Materials for the Intellectual History of Im¿m¿ Sh¿¿ism in the Safavid Period: A Facsimile Edition of Ms New York Public Library, Arabic Manuscripts Collections, Volume 51985A

In 1934 the New York Public Library purchased a sizable collection of 250 volumes of Arabic manuscripts through the fund for Semitic literature that had been provided by Jacob Heinrich Schiff (d. 1920). While the collection is known to have been purchased in Baghdad, no further details are available about the transaction. The collection contains a fair number of writings by Ibr¿h¿m Fä¿¿ b. ¿ibghat All¿h al-¿aydar¿ al-Baghd¿d¿ (d. 1299/1882) and by some earlier members of the prominent ¿usayn¿b¿d¿/¿aydar¿-family, and this in addition to numerous Twelver Sh¿¿¿ titles.The present volume contains a facsimile reproduction of Ms New York Public Library, Volume 51985A, which belongs to the Sh¿¿¿ material among the collection. It is a heavily damaged multitext codex of 252 leaves which which comprises seven individual works: An incomplete copy of Khi¿r b. Mu¿ammad b. ¿Al¿ al-R¿z¿ al-¿ablir¿d¿'s (d. ca. 850/1447) longer commentary on the ¿All¿ma al-¿ill¿'s al-B¿b al-¿ad¿ ¿ashar, J¿mi¿ al-durar f¿ shar¿ al-B¿b al-¿¿d¿ ¿ashar; several works by Ibn Ab¿ Jumh¿r al-A¿s¿¿¿ (d. after 906/1501), viz.Qabs al-iqtid¿¿ f¿ shar¿¿i¿ al-ift¿¿ wa-l-istift¿¿, K¿shifat al-¿¿l ¿an äw¿l al-istidl¿l, and al-Mas¿lik al-j¿mi¿iyya f¿ shar¿ al-Alfiyya, which were copied during the author's lifetime; Bah¿¿ al-D¿n Mu¿ammad b. al-¿usayn al-¿¿mil¿'s ("al-Shaykh al-Bah¿¿¿", d. 1030/1621) Tafs¿r s¿rat al-f¿ti¿a, or al-¿Urwa al-wuthq¿; and two works by Bah¿¿ al-D¿n Mu¿ammad b. ¿asan al-I¿fah¿n¿ "al-F¿¿il al-Hind¿" (d. 1137/1725) which are not attested elsewhere-a commentary (¿¿shiya) on the chapter on the imamate of Säd al-D¿n al-Taft¿z¿n¿'s (d. 792/1390) Shar¿ al-Maq¿¿id, and a commentary on the Nahj al-¿aqq wa-kashf al-¿idqby the ¿All¿ma al-¿ill¿.