Book/Printed Material Qabas al-ḍawʼ fī al-ḥisāb قبس الضوء في الحساب
About this Item
Title
- Qabas al-ḍawʼ fī al-ḥisāb
Other Title
- قبس الضوء في الحساب
Summary
- Islamic law goes into great detail on the subject of the division of inheritances (farā'id) among heirs. For this reason, inheritances have received extensive treatment in books of fiqh (Islamic law) and been a subject of study for mathematicians as well. Qabas al-Daw' fī al-Hisāb (The illumination of inheritance calculation) was copied by its author, 'Abd al-Raḥman ibn Aḥmad ibn 'Ali al-Ḥamidi, in this 1589 manuscript. The work, which he dedicated to the son of the Šāf'ī jurist Šams al-Dīn Muhammad al-Bahwašī, is an example of a genre likely to seem unusual to the modern reader: the mathematical poem. The tradition of versifying on scientific subjects can be traced back to the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods, in the eighth century, and was widespread in the Islamic world. The work deals mainly with the multiplication of whole and fractional numbers and, given its didactic scope, aims to simplify and embellish its mathematical content in poetic form. The different sections of the poem are identifiable by the presence of rubricated words at the beginning of chapters and paragraphs. World Digital Library.
- Text is a poem on arithmetic.
Names
- Ḥamīdī, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī
- Mansuri Collection (Library of Congress)
Created / Published
- 12 Rabīʻ al-Awwal 997 H [29 January 1589].
Headings
- - Arithmetic--Poetry--Early works to 1900
- - Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
- - Mathematics, Arab--Poetry--Early works to 1800
Notes
- - Binding: modern cardboard, covered in cloth; leather spine.
- - Fol. 1b-7b.
- - Library of Congress. Mansuri Collection, 5-710.
- - Ms.
- - Naskhī script; 17 lines in written area, 15 x 10 cm.
- - Paper: yellowed cream with watermarks; brown stains at bottom of leaves; leaves repaired near spine. Text is principally in black ink with some words in red. Occasional diacritical marks; catchwords on rectos.
- - Title from cover.
- - Transcribed by the author, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī Ḥamīdī, on 12 Rabīʻ al-Awwal 997 H [29 January 1589].
- - Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
- - Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
- - Arabic.
- - Purchase of Mahmud al-Mansuri collection, 1945.
- - Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم و صلى الله على سيدنا محمد و أله و سلم قال الحميدى عابد الرحمن أحمد مولى عم بالاحسان وأفضل الصلاة والتســليم على الحبيب المصطفى الكريم محمد خير الورى والأل الصحب أهل الجود والأفضال. . . .
Medium
- 7 leaves (17 lines), bound : paper ; 21 x 16 cm.
Call Number/Physical Location
- QA101 .H185 1589
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2008401700
Online Format
- image