Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity), Copied by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Isfara'ini (?), Persia or Near East, Dated A.H. 711/A.D. 1311

40 leaves, 13 lines per page of naskhi script in brown ink on buff paper, chapter headings in red thuluth, diagrams and tables in red, in later brown morocco leather binding

In good condition, minor wear with very little staining and thumbing, small tears to edge of leaves, later binding, ink strong, as viewed.
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A rare dated addition to the corpus of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa, the philosophical-scientific handbook of one of the most elusive societies of early-medieval Islam; the Ikhwan al-Safa.

The Ikhwan al-Safa was a secret brotherhood thought to have been affiliated to the Ismai'li movement. Their true identity was so thoroughly hidden that scholars can only speculate as to their real associations.  The Rasa'il however are considered to be central to Isma'ili doctrine, and have been attributed to the authorship of various different Shi'ite imams, and scholars from the eleventh century.  These two scientific chapters are from a hitherto unknown version of the Rasa'il, one of only a handful of dated medieval copies of the work.  Among dated copies it only appears to be antedated by the famous copy in the 'Atif Pasha Library, Istanbul, 1681, dated A.H. 587/A.D. 1182, the copy formerly in the British Museum, now in the British Library (Or 6692), dated A.H. 646/A.D. 1248-9 and a copy in the Majlis-i Shura-yi Milli, Tehran 4707, dated A.H. 686/A.D. 1287.

The text appears to be an abridgement of the epistles, though it does not correspond to any of the known abridged versions, such as the Mukhtasar Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa, or the al-Risala al-Jami'ah frequently attributed to Abu'l-Qasim Maslama al-Majriti.  A comparison of the early manuscripts of the Rasa'il has yet to be accomplished, and critical editions of the work are based almost entirely on late copies of the work. The present version differs substantially from these later copies, and provides important evidence for the medieval collation, editing and propagation of the Rasa'il. The Rasa'il has always been loosely composed, consisting of either 51 or 52 chapters, there does not seem to be a formal structure to the manuscript as far as the succession of chapters is concerned.  So these previously undiscovered chapters, although remarkable, are not abnormal.

These two epistles are from the first section of the Rasa'il, which concerns the mathematical sciences, and deal with astronomy, geography and geometry.  Astronomy and geography appear to have been conflated into a single chapter here, which explains why the number of chapters in the first section is given as 13, rather than the 14 found in later copies and critical editions of the work.  This is followed by the chapter on geometry, normally the fourth chapter in later editions, though here the second.  After a description of the planetary spheres, follows a Surat al-Ard, a description of the earth, which divides into seven climes according to the Greek tradition. This is followed by a description of each clime, listing the coordinates, countries and cities of each.  The chapter on geometry begins with a discussion of the division of the sciences according to the Greek masters (mathematical, logical, natural and divine), and is followed by an introduction to geometry with numerous diagrams of shapes, angles, lines and intersections.  The preponderance of Greek masters in these chapters is not exceptional, the text draws on the concepts of the Ancient Greek philosopher-scientists; particularly Aristotle, Plato and the Neoplatonists. 

The Encyclopaedia of Islam remarks that "The epistles of the Ikhwan occupy a place in the first rank of Arabic literature, ... their influence endures, not only in Shi'ism, but also in the mystic movements." (EI, vol.iii, p. 1076).