish mentioned above, are Persian translations of Arabic classics, this manuscript is an untranslated work. Either way, it suggests that Manuchihr Khan was compiling for himself an impressive library of philosophical and scientific classics. This patronage foreshadowed that of his son, Qarajaghay Khan II, who is most famous for commissioning the 'Windsor' Shahnama, perhaps hoping to liven up his father's library of scientific and philosophical works with some more literary texts.
A bookstamp towards the beginning of our manuscript identifies it as having formerly been part of the library of Faridun Jah, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (r.1838-80). The same book stamp has been identified on a Shahnama manuscript sold Sotheby's London, 23 October 2024, lot 175, and a Qur'an sold Bonhams London, 2 October 2012, lot 30.
THE TEXT
The manuscript includes an introduction and all 51 of the canonical rasa'il, with the 13th and 14th combined to form a single letter. Ours seems to be remarkable for its completeness, it includes all the four books (the mathematical sciences, the natural sciences, the rational sciences and the theological sciences), with no abridged or shortened letters. In the discussion of geography, there is an additional section dealing with places beyond the 'seven climes' of traditional Avestan geography. This is explained on p.177, where there is a note stating that 'whenever you want to copy this epistle for one of our brothers (may God protect them!), if he does not deal in astronomy [...] spare him from this addition', though for those who do 'you cannot withhold anything from the epistle'. As the patron of a manuscript of Suwar al-Kawakib, which the scribe was working on at the same time as this manuscript, Manuchihr Khan's interest in astrology was beyond dispute. Other unusual features of this manuscript include a diagram of the river Nile from the legendary 'Mountains of the Moon' to Alexandria, as well as a discussion of alphabets which includes diagrams with approximations of letters in languages including Himyarite, Greek, Hindustani, and Nabatean. Neither this nor the diagram of the Nile have been widely recorded in other Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa manuscripts, and indicate that this manuscript is unusual, not only for the quality of its commission, but also for its completeness. Given further study, this manuscript may prove to contribute further previously-unknown sections to this keystone text of early Islamic mysticism.
A 14th century Rasa'il manuscript, comprising only the first book on mathematics, was sold Sotheby's London, 10 April 2016, lot 35.
THE SCRIBE
The shamsa at the opening of the manuscript includes a lengthy note, providing details about the work and establishing the credentials of this manuscript as an authoritative copy. It details the names of five of the scholars to whom the scribe attributes authorship of the rasa'il. Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Ramnias [?], Muhammad ibn Ma'shar al-Muqdisi, Abu Ahmad al-Naharjuri al-Busti, Zayd ibn Rifa'i, and 'Ali ibn Harun al-Sabi. This broadly lines up with the authors identified by the contemporary writer al-Tawhidi, though with some slight alterations: he ascribes the laqab al-Busti to Muhammad ibn Ma'shar, and identified 'Ali ibn Harun as al-Zandjani. Only ibn Ramnias is not mentioned by al-Tawhidi, though he may be identified as al-'Awfi, the only figure mentioned by al-Tawhidi whom the colophon neglects to mention. The scribe of our manuscript identifies the chancery scribe Zayd ibn Rifa'i as an author and not only a compiler.
The note also states that the manuscript was copied from another which had been copied by Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Sadr al-Din al-Hussaini al-Hassani al-Farsi dated to 12 Shawwal AH 955 / 13 November 1548 AD. This may be associated with the grandson of the Shi'i philosopher Sadr al-Din al-Dashtaki, founder of the Mansuriyya madrasa in Shiraz. It is only after this lengthy preamble that the scribe introduces himself by name, identifying himself as Muhammad Baqir al-Hafiz. He is also known from two further signed manuscripts: a Persian translation of the Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabitah in the New York Public Library (acc.no. Spencer MS.6) and of the Kitab al-Hashayish reportedly in the Gulistan Library, Tehran. The scribe has signed the manuscript repeatedly at the end of letters - not just in the shamsa - over the course of AH 1041-42 / 1631-33 AD. Despite this being a huge project across two years the hand is impressively strong and consistent throughout.
THE COMMISSION
The text of the Suwar al-Kawakib was translated by Hasan ibn Sa'd Qa'ini at the behest of the Governor of Mashhad, the Georgian ghulam Manuchihr Khan (Sonja Brentjes, "Safavid Art, Science, and Courtly Education in the Seventeenth Century'', in Nathan Sidoli and Glen Van Brummelen (eds.), From Alexandria, through Baghdad, New York, 2014, p.494). Given the quality of that manuscript, it is likely that it was produced directly for Manuchihr Khan's own library. This is reflected not just in the strength and neatness of the hand but the high quality of illumination. The large illuminated headpieces and panels at the beginning of each letter is of the fineness associated with the best 17th century Safavid manuscript production. The similarities between our manuscript and this one in New York are several: both are dated throughout to AH 1041, written in a similar hand by the same scribe, and are of the same size. The illumination to the opening bifolio is also extremely similar with a floral lattice to the margins and a very similar headpiece above the incipit. It is interesting to note that although the New York manuscript, together with the Golestan Kitab al-Hashayish mentioned above, are Persian translations of Arabic classics, this manuscript is an untranslated work. Either way, it suggests that Manuchihr Khan was compiling for himself an impressive library of philosophical and scientific classics. This patronage foreshadowed that of his son, Qarajaghay Khan II, who is most famous for commissioning the 'Windsor' Shahnama, perhaps hoping to liven up his father's library of scientific and philosophical works with some more literary texts.
A bookstamp towards the beginning of our manuscript identifies it as having formerly been part of the library of Faridun Jah, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (r.1838-80). The same book stamp has been identified on a Shahnama manuscript sold Sotheby's London, 23 October 2024, lot 175, and a Qur'an sold Bonhams London, 2 October 2012, lot 30.
THE TEXT
The manuscript includes an introduction and all 51 of the canonical rasa'il, with the 13th and 14th combined to form a single letter. Ours seems to be remarkable for its completeness, it includes all the four books (the mathematical sciences, the natural sciences, the rational sciences and the theological sciences), with no abridged or shortened letters. In the discussion of geography, there is an additional section dealing with places beyond the 'seven climes' of traditional Avestan geography. This is explained on p.177, where there is a note stating that 'whenever you want to copy this epistle for one of our brothers (may God protect them!), if he does not deal in astronomy [...] spare him from this addition', though for those who do 'you cannot withhold anything from the epistle'. As the patron of a manuscript of Suwar al-Kawakib, which the scribe was working on at the same time as this manuscript, Manuchihr Khan's interest in astrology was beyond dispute. Other unusual features of this manuscript include a diagram of the river Nile from the legendary 'Mountains of the Moon' to Alexandria, as well as a discussion of alphabets which includes diagrams with approximations of letters in languages including Himyarite, Greek, Hindustani, and Nabatean. Neither this nor the diagram of the Nile have been widely recorded in other Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa manuscripts, and indicate that this manuscript is unusual, not only for the quality of its commission, but also for its completeness. Given further study, this manuscript may prove to contribute further previously-unknown sections to this keystone text of early Islamic mysticism.
A 14th century Rasa'il manuscript, comprising only the first book on mathematics, was sold Sotheby's London, 10 April 2016, lot 35.