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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
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al-Baydawi's "Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil" (with frontispiece)
AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: unknown
CREATED/PUBLISHED
14th-15th centuries
NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: Recto: 11.4 (w) x 18.3 (h) cm
Dimensions of Written Surface: Verso: 11.7 (w) x 19.2 (h) cm
Script: Recto: naskh
Script: Verso: naskh and riq'ah
This folio contains the illuminated frontispiece and title from a manuscript of al-Baydawi's "Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil" (The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation). This particular work consists of a very popular Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) composed by the thirteenth-century scholar al-Baydawi. The title of the text, "Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil", appears in the top panel of the frontispiece. It is written in white ink and the letters are drawn out at the vertical to fit into the shape of the horizontal register. The white letters are outlined in black ink and emerge from a gold background decorated with blue and white dots.
The center panel contains a variety of polygonal shapes interlacing to form a carpet page with a palette dominated by brown, gold, and blue hues. The centerpiece consists of an octagonal panel containing the author's names and titles written in white ink on a gold background containing black vine-like designs. Although the panel's calligraphy is now barely legible, some of al-Baydawi's titles are legible: these include al-shaykh (the theologian), al-'adil (the just), and al-qadi (the jurist). These epithets are appropriate for al-Baydawi as he was a respected and prolific expert on Qur'anic exegesis and Islamic law, jurisprudence, and theology.
The panel's decoration of alternating brown and blue polygons with overlaid white palmettes and arabesques appear to radiate from the central octagon. The effect is one that approaches intarsia, in which a variety of wooden panels are inlaid and put together like mosaic work. These particular patterns, as well as the gold-blue hues, characterize illuminated frontispieces that appear at the beginning of Mamluk Qur'ans and other texts produced in Egypt during the 14th and 15th centuries (Lings and Safadi 1976: 55, no. 75 and pl. IX). However, the roughness of the decoration's and calligraphy's execution on the title page (and the folio's verso) suggests that this particular manuscript was not a royal commission.
The left margin contains a decorative roundel with a quatrefoil on a gold circle, framed by a blue perimeter, and a now illegible owner's seal impression appears at the top left corner.
The verso of this folio contains the beginning of the work. After an initial bismillah, the commentary begins with a short opening (muqaddimah), in which the author praises the values of interpreting the verses of the Qur'an, the "Mother Book (Umm al-Kitab) of all theologica ." He also argues that Qur'anic exegesis (al-tafsir) remains at the head of all sciences (ra'is al-'ulum al-diniyah). The author then gives the name of his work in the last sentence of his introduction, before launching into the explanation of al-Fatihah (The Opening), the first chapter of the Qur'an (Meccan, 7 ayat). Al-Baydawi calls this particular chapter "Mother of the Qur'an" (Umm al-Qur'an), because it introduces the Holy Book. It is the essential chapter because it provides mercy (hamd), praise (shukr), prayer (du'a), and instruction (al-ta'lim). It also brings intercession (al-shafa'a) for he who recites it. Then the exegesis proceeds as protocol dictates, by quoting each verse of the Qur'an and explaining it in almost word-for-word detail.
The text itself is executed in rather rough naskh script in black ink. Sentences are separated by red upturned virgules, and many a posteriori notes have been added to the main text. Here, inserted red numbers appear in superscript and concord with extensive marginal glosses (hawash) calligraphed in rather rough and water-stained riq'ah script. These glosses provide a kind of critical apparatus for understanding al-Baydawi's text. They appear to comprise an individual reader's notes rather than a complete or professional super commentary on the text (of which there exist at least eighty-three).
For further information on al-Baydawi and his works, see: J. Robson, "al-Baydawi" Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed., vol. 1, 1129; and C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur (Leiden, 1943-9) I, 530f and Supplementband (Leiden, 1937-42), 738 et seq.
SUBJECT
Islamic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Arabic script calligraphy
Riq'ah
Arabic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Naskh
MEDIUM
15.2 (w) x 25 (h) cm
CALL NUMBER
1-88-154.9
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540
DIGITAL ID
ascs 219
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.219
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