Geography and Cosmography [722] كتاب البلدان و نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق [sections of]

• Geography and Cosmography.
• This manuscript is now IO Islamic 617 in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 722 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

GEOGRAPHY AND COSMOGRAPHY.

722.

617. Size 10 in. by 8 in.; foll. 118. Twenty-seven lines in a page.

كتاب البُلدان

تاليف ¹ ابى الحسن علىّ بن جعفر الشَّزْرىّ قدّس الله سره و نوّر قبره و قبر كاتبه بمنه و كرمه.

An abridgment of an old work on Geography, of which two other copies are mentioned in Cat. Bibl. Sprenger. 2, and Cat. Mus. Brit. 182 (cf. Add. et Corr. 772). As is already stated there, the original work was written near the end of the reign of the Khalif al-Mu’taḍid billah (d. A.H. 289); and Sprenger’s assertion, that we have here an abstract of the كتاب البلدان of IBN AL-FAḲÎH HAMADÂNÎ (Abu Bakr Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Isḥâḳ, who flourished at the end of the third century), is especially confirmed by a comparison of the passages quoted from that author in Yâḳût’s Dictionary [معجم البلدان]. Cf. Wüstenfeld’s edition, i. ٧, and the index, vi. 300; and also Sprenger’s Post-und Reiserouten des Orients, p. xvii.

Sprenger is, however, wrong, in ascribing this abstract to one Shazrî or Sharzî ; he read الشَزْرى or الشَرْزى by mistake, instead of الشَيْزَرى , ² and ‘Alî b. Ja’far b. Aḥmad Shaizarî (from Shaizar in Syria) was merely the scribe, who in A.H. 431, wrote (كتب) the copy, from which the Cod. Sprenger. was taken. This appears from the colophon of the latter, which is given by Chwolson in a letter published in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft, xxii. [1868] 241 [ed note: sic, the page number is 335]. The present copy, too, must have been derived from the MS. of Shaizarî, whose name, also spelt Shazrî, is inscribed on it as the author of the book (see above). No mention is made of him in the British Museum MS. There is no positive proof that this abridgment was made by the author himself, but it is very probable.

It begins with some general aphorisms, as follows:

قال قال الفضل بن يحيى الناسُ اربع طبقات الخ

These are followed by some remarks of the author concerning his present task, which are to be found in Cat. Mus. Brit. 182 (فهذا كتابى الخ) . Sprenger and others have already observed that Ibn al-Faḳîh was more of a literary character, than an exact geographer. The plan of his work is, at least as far as the present abridgment goes, neither systematic nor in any way complete. It is, however, rich in details. After a few introductory chapters, on the formation of the earth (fol. 2), and on the seas (fol. 3), and a comparison between the Chinese and Indian nations, there comes a description of the Arabian peninsula (foll. 5v.12).

Next follow two literary digressions, viz. (fol. 12) بابٌ فى تصريف الجد الى الهزل و الهزل الى الجد , and (fol. 14) فى مدح الغربة و الاغراب . After these, the author describes (fol.17) Egypt; (fol.24) al-Maghrib; (fol.25) the Berber country اعراض البربر ; (fol. 28) Syria and Palestine ; (fol. 36, a special chapter on the rivalry between the people of Damascus and al-Baṣrah افتخار الشاميين على البصريين ;) (fol. 39v.) Mesopotamia; (fol. 42) the Roman empire, with a digression (fol. 47) فی مدح البناء and (fol.49) فى ذم البناء ; (fol. 50v.) al-‘Irâḳ , and especially (fol.51) al-Kûfah, and (fol.59) al-Baṣrah ; (fol. 52, a special chapter, افتخار الكوفيين على البصريين ). Baghdâd is not even mentioned.

On fol. 61v. begins the second part, preceded by a Basmalah, a list of contents, and a special introduction, commencing:

و قد كنا قدمنا العُذر فى اول الكتاب الخ

This part comprises the different provinces of Iran, with the adjacent countries, as follows: (fol. 63) Fârs; (fol.66) Karmân, etc.; (fol. 67) Media الجبل , and especially Ḳarmâsîn. On foll. 70-85 the author gives a long and poetical account of his native place, Hamadân, and of its environs, with several digressions, one of which is (foll. 77) فى حبّ الاوطان . Then follow (fol. 85) Nahâwand; (fol. 85v.) Iṣbahân ; (fol. 88) al-Raiy and the Dunbâwand ; (fol. 92) Ḳazwîn, Abhar, and Zanjân; (fol. 92v.) Adharbaijân ; (fol. 93v.) Armenia and the Caucasus ; (fol. 99v.) Ṭabaristân ; (fol. 104) Khurâsân and the Turks.

Conclusion (fol. 109):

تم الاختصار و الحمد لله رب العالمين و صلواته على نبيه محمد و آله اجمعين

Written in a bold hand, with only occasional vowel-points, and decidedly inferior to the British Museum copy. Dated A.H. 725 [=1324-25 CE]. The colophon runs as follows:

كتبه حسين ¹ بن عبدالرحيم بن عبدالغنى فى العشر الاوسط من شهر جمادى الاوالى سنة خمس و عشرين و سبع مائة

Corrections by the original hand. Occasional marginal notes, and indications of the contents, by different hands.

To this are added (foll. 109v.-118) extracts from the concluding portion of the نزهة المشتاق فى اختراق الافاق  or the Geography of SHARÎF IDRÎSÎ (Abu ‘Abdallah Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ‘Abdallah b. Idrîs, who wrote this work in Sicily , A.H. 548; cf. Cat. Bodl. i. 192; ii. 535; and Reinaud, Aboulféda, Introd. exiii).

The first of these extracts is inscribed حديث ردم ياجوج و ماجوج , and begins: فهو قد نطقت الكتب به و توالت الاخبار عنه الخ . This is the famous account by Sallâm الترجمان of his visit to the Caucasus, under al-Wâthiḳ billah. It is to be found in the ninth section of the sixth climate (=Part II. 416-418 of Jaubert’s translation).

Then follows (fol. 111) the whole of the seventh climate, with exception of the first section, i.e. the account of England, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, and the regions further east, to the end of the work (= II. 425-440, Jaubert). It begins: ان فى هذا الجزؤ مضمَّنا قطعة من البحر المظلم فيها جزيرة لَنْقُلْطَره.

It is immediately followed (fol. 115v.) by the eighth section of the sixth climate (II. 410, Jaubert).

The title of the book, which is given above, is followed by four lines in the same hand, written alternately in black and red, as follows:

انشا هذا الكتاب المبارك العبد الفقير الى رحمة ربه الراجى عفوه و غفرانه مختار المجدى الملكى الناصرى مقدم المماليك السلطانية كرمهم ¹ الله تعالى و الخازندار بقلعة الكرك المحروس اثابه الله على انشائه و جعل الملائكة المقربين جنده و اعوانه بمحمد و اله الطيبين الطاهرين

This note must have been transcribed, as well as the title, from the MS. from which this copy was made.

When the chief Mamlûk and Khâzindâr, Mukhtâr, who appears to have written the latter, lived and which of the several al-Malik al-Nâṣirs he served, I have not been able to ascertain.

Notes of several later owners, one of which is dated A.H. 953 [=1546-47 CE].

[Hastings.]

¹ The MS. has تالبق (sic).

² As others who used the Cod. Sprenger. have already read, e.g. Wetzstein in Zeitschrift für allgem. Erdkunde, 1865, p. 18.

¹ It might also be حسن . This and the following words are very indistinct.

¹ The MS. gives كرمـ؞م (sic).