Baṣāʼir al-darajāt, [1072, i.e. 1661].

Collection of Traditions on the characteristics of the Ithná ʻasharī Shīʻī Imams by Abū Jaʻfar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār (d.902 or 3), divided into four ajzāʼ (juzʼ 1 through juzʼ 4) with a colophon following each.Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, Isl. Ms. 1036Origin: As appears in final colophon on fol.210a, copied by Faḍīl ibn Jalāl al-Dīn Nāʼīnī (see colophon at the close of juzʼ II for his full name "فضيل بن جلال الدين بن ابن حاجى محمد طاهر ابن خواجه احمد ولد سلغور شاه ولد عماده شاه ولد سلغور شاه نائينى"). Transcription finished ("tamma kitāb Baṣāʼir al-darajāt...) 1 Rabīʻ II 1072 [ca. 24 November 1661]. According to colophon following juzʼ III on fol.173a (p.345), copied in a school in the quarter / district (محله) of al-Karrān (perhaps in Isfahan).Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 185Binding: Pasteboards faced in blue-green paper with red goatskin over spine and board corners (half-bound); Type III (without flap); pastedowns and flyleaves in what appears to be European wove paper with an embossed mark in French cursive italic script "Super Cour d'Auvergne. TSL[?]"; very worn, upper cover detached from text block, entire case detaching from textblock at spine; poor condition.Support: non-European (likely Persian) laid paper with laid lines running horizontally and spaced roughly 8 laid lines per cm., no chain lines visible plainly enough for measuring; many inclusions; flyleaves and pastedowns in a European wove paper with impressed mark in French cursive italic script "Super Cour d'Auvergne. TSL[?]".Decoration: Section headings rubricated ; overlinings and occasional textual dividers in the form of numeral khamsah in red.Script: Naskh ; fine, neat Persianate hand; essentially serifless (though occasionally serif on alif of lām alif ligature), point of final and free-standing nūn set down within wide, angled bowl (reminiscent of nastaʻlīq), pointing in distinct dots, curvilinear descenders, superscripting of final letters and words.Layout: Written in 14 lines per page; frame-ruled (impression of ruling board evident).Collation: i, 25 IV (200), IV+2 (210), i; chiefly quaternions; catchwords present; leaves between each of the four ajzāʼ left partially blank and unmarked, but with no apparent loss of text; pagination in pencil, Western numerals (supplied in cataloguing).Colophon: [final] "Scribal," triangular, reads: "تم كتاب بصائر الدرجات بحمد الله وعونه وحسن توفيقه والحمد لله وحده [؟] والصلوة على من لا نبي بعده وذلك في غرة شهر ربيع الثاني سنة اثنان وسبعين والف وكتبه العبد الاذل المحتاج الى رحمة الله الغني ابن جلال الدين اكبر فضيل نائيني عفي عنهما" ; flanked by scribal verses in Persian, reading: "اي انكه ته اطالع مسعود بود دانى كه مرا از توچه مقصود بود يك فاتحه ازبهر نويسنده بخوان تاعاقبت كار تو محمود بود ان شاء الله" and duʻāʼ in Arabic, reading: "اللهم اغفر وارحم لكاتبه ولصاحبه برحمتك يا ارحم الراحمين"Explicit: "قال قلت للرضا ان قوما من مواليك سالوني في ان تدعو الله لهم فقال والله اني لاعرض اعمالهم على الله في كل يوم"Incipit: "باب في العلم ان طلبه فريضة على الناس محمد بن الحسن المعروف بمموله عن ابراهيم بن هاشم عن الحسن بن محبوب يزيد بن علي بن الحسين عن ابيه عن ابي عبد الله عليه السلام قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه واله طلبه العلم فريضة على كل مسلم الا وان الله يحب بغاة العلم"Title from final colophon on fol.210a.Ms. codex.Brockelmann, C. GAL,Collection of Traditions on the characteristics of the Ithná ʻasharī Shīʻī Imams by Abū Jaʻfar Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār (d.902 or 3), divided into four ajzāʼ (juzʼ 1 through juzʼ 4) with a colophon following each.Mode of access: Internet.Purchased in Egypt by Mr. Sulaiman;Obliterated statement on fol.1a may be former owner's mark ; a few marginal corrections in hand of copyist