Article Series
A summary of the second of Shaykh Salih al-Azhari's courses in manuscript studies, an applied reading of early manuscripts. The course connects what was established in the first course to copies of Tahdhib al-Kamal, al-Sharh al-Mutawassit 'ala al-Alfiyya, Ibn Jinni's al-Khasa'is and others, covering marginal notes and corrections, copyists' signs, signs of forgery and miscopying, and how to handle ambiguous letter forms. It closes with a session of discussion, questions and advice for students.
Series parts
The first session of the second course links its practical work to the first course, using copies of al-Mizzi's Tahdhib al-Kamal to train participants in recognizing writing phenomena, correction marks, and the challenges editors face.
Working through a precious copy of al-'Iraqi's intermediate commentary on the Alfiyya, Shaykh Salih al-Azhari explains how copyists distinguished marginal notes from corrections and the marks they used to fix and verify the text.
Shaykh Salih al-Azhari discusses forgery and correction in ancient manuscripts, showing how copyists' marks, comparison of copies, and attention to changes in handwriting help an editor separate authentic text from tampering.
The fourth lecture works through examples from legal (fiqh) manuscripts, explaining copyists' correction symbols such as the tatbib and the dabba and stressing self-practice in reading old texts.
Using a manuscript of Ibn Jinni's al-Khasa'is and other copies, Shaykh Salih al-Azhari explains the logic behind copyists' letter forms, vowel marks, and distinguishing signs, and urges constant practice in reading manuscripts.
The closing session of the second course is devoted to participants' questions, addressing practical problems in reading and analyzing manuscripts and offering methodological guidance for future editing work.