Item Summary

A treatise in one hundred chapters (fāʼidah) on the magical properties of verses of the Qurʼān, sayings of the Prophet, and other texts, with instructions on how to write talismans and amulets. The volume contains also a biographical essay on the wives of the Prophet, entitled Faṣl fī dhikr azwāj al-nabī, a section on mustache trimming, and several other short texts.

Descriptive Information

Title
كتاب الفرائد في محاسن الفوائد / تأليف الشيخ طالب بن السيد عبد القادر المنقار
Transliterated Title
Kitāb al-Farāʼid fī maḥāsin al-fawāʼid / taʼlīf al-shaykh Ṭālib ibn al-sayyid ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Minqār.
Call Number
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 239H
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/mp48sc83p
Publisher
[1799]
Language
Arabic
Date Created
1799
Format
Manuscript
Extent
77 leaves : paper ; 208 x 150 (175 x 110 and 185 x 115) mm. bound to 208 x 160 mm.
Provenance
Acquired from Brill, Leyden, 1900, from the books of Amīn ibn Ḥasan al-Hulwānī al-Madanī al-Ḥanafī (Medina).
Source Acquisition
Gift ; Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; 1942.
References
Hitti, P. Garrett coll., 946
Brockelmann, C. GAL, SII, 914
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Contents
1. fol. 1a-56a : Kitāb al-Farāʼid fī maḥāsin al-fawāʼid / Ṭālib ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Minqār.
2. fol. 57a-62a : Dhikr azwāj al-nabī (Faṣl fī).
3. fol. 62b-66b : [Questions and answers on theological issues, starting with : "mā qawlukum raḍiya Allāhu ʻankum fī Iram dhāt al-ʻimād" (Qurʼān 89:6)].
4. fol. 67a-75a : Qaṣṣ al-shārib (Faṣl fī).
5. fol. 75a-76a : Fāʼidah [on talismans?].
6. fol. 76b : Hādhihi ṣifat al-ism alladhī kāna maktūb ʻalá khātim Sulaymān.
7. fol. 77a-b : [Inscriptions].
Notes
Ms. codex.
Title from title page (fol. 1a).
The title on the title page is from a later hand. There is no mention of a title in the text itself. The name of the author appears at the beginning of the text (fol. 1b).
On the title page (fol. 1a), there is a table of contents mentioning titles of works which are said to be included in the ms, though most of these works are not.
Number of lines per page varies (from 20 to 33). Written in black ink in a casual small to medium small naskh. Fol. 1 and 2a are modern replacements. Magical squares and talismans (see fol. 47b-49a). Marginal notes. On fol. 1a : several ownership statements ; seal of Muḥammad Saʻīd al-Minqār. Foliation using Arabic numerals on fol. 1-56. Modern foliation in pencil using Western numerals. The number "452" (corresponding to Brill's catalog) is written on the left upper corner of the upper cover.
Copied on 1 Muḥarram 1214 ("fī ghurrat Muḥarram sanah 1214" [June 1799], colophon text 1, fol. 56a).
Incipit text 1: الحمد لله الواحد القهار خالق الليل والنهار ... اما بعد فيقول الفقير طالب ... هذه فوايد جمعتها لامثالي الصغار وسميتها الفرايد [2ب] الفايدة الاولى في فضل البسملة
Explicit text 1: يا ارحم الراحمين ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العالى العظيم وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد واله وصحبته وسلم والحمد لله رب العالمين ورضي الله تعالى عن كل الصحابة اجمعين
Incipit text 2: فصل في ذكر ازواج النبي صلي ... فقد اختلف العلماء في ترتيبهن واعدادهن وعدة من مات قبله
Explicit text 2: وهي ان تدفعها للوالدين وقسم بماية الف وهي ان تدفعها لطالب العلم انتهى
Binding Note
Upper and lower covers made of black and red marbled paper over paper pasteboards (similar to Princeton University Library, Garrett no. 447H).

Discovery Information

Subject
Muḥammad Prophet -632—Family—Early works to 1800
Qurʼan—Use—Early works to 1800
Islamic magic—Early works to 1800
Talismans—Religious aspects—Islam—Early works to 1800
Mustaches—Religious aspects—Islam—Early works to 1800
Beards—Religious aspects—Islam—Early works to 1800
Islam—Customs and practices—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Arabic—New Jersey—Princeton

Physical Characteristics

File Count
158

Institutional Information

Collection
Manuscripts of the Islamic World
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/1bfb6970-a135-4c71-8560-76114aca38ed/manifest