BAHA AL-DIN AL-‘AMILI, A COLLECTION OF WORKS, INDIA, DECCAN, GOLCONDA, DATED 1026 AH/1616-17 AD TO 1056 AH/1646-47 AD

Ex-private collection, USA.

Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-‘Amili (d.1622) was born in Baalbek in 1547. At a very early age he followed his father to Persia and moved to Qazvin to study. After his father’s death, he became Sheykh al-Islam in Isfahan during the reign of Shah Abbas I (r.1587-1629). He was a very prolific writer, composing more than one hundred treatises both in Arabic and Persian, both of a religious nature as well as on astronomy and mathematics. Baha al-Din spent many years travelling outside Persia, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem and undertaking the Hajj. He spent the last years of his life in Isfahan where he died in 1621.

The current volume is an exceptional selection of Al-'Amili's works, executed by different scribes between 1026 AH/1616 AD and 1056 AH/1647 AD in the Deccan. Several colophons mention the city of Golconda (today’s Hyderabad), and given the distinctive colour scheme of the illumination, a Deccan attribution can be strongly surmised. Baha al-Din al-‘Amali must have been quite popular in India, as Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu list several volumes in the libraries of the North and Central Subcontinent (see Rosenfeld & Ihsanoglu 2003, pp.348-50).

More than one calligrapher is mentioned within the manuscript, some of whom are recorded: Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Makki al-Shirazi, who copied Kitab mashriq al-shamsain wa ’iksir al-sa’adatain (4) is probably Ahmad ibn ‘Ali Ardestani (a city not far from Shiraz), who was one of the physicians who wrote books on medicine for Sultan Muhammad Qutb-Shah. Ruzbihan ibn ’Imad al-Isfahani, who copied Arba’un hadith (6), was the son of Fazlullah ibn Ruzbihan, who left Safavid Iran for India. His son Ruzbihan ibn ‘Imad Khunji Isfahani is known to have been in Isfahan and a pupil of Baha’ al-Din ‘Amili, but following his father, he went to the court of the Qutb-shahs.

The volume contains the following treatises:

1. Al-Habl al-matin fi ihkam ahkam al-din, a treatise on Shi’a jurisprudence with four diagrams explaining how inheritance is divided amongst members of a family, copied by the scribe Muhammad Saleh ibn Jalal-al-Din Muhammad al-Kashani, dated the last Wednesday of Safar 1057 AH/1647-48 AD. See GAL, S. II, p.596, no.16; CB, vol.VI, p.18, for an autograph copy dated Friday 22 Shawwal 1007 AH/18 May 1599 AD (see fig.1). 

2. Index of al-hablal-matin fi ihkam ahkam al-din (see no.1). 

3. Hashiya fi tafsir kitab anwar al-tanzil wa asrar al-ta’wil, by al-Qadi Nasir al-Din Abdallah al-Baidawi, a commentary on the Qur’an, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.22. 

4. Kitab mashriq al-shamsain wa ’iksir al-sa’adatain, 'Rising of the Two Suns and Elixir of “Two Happinesses”', copied from an author’s copy by the scribe Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Makki al-Shirazi, dated Wednesday 5 Ramadan 1037 AH/1627-28 AD. See Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, A 12, and GAL, p.597, no.30. 

5. Sharh dua’ al-hilal min kitab hada’iq al-salihin, A commentary on the 34th prayer which is recited at the appearance of the crescent at the beginning of the month. See GAL, S.II p.596, no.14. 

6. Arba’un hadith, a selection of Forty Traditions or Sayings of the Prophet, written in nasta’liq script by Ruzbihan ibn ’Imad al-Isfahani, dated Wednesday 11 Rajab 1038 AH /1628-29 AD. See GAL, S.II, p.595, no.1, and CB, vol.1, no.3215 (1). 

7. Arba’un hadith, Forty Sayings of the Prophet (see no.6), copied by Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Makki al-Shirazi in Hyderabad, known as Golconda. The colophon partially gives the date as Saturday 20 Safar but does not mention the year. However, the scribe also copied no.4 and gave the date 1037 AH/1627-28 AD. 

8. Miftah al-falah, a treatise on the daily religious duties of a Muslim, copied by the scribe Muhsin ibn al-Ashraf al-Husseini al-Musawi, dated 25 Ramadan 1056 AH/1646-47 AD. See GAL, S.II, p.595, no.2, and see another copy dated Shawwal 1034 AH/July 1625 AD, in the CB, vol.V, p.112, no.4356. 

9. Risala ithna’ashariya fi masa’il al-tahara, a Shi’ia treatise on religious duties with this section dealing with ablution and cleanliness, two seal impressions at beginning and end of Shah Najaf Ruzbihan, dated 1026 AH/1617-18 AD. See GAL, S.II, p.597, no.18. 

10. Risala ithna’ashariya - salat (see no.9), a Shi’a treatise on ritual prayer. See CB, vol.1, no.3214 (1). Seal impression and inscription by Shah Najaf Ruzbihan. 

11. Risala ithna’ashariya – zakat (see no.9), a Shi’a treatise on alms tax. 

12. Risala ithna’ashariya – saum, (see no.9), a Shi’a treatise on ritual fasting. See CB, vol.1, no.3214 (2). 

13. Risala ithna’ashariya – al-hajj (see no.9), a Shi’a treatise on the Hajj. 

14. Risala fi mas’alat qisr al-salat fi al-safar, a short treatise on the abridgement of prayers during travel. 

15. Risala fi tahrim daba’ih ahl al-kitab, a short treatise on the prohibition of animal sacrifices of the 'People of the Book' (Christians and Jews). With a dedication to the Safavid Shah ‘Abbas al-Husseini (Shah ‘Abbas II, r.1642-66). 

16. Treatise containing Questions and Answers between the author and Shaykh Saleh ibn Hasan al-Jaza’iri. 

17. Risala fi’l kura, a treatise on the globe with numerous diagrams in gold, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.35, and Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, no.13 (Risala fi tahqiq al-kura, 'Treatise on Investigation of the Globe'). 

18. Risala fi sharh al-lughaz = lughaz-zubda, a treatise on the occult, especially riddles, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.32. 

19. Risala dar karr, a treatise on measuring the capacity of wells, small cisterns and sandy grounds where water collects and filters itself, Persian text, with a dedication to the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I (r.1524-76), copied by the scribe Muhsin ibn Ashraf al-Husseini al-Musawi (the scribe gives the date 1056 AH/1646-47 AD in no.8). See Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, no.13. 

20. Risala fi qira’at sura ba’d al-hamd, copied by the scribe Muhsin ibn Ashraf al-Husseini al-Musawi. See GAL, S.II, p.597, no.29. 

21. Risala mukhtasara fi fiqh al-salat, an abridged treatise on the teaching of prayers. 

22. Hashiya wajiza ‘ala al-risala al-shahira bi’l-ithna’ashariya, a short explanatory note on the famous treatise on religious duties known as ithna’ashariya (see no.9). 

23. Risala wajiza fi ‘ilm dirayat al-hadith, a commentary on the hadith, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.31. 

24. Kitab Jami’i ‘Abbasi, Persian text written in nasta’liq by the scribe Vali al-Husseini, see GAL, S.II, p.595, no.5. 

25. Hashiya al-mukhtasara fi sharh-i fi asrar al-balagha by al-Khata’i, short explanatory note on rhetoric, see GAL, S.II, p.596, no.13. 

26. Sharh-i al-risala al-shahira bi’l-fara’idh al-nasirriya al-Tusi, a commentary on the famous treatise on obligatory religious duties by Nasir al-din al-Tusi.

27. Al-‘Urwa al-wuthqa fi tafsir al-Qur’an, a commentary on the Qur’an, text incomplete at beginning, see GAL, S.II, p.597, 23.

28. ‘Ain al-hayat, a commentary on the Qur’an, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.24. 

29. Zubdat al-usul, see GAL, S.II, p.597, no.17. 

30. Hashiya ‘ala sharh al-mukhtasar al-‘adhadi. 

31. Hashiya ‘ala al-qawa’id al-shahidiya.

32. As’ila wa Ajwiba, Questions and Answers. 

33. Risala jiha al-qibla, treatise on the direction of the Qibla, see Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, no.A11.

34. Tashrih al-aflak, Explanation of Celestial Spheres, an astronomical treatise illustrated with diagrams, see Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, no.A.1, another copy is in Hyderabad. See GAL, p.595, no.6. 

35. Risala fi’l-astrulab, a treatise on the astrolabe with emphasis on the tympanum (sahifa), see Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, nos.A.6 to A.9, and GAL, S.II, p.595, no.7 (Risala fi’l-al-safha [sahifah] fi’l-astrulab).

36. Risala bi-khulasat al-hisab (al-baha’iyya), Essence of Arithmetic, see GAL, S.II, pp.595-6, no.8, and Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, nos.M.1. 

37. Tuhfa-yi hatimiyya dar fann-i astrulab, Gift to Hatim on the Science of the Astrolabe, Persian text, see Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, A.5.

38. Hashiya ‘ala sharh mulakhkhas al Jaghmini, a commentary on the 'Compendium' of Jaghmini, a treatise on astronomy, with a dedication to Shah Abbas II, copied by the scribe Muhsin ibn al-Ashraf al-Husseini al-Musawi (the scribe gives the date 1057 AH/1646-47 AD in no.8), another copy is in Hyderabad, see Rosenfeld and Ihsanoglu, no.1058, A.16.

39. Al-Fawa’id al-samadiya fi ‘ilm al-‘arabiya, a treatise on the Arabic language, see GAL, p.596, no.9. The dates 975 AH/1567-68 AD and 1005 (in abjad: gh d a) that appear at the end of the text are those of when the author completed the composition of the treatise and the writing of the original copy respectively.

40. Risala fi’l kalima, a short treatise on Arabic grammar, copied by the scribe Ibrahim ibn Taifur al-Bastami, dated 1056 AH/1646-47 AD.