Course of Islamic paleography by Jan Just Witkam Tasks for the student: 1. Read the bibliographical description of the manuscript. 2. Carefuly compare the image(s) of the manuscript with the proposed transliteration. Get accustomed with peculiarities of this hand. 3. Transcribe in the same way a considerable portion of that part of the manuscript which has not been transliterated. Start where the given transliteration ends. See how far you come. 4. Note remarkable or unusual ligatures and make a list of these. 5. Make an inventory of all signs and peculiarities which are different from modern practice. W. 1 Arabic, thick brownish indigenous paper, 40 ff., 24 x 17.5 cm, Indian naskh script, 7 lines to the page with wide interline for notes, black ink with rubrics, catchwords at the bottom of each verso page, copied by Fayḍ Allāh on a Saturday (colophon in Persian on f. 39a), cloth cover. A heavily glossed copy of Al-Farāʾiḍ al-Sirāǧiyya, or just al-Sirāǧiyya, the compendium of the law of succession according to the Ḥanafī school, by Sirāǧ Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Rashīd al-Saǧāwandī (lived c. 600/1203), GAL G I, 378. The text has been identified with MS Berlin, Ahlwardt No. 4701, and with the edition by William Jones (in his collected works, vol. 8, London 1807). The numerous glosses (Ḥawāshī) are in the hand of Fayḍ Allāh, the copyist (f. 39a), who may be considered the author of the glosses. A modern owner has written his name on ff. 1a, 39a: al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad … Another modern owner is Sirāǧ al-Dīn Āfarīdī (f. 40b). A waqf-note by Maḥmūd Khān over the beginning of the text (f. 2b). The doublures of both the front and end cover originate from a Persian manuscript of historical content, in which the town of Kabul (balad-yi Kābul) is mentioned. On f. 1a are legal dicta, in Arabic, written by the copyist. On f. f. 1b is a recipe against catarrh or influenza (dārū-yi nazla), in Persian, by the copyist. On f. 2a is a diagram of the falling of shadows, drawn for legal purposes, for the times of ritual prayer. In the right top corner of the page a sun is drawn. Also on the page are quotations on prayer. All in Arabic, in the hand of the copyist. On ff. 2b-39a is the text of Al-Farāʾiḍ al-Sirāǧiyya, with numerous marginal and interlinear notes, and calculations. On f. 39a is a copyist verse in Persian: من نمانم اين بماند يادگار* ر من نوشتم صرف كردم روزگا . Colophon (f. 39a): تم بعون هللا از دست فيض هللا، اين كتاب سراجي بروز شنبه. Ff. 39b-40b are blank. Provenance: Pakistan, 1994. Transliteration of ff. 2b-4b:

|لخير ارب يسر وتمم بابسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم

هللا عليه وسلم | البرية محمد وآله الطيبين الطاھرين قال رسول صلي | شاكرين والصلوة علي خير لحمد االحمد رب العالمين

مرتبة االول يبداء بتكفينه وتجھيزه بال | حقوق رح يتعلق بتركةينافانھا نصف العلم قال علما| لناس تعلموا الفرايض وعلموھا ا

لكتاب | بقي ثم يقسم الباقي بين ورثته بااصياه من ثلث ما | ا بقي من ماله ثم تنفذ و ثم يقضي ديونه من جميع م|| وال تقتير تبذيز

لعصبات من جھة ايبداء با| لھم سھام مقدرة في كتاب هللا تعالى ثم وھم الذين | والسنة واجماع االمة فيبداء باصحاب الفرايض

لمال ثم يبداء با العصبة من جھة السبب | نفراد يحرز جميع ا ما ابقته اصحاب الفرايض وعند اال| النسب والعصبة كل من ياخذ

المقر له | بقدر حقوقھم ثم ذوي االرحام ثم مولي الموالت ثم | العتاقة ثم عصبته ثم الرد علي ذوي الفروض النسبية || وھو مولي

ثم بيت | اقراره ثم الموصي بجميع المال ذالك الغير اذا ماة المقر علي | قراره من بابا النسب علي الغير بحيث لم يثبت نسبه

القصاص او الكفارة واختالف | فرا كان او ناقصا والقتل الذي يتعلق به وجوب | المانع من االرث اربعة الرق وا فصلالمال

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 1

| والذمي او الحربين من دارين مختلفين والدار انما | كا المستامن الدارين حقيقة كا الحربي والذمي او حكما || الدينين واختالف

المقدرة في كتاب هللا | في معرفة الفروض ومستحقيھا الفروض بابفيما بينھم | يختلف باختالف المنعه والملك النقطاع العصمة

عشر نفرا اربعة من الرجال وھم االب | سھام اثنالوالثلثان والثلث والسدس واصحاب ھذه ا| تعالى ستة النصف والربع والثمن

| والبنت وبنت االبن وان سفلت واالخت الب وام | اب االب وان علي وثمان من النسآء وھن الزوجة || والجد الصحيح وھو

ثلث االب فله احوال| وھي التي ال يدخل في نسبتھا الي الميت جد فاسد اما | واالخت الب واالخت الم واالم والجدة الصحيحة

والفرض والتعصيب وذالك مع البنت او بنت االبن | السدس وذالك مع االبن او ابن االبن وان سفل | المطلق وھو االولالفرض

||

The colophon, copyist’s verse and owner’s note at the end of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 39a. A manuscript from Pakistan, possibly 19th century.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 2

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 2b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 3

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 3a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 4

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 3b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 5

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 4a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 6

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 4b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 7

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 5a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 8

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 5b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 9

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 6a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 10

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 6b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 11

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 7a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 12

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 7b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 13

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 8a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 14

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 8b.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 15

The beginning of Sirāǧ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saǧāwandī’s treatise on the law of succession. Private collection, W. 1, f. 9a.

© Course in palaeography. Copyright, Jan Just Witkam, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009 16