Al-Sharif al-Murtadha, part VI of a collection of poems in praise of the Buyid ruler Rukn al-Din (d.1044 AD), Baghdad, dated 420-422 AH/1029-30 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 84 leaves plus 2 flyleaves, 12 lines to the page written in neat naskh script in black ink, with later red leather binding with gilt floral motifs

In good overall condition, pages clean, ink bold, paper repairs to opening and closing leaves, some minor water staining, as viewed.
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This is an extremely rare and early manuscript of Arabic poetry most likely to have been written during the lifetimes of both the author and the ruler to which it is dedicated. As the sixth part of a larger anthology and thus lacking a signed colophon we can only surmise, given the period, that the scribe was the author himself.

Al-Sharif al-Murtadha (full name Abu al-Qasim 'Ali Ibn al-Hussain al-Sharif (965-1044 AD) was one of the greatest scholars of the Buyid Dynasty, which itself was a golden age of Arabic literature. He was the elder brother of al-Sharif Radi (Sayyid Razi) with whom he studied Islamic sciences under Sheikh al-Mufid, and as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad his lineage can be traced back to 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (see Carl Brockelmann, Tarikh al-Adab al-Arabi (trans. Mahmoud Fahmi Hijazi), Egypt, 1993, p.131). Al-Murtadha was considered to be master of literature, grammer, poetry among other fields of knowledge. Indeed his poetic canon consists of more than twenty thousand verses alone. Al-Murtadha died in 1044 in Baghdad with the epithet 'Alam al-Huda (the 'Banner of Guidance'), having inspired a plethora of other outstanding ulema, including Sheikh al-Tusi, the founder of the theological centre at Najaf, Iraq. Other Arabic manuscripts by Al-Sharif al-Murtadha on a variety of subjects can be found in the Chester Beatty Library (see Arthur J. Arberry, A Handlist the Arabic Manuscripts, Vol.VII, Mss.5001-5500, Dublin, 1964, p.55), whilst his complete works are listed in C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, London, 1996, Suppl.I, 405, 705 & 706. A. Mingana has also mentioned that 'Sharif Murtada' was the editor of a manuscript in the John Rylands Library called ''Ali's Diwan' (diwan 'Ali Ibn abi talib), also known as 'Lights and Minds from the Poetry of the Apostle's Executor' (anwan al-'aqul min asar wasi al-rasul - see A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, Manchester, 1934, p.250).

Alive at the same time as the scholar Al-Murtadha was Rukn al-Din, the Buyid governor of Basra who was later titled Jalal al-Dawlah by the Caliph al-Qadir, and having fought the Seljuq invasion became the governor of Baghdad for seventeen years, dying there in Sha'ban 435 AH/1044 AD. In the manuscript's opening dedication to Rukn al-Din he is referred to by the author as shahanshah (literally 'king of kings'), a phrase peculiar to the Buyids, having borrowed it from the Sassanids, which suggests a contemporary date of manufacture. Another feature of this manuscript that suggests it was copied during the lifetime of the ruler Rukn al-Din is a line at the bottom of the penultimate page in which it says:

"This is the last...of poetry of Sharif al-Ajal al-Murtadha...Ahmed al-Musa may his life be prolonged.."

With the date of completion for this section of poetry being 422 AH/1030 AD, by which time Rukn al-Din had taken up his post as governor in Baghdad, the words 'may his life be prolonged' seem to indicate that the author was still alive at the time of writing, thus increasingly the likelihood of the scribe and author of this manuscript being the same person.