Item Summary

Apparently autograph copy of a treatise in prose and verses on magic using numerals, astrology and the invocation of the names of God, comprising an introduction, seven chapters (bāb) and a conclusion (see description of content, fol. 7a). Incomplete at the beginning.

Descriptive Information

Title
مفتاح المقاصد
Transliterated Title
Miftāḥ al-maqāṣid.
Call Number
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 110Y
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/th83kz39p
Publisher
[1213 or 1504].
Language
Persian
Date Created
1504
Format
Manuscript
Extent
175 leaves : paper, ill. ; 255 x 170 (170 x 110) mm. bound to 255 x185 mm.
Provenance
Acquired from Abraham Shalom Yahuda, 1942.
Source Acquisition
Gift ; Robert Garrett, Class of 1897 ; 1942.
Rights Statement
No Known Copyright
Contents
Bāb 1 : Dar ṭarīq waḍʻ aʻdād fard al-fard [in table of contents, fol. 7a: Dar ṭarīq waḍʻ fard al-fard].
Bāb 2 : Dar ṭarīq waḍʻ zawj al-zawj [in table of contents: Dar ṭarīq zawj al-zawj].
Bāb 3 : Dar ṭarīq waḍʻ zawj al-fard [in table of contents: Dar ṭarīq zawj al-fard].
Bāb 4 : Dar kayfīyat-i waḍʻ-i asmā dar alwāḥ bi-ṭarīq muḍmar kah ānrā taksīr-i kabīr khvānan [In table of contents: ... dar ashkāl bi-ṭarīq ...].
Bāb 5 : Dar kayfiyat-i taksīr-i saghīr.
Bāb 6 : Dar kayfiyat-i waḍʻ-i asmā dar ashkāl bi-ṭarīq muẓhar kah ānrā dhū al-kitābah khvānand.
Bāb 7 : Dar sharf-i kawākib wa-sharḥ wa-kayfīyat-i aʻmāl-i ān.
Notes
Ms. codex.
Title from beginning of text (fol. 7a, l. 3).
For the date 608 H. associated with the author, see fol. 1a, l. 2-3. al-Būnī (Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, d. 622/1225) is quoted in the text. However Ḥajjī Khalīfah mentions a Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ilyās al-Ḥanafī, fl. 912/1506 or 7 (ed. Fluegel, vol. III, p. 190, no. 4872).
15 lines per page. Poetry in two columns. Written in medium small naskh in black ink with use of red. Paper with laid lines visible (frame-ruled, 102 mm.). Contains magic squares and tables. A few marginal notes. Foliation using Arabic numerals (starts with "4" on fol. 2a). On fol. 175b : several inscriptions and magical tables. On a piece of paper pasted on the lower cover, inscription in Arabic: "(al-jafr al-ḥarfī) Miftāḥ al-maqāṣid bi-al-Fārisīyah qaṭʻ al-thaman al-kabīr al-masṭarah 15 khaṭṭ Fārisī katabahu Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ilyās sanah 609 (909 lā 609)".
On the pastedown of the upper cover, small label with the inscription "12" in Arabic numerals ; label with the inscription: "ELS no. [next line, in Arabic characters] Miftāḥ al-maqāṣid [next line, in Arabic characters ] fārisī [next line, in Western numerals] 909". Same label on the pastedown of the lower cover, adding "ELS no. 110".
Copied by the author Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn Ilyās, on 4 Shawwāl 609 (colophon, fol. 175a). According to a label on the pastedown of the upper cover and a note on a paper pasted on the lower cover, this should be read as 909. This later date appears to be more likely.
Incipit: كه مدّت بيست(؟) سال در اقطار عالم مسافرت كردم وبخدمت بسياري از كمال(؟) اوليا
Explicit: (الهى تا دانى بنرياد برس(؟
Binding Note
Upper and lower covers and envelope flap made of red leather over paper pasteboards. The upper and lower covers are similarly blind-tooled with a central mandorla and an outer frame made of several fillets, with small round stamps on the inner edge. The envelope flap has the same outer frame with a mandorla on its point. Doublure made of blue and yellow decorated paper.

Discovery Information

Subject
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī -1225
Islamic magic—Early works to 1800
Talismans—Religious aspects—Islam—Early works to 1800
Astrology—Religious aspects—Islam—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Persian—New Jersey—Princeton

Physical Characteristics

File Count
354

Institutional Information

Collection
Manuscripts of the Islamic World
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/eab76f28-f6c9-48bb-8a03-d626f8b69915/manifest