Al-Hasan ibn Bahlul, Kitab al-malhama, Near East, late 13th century

This work is by the tenth-century Syriac scholar al-Hasan ibn Bahlul (in Syriac, Hasan bar Bahlul), best known for his Syriac-Arabic Lexicon dealing with scholarly and technical terminology. He was born in Awana, north of Baghdad, spending most of his life there as part of the thoroughly bilingual Christian elite who regularly collaborated with Muslim scholars (Van Rompay, 2018).

The manuscript begins with a title in red Kitab al-malhama, a term used generally to denote texts of divinatory character based on natural phenomena, the oldest of which in Islamic history is the Malhamat Daniel. On the following page, the author precises the title as Kitab al-sida’ and explains that it relates to signs and indication for what was copied from the Syriac books to the Arabic words on Meteorology from Hermes the wise, Daniel, Dhul-Qarnayn and Alexander.   

Aside from his Lexicon, only one other work by the author has been recorded by Sezgin a few decades ago, the ‘Book of Signs’ (Kitab al-dala'il), written in Arabic between 942 and 968 AD (Sezgin, GAS, vol.6, p.231). This rare manuscript, therefore, appears to be a previously unrecorded text by the author.

Our manuscript consists of 22 Babs (Chapters):

1) On the solar eclipse.

2) On the lunar eclipse.

3) On the halo of the sun.

4) On the halo of the moon.

5) The view of the crescent in moderate and tilted versions.

6) On the signs of bright lightning.

7) On the four types of thunder.

8) On winds, whirlwinds and black clouds.

9) On rain.

10) On the sign of hailstones.

11) On the rainbow.

12) On earthquakes, the tremor of the earth.

13) On the smashing of planets.

14) On Dhawab and Dheeb planets.

15) On the spear that appears like a wind and it resembles Nibiru planet (Kawakab al-dhana’ab) but is not a planet.

16) On shapes that appear in the air.

17) On converting the years and the beginning of the years.

18) On the birth of the years and their signs.

19) On the location of the planets at the beginning of the year.

20) Mars at the beginning of the year.

21) Saturn at the beginning of the year.

22) January and the days of the weeks.