Lesson Title: Editing Precious Audition Certificates and Comparing Them with Old Manuscripts
Main Elements of the Lesson
- Opening and supplication:
- Opening the session with praise of Allah and blessings upon the Prophet, and a supplication that these sessions be sincerely for the sake of Allah, the Most Generous.
- Presenting the copy under study:
- Describing the precious copy belonging to the manuscript Juz’ Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-‘Attar.
- Stating the date of the copy and its journey from the library of Ali ibn Abis al-Mursili to Egypt.
- The importance of the copies under study:
- Clarifying the difference between the original copy transferred from the Berlin copy and the copy of Ibn Nafis.
- The importance of verifying audition lists (tabaqat al-sama’at) and their role in determining the credibility of copies.
- Analyzing the texts of the audition certificates:
- A detailed reading of the texts of the audition certificates (sama’at) of the various copies.
- Distinguishing between descriptions of copies and audition lists.
- Explaining the differences between copied-over lists and original lists.
- Identifying research problems:
- The difficulty of linking lists together and identifying the elements specific to audition lists.
- The importance of consulting biographical dictionaries to fix names and lineages accurately.
- Methods of copying and writing:
- Explaining concepts such as the first and second release (ibraz) of a book.
- The importance of carefully reviewing copies and the revisions authors make.
- The editor’s tools in dealing with manuscripts:
- How to document blank spaces (bayadat) in copies and specify their extent to avoid confusion.
- The importance of drawing up a map of the audition certificates to trace the path of the manuscript.
- Interactive discussions:
- Answering the trainees’ questions on fine concepts such as the license by attendance (al-ijaza al-huduriyya) and how it differs from audition.
- Presenting examples of royal audition sessions.
- Closing and guidance:
- Inviting the trainees to listen to the previous theoretical lectures and to practice reading continuously.
- Stressing the importance of drawing a clear map for every audition-bearing copy one works on.
Note
This lesson is distinguished by its depth and its detailed analysis of the manuscript Juz’ Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-‘Attar, linking it to its historical and scholarly context, while highlighting the importance of reading texts carefully and analyzing them within the framework of scholarly editing.