82 - Mufid al-muhtaj fi sharh al-Siraj by Sahnun b. 'Uthman al-Wansharisi

Mufid al-muhtaj fi sharh al-Siraj by Sahnun b. 'Uthman al-Wansharisi North Africa, probably Algeria, dated AH 1018 (AD 1609-1610) Arabic manuscript on paper, 18 leaves, calligraphed in Maghribi script with sepia ink, headings in red, laid out on 33 to 34 lines per page. The colophon indicates that this copy was completed on the undi 20 Dhu al-Qa'da 1018 H. The copyist is named as Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Mizyan al-Zawawi, whose nisba refers to the region of Zawāwa (Kabylia). Bound in brown morocco with flap. 26 × 18.5 cm (10.2 × 7.3 in.) The manuscript contains Sahnun b. 'Uthman al-Wansharisi's commentary on the astronomical treatise al-Siraj fi 'ilm al-falak by the Maghrebi scholar 'Abd al-Rahman al-Akhdari (d. circa 1575). The work is part of the scientific tradition of the Maghreb, where astronomical treatises were the subject of commentaries for teaching purposes. The singular interest of the present manuscript lies in its dating: copied in 1018 AH. (AD 1609-1610) by a copyist from the Zawawa region (Kabylia). To the best of our knowledge, it is the second attested example of this high date, hitherto established only by manuscript no. 1114 in the Bibliothèque municipale de Bordeaux (copy dated 1118 H. / 1706). Our manuscript not only predates the Bordeaux manuscript by a century, but is almost contemporary with the author's own completion of the work - a copy made barely two years after the original writing. As such, it bears precious witness to regional distribution in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Sahnun b. 'Uthman al-Wansharisi, Mufid al-muhtaj fi sharh al-Siraj - a commentary on the astronomical treatise al-Siraj fi 'ilm al-falak of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Akhdari (d. circa 1575). North Africa, probably Algeria, dated 1018 H. / 1609-1610. Arabic manuscript on paper in maghribi script in sepia ink, with red rubrications, 33 to 34 lines per page; the colophon records that the copy was completed in 1018 H. by Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Mizyan al-Zawawi, whose nisba refers to the Zawawa region of Kabylia.