al-Badr al-munīr fī ʿilm al-taʿbīr البدر المنير في علم التعبير Ibn Jaydān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī ابن جيدان، عبد الله بن علي

Content

Autograph copy of a manual on dream interpretation by Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī al-Baṣrī al-Maṣrī (أبو محمد عبد الله بن علي بن عمر بن محمد بن علي البصري المصري), known as Ibn Jaydān (ابن جيدان, see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , ff. 260r, lines 7-9 and 260v, lines 5-6, transcribed below). This is not the same text as the Full Moon on the Science of Dream Interpretation ( al-Badr al-munīr f'ī ʻilm al-taʻbīr ) by Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Maqdisī (شهاب الدين أحمد بن عبد الرحمن المقدسي, d. 1297 or 1298), known as al-Shihāb al-ʻĀbir ibn Surūr (الشهاب العابر ابن سرور; see Ibn Surūr, Qawāʼid tafsīr al-aḥlām al-musammá "al-Badr al-munīr f'ī ʻilm al-taʻbīr" wa-sharḥuh , ed. by Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Jumʻah).

The work is divided into an introduction (مقدمة) in eight parts (فصول), three books (كتب) subdivided into chapters (أبواب) then parts (فصول), sections (أقسام), classes (أنواع) and examples (أمثلة), followed by a conclusion (خاتمة) in three sections (أقسام). A detailed table of contents (بيان) listing the titles of all these divisions and the folios on which they begin is found on ff. 9r-15v.

Ibn Jaydān dedicates the work to the young Mamluk prince 'ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl, scion of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī the late ruler' (عماد الدين إسماعيل نجل علاء الدين علي الملك الشهيد, f. 6v, lines 12-13), son of the reigning sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn (الملك الناصر محمد بن قلاوون, reg. 1293-1341 with gaps), who went on to reign as Sultan al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl (الملك الصالح عماد الدين إسماعيل, b. 1326, reg. 1342-5). ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī was ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl's half-brother, the heir to the throne al-Malik al-Manṣūr ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAlī (الملك المنصور علاء الدين علي, d. 1310), who died in his youth at age seven.

Ibn Jaydān names four of his other works on the same subject: (1) an abridgement composed in 716/1316-7 at Hamadhān of the Book of The Elixir on the Science of Dreams (فلخصت كتابًا سميته بالإكسير في علم المنامات, f. 3v, lines 1-3); (2) an unnamed didactic poem (أرجوزة) that he says he is in the process of composing (f. 3v, lines 3-4); (3) an abridgement (ملخص) of that poem or perhaps of the Badr al-munīr itself called the Book of Glad Tidings Concerning The Science of Dream Interpretation (كتاب التبشير في علم التعبير) dedicated to al-Malik al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn (f. 3v, lines 5-7); (4) and a didactic poem named after the same sultan (الأرجوزة باسمه, f. 3v, lines 7-8).

An illuminated patron statement (f. 1ar) in Mamluk style indicates that the copy was made for the treasury of an unnamed sultan, doubtless the reigning sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn (see above). The patron statement on f. 1ar reads as follows:

برسم الخزانة السامية

المولوية السلطانية

السعيدية أحلها

الله وأسماها بمحمد وآله

الطاهرين

The copy was completed by the text's author at the end of Wednesday 2 Rabīʻ II 727/25 February 1327 (see f. 2v, lines 4-6 and colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 260r, lines 4-7, transcribed below).

Begins (f. 1av, lines 2-7):

الحمد لله المنزّه بصفاته القديمة عن التكييف

والتعطيل والتشبيه بالصفات المحدثات ممهد

بسيط الأرض على تيار الماء ومثبتها بالجبال

الشامخات ومزينها بأنواع أجناس الحيوان وسائر

أصناف النبات رافع قبة السماء في الهواء

بلا عمد لها معلقات ...

Ends (ff. 259v, line 7-260r, line 3):

وطئ بعض حورها وطواف غلمانها عليه نيل

ملك عظيم ونزول الحور الأرض على الرائي فتنة

كحرب وغيره وكذا رأى الحجاج حوريتين أقبلت

إحداهما عليه وأعرضت الأخرى فأدركته

فتنة ابن الأشعث ولم يدرك فتنة ابن المهلب

عبرها بذلك له ابن سيرين رؤية رضوان نعمة

وسرور من ملك للرائي إلقاء الجنة في النار بيع بستان

تمت كتاب بدر المنير

وبتوفيق الله وسعادة السلطان

خلد الله أيام دولته وأنار الوجود

بضياء بهجته بمحمد وآله وعترته

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 260r, line 4-260v, line 7):

كمل الكتاب تأليفًا وتبيضًا وإنجاز كتابةً

آخر نهار الأربعاء لليلتين خلت من ربيع الآخر

سنة سبع وعشرين وسبعمئة هلالية

على يد مؤلفه الفقير إلى الله كاتبه ومصنفه

عبد الله بن علي بن عمر بن محمد بن علي البصري مولدًا

[المصر]ي محتدًا المعروف بابن جيدان المعبر خويدم أهل

والحمد لله وحده وصلى الله على

سيدنا محمد النبي وآله الطاهرين

وهذا الكتاب [...] مسألة وجوابها

[...]ـف على وجوه كثيرة وكل نقطة حمراء

[...] أو أكثر فهي مسألة وكذا الجواب وعدة

[...]ان جمعه تسويدًا وتبيضًا للعـ[...]ـلة

[...]ـب صائغه أبو محمد عبد الله

بن علي البصري مولدًا المصري محتدًا

في التاريخ المذكور

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+261+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 178 x 125 mm leaf [120 x 65 mm written]

Foliation: Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink; British Museum foliation in pencil; the first two folios are both foliated 1, so they are referred to as ff. 1 and 1a respectively in this catalogue record

Ruling: No ruling visible; 13 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh; the scribe is the text's author Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī al-Baṣrī al-Maṣrī (أبو محمد عبد الله بن علي بن عمر بن محمد بن علي البصري المصري), known as Ibn Jaydān (ابن جيدان, ff. 2v, lines 4-6; 260r, lines 7-9 and 260v, lines 5-6)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings in red; yellow (gold?) ink on f. 260r

Decoration: Illuminated patron statement (f. 1ar) in Mamluk style executed in blue, black, ochre and gold; text division headings and concluding prayers in gold

Binding: British Museum half-leather binding

Condition: ff. 1, 1a and 2 mutilated and repaired (with silk netting, f. 1ar) with some loss of text on ff. 1a and 1v; lower corner of f. 9 torn away and not repaired; tidemarks at head especially towards back of volume; margins of f. 20 heavily repaired with no loss of text; ff. 259 and 260 mutilated and repaired with minor loss of text

Marginalia: Few

Seals: f. 2r; British Museum stamp ff. 1r and 260v; partially erased seal on f. 1ar (fore-edge margin)

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 7733

History of this record

Date(s)

2 Rabīʻ II 727 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Cairo

Provenance

Muḥammad Yūsuf al-Ḥusaynī (محمد يوسف الحسيني): his seal with date 1174/1760-1 (f. 2r)

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from M. George Guès, 13 April 1912

Related material

Finding aids

Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 40

Select Bibliography

Ibn Surūr, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAbd al-Munʻim ibn Niʻmah ibn Sulṭān, Qawāʼid tafsīr al-aḥlām al-musammá "al-Badr al-munīr f'ī ʻilm al-taʻbīr" wa-sharḥuh , ed. by Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Jumʻah (Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Rayyān, 1461/2000)

Subjects

Dream Interpretation

People & organisations

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī Ibn Jaydān

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al-Badr al-munīr fī ʿilm al-taʿbīr البدر المنير في علم التعبير Ibn Jaydān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī ابن جيدان، عبد الله بن علي, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 7733, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093647751.0x000001> [accessed 12 May 2024]

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