Messenger Of Thought

Coptic inscription in a number of lines on a stone slab, divided into two sections, but appearing to be complete. Dating from the dawn of the use of the Greek alphabet, Coptic replaced the ancient Egyptian Demotic script. This inscription has not been translated. Gift of Dr. Aziz S. and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

Coptic inscription written in the third or fourth centuries on a piece of irregular white stone. The black ink inscription, not yet translated, consists of eighteen lines and appears to be a complete text. Gift of Dr. Aziz S. and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

The script on the larger bone appears to be a writing exercise, with repeated words “Qatshah” and “Muhammed.” Qatshah is both a place name and a personal surname. It seems that someone named Muhammad Qatshah, perhaps a child or a newly literate Bedouin, was practicing the writing of his name. Although neither of these pieces has been dated, and it is unlikely that they are from antiquity, they represent an ancient Arabic tradition of using bone as writing material. Gift of Dr. Aziz S. and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

An anthology of diwan (poetry) written on laid paper with several ownership marks. The author, Ru’bah, was an Umayyad poet who died 145/762 in Basra at the beginning of the Abbasid Dynasty. According to the historian ibn ‘Asākir, he wrote a eulogy for the Caliph al-Mansur and met Caliph al-Walid and Suleyman. The poet incorporated Bedouin themes of the desert in this collection of poetry. Rubah was one of several Arabic poets of the time who coined new words or modified others to achieve a certain effect. The poetry is written in a large script interpreted by a gloss in smaller script. The gloss is by Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb of the School of Baghdad. The author’s name appears on fol.  1r. On fol. 2r, a scribe has copied the lineage of the text, tracing an oral chain of authority, including ‘Abdallah ibn al-A’rabi, ibn Ḥabīb’s teacher and a contemporary of Ru’bah, and ‘Unayf, one of Ru’bah’s rawis. According to this lineage, al-A’rabī stated that the text of the poetry was checked by ’Unayf who himself had checked the text with the poet. In this case, the present manuscript is the third copy made in the life of the poet, who lived in the second century of the Higra years, which fixes the book in the third century AH. A study of the paper corroborates this dating. The manuscript was written by three different scribes, with later hands adding more gloss in the margins. The manuscript has several ownership marks. Gift of Dr. Aziz S. Atiya and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

Islamic holy scripture is meant to be recited aloud, either alone or in community. The divine word of God calls for proper recitation. Marks indicate where the reader must pause, may pause voluntarily, or must not pause. The reliance on proper recitation was one method of memorization through oral transmission. The early state of the written Arabic language would have made uniformity of Scripture difficult. The gradual improvement of consistent written Arabic was complete by the late ninth century. Pictorial representation with written Scripture was considered irrelevant to the divine message. The word was all that the devoted needed. However, the development of calligraphy not only transmitted the word of God in written form, but supplied an aesthetic value evocative of Allah’s beauty and power. From the Otto Ege Collection.

The use of amulets did not originate in Islamic societies, nor was their use unique to Islamic societies. Arabic amulets were largely religious in content. Many amulets from the Arab world contained quotations from the Qur’an. Handwritten talismans served particular individual needs. Printed amulets reflected generic concerns, although the content and function of printed amulets remained virtually the same as handwritten amulets. Both were intended to protect the bearer by thwarting evil forces through the inherent power of the words or names contained in them. Printed amulets were produced to look like handwritten amulets, although they were often more elaborately decorated. Handwritten or printed, the amulets varied a great deal. All, however, relied on supernatural forces such as angels, mystical names, or the holiest name – that of Allah – for their power. The format of the text was fairly standard – a greeting to God, a declaration of intent, invocations, and a closing blessing on the Prophet Muhammad and his family. Despite the fact that amulets were produced with a deliberate aesthetic appeal, they were not designed to be viewed casually, or, for that matter, to be read by mortals. The amulet wearer might be literate or not. The power of an amulet was created by its textual and/or graphic content. The ability to read the text or even understand the graphic symbols was not necessary. In fact, the text was addressed specifically to angels or spirits – the tiny hand or print virtually impossible to read. However, the text was verifiable upon request, much like the active ingredients of medicines are today – meaningless to the layperson, but explicable by an expert. Purchasers believed in the efficacy of amulets in the same way that we take the efficacy of medicine for granted. Similarly, amulets were produced with the same degree of certainty about the value of the product. The amulets were folded tightly, sometimes before the ink was dry, and remained folded. Most were put into ampules and then attached to garments or worn around the neck. Block-printed amulets disappeared due to economic competition. They did not fetch high prices and the buying power of the populace was limited. There were limits to the ways in which block-printed amulets could be personalized. Custom-made handwritten amulets had more appeal in a competitive marketplace. Gift of Dr. Aziz S. and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

This manuscript, written on polished laid paper, is an Arabic translation from a Greek or Coptic original of writings by St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa. It is written in large naskh script and contains an illumination of the Coptic Cross, surrounded by birds between the texts of the two books of commentary. Beginning sections of text are marked with red ink for the text, framed by diamond-shaped lozenges in red and black. Although the manuscript is undated, the motifs and painting style are typical of Egyptian illumination of the early 9th c. AH/15thc. CE. St. Basil the Great was born in Caesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia. After he attended school in Constantinople and at Athens he opened an oratory and law practice. Soon afterwards, he established a monastery in Pontus, which he directed for five years. He wrote a monastic rule which would become the longest lasting of those in the Byzantine East, still practiced by monks of the Eastern Orthodox church. St. Basil was one of the giants of the early church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism (which denied the divinity of Christ) and the denunciation of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381/82. St. Basil’s brother, Gregory became a Christian in his early twenties. Married, he went on to study for the priesthood. He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372. Gift of Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Lola Atiya.

This famous medieval Persian romance in verse tells the story of a school- boy infatuation that becomes a lifelong, unrequited passion. Thwarted by the disapproval of his parents, the boy, Qays, loses his mind, earning him the nickname “al-Majnun” (madman). Majnun and his love Layla never unite in life, but were buried in a single grave. Tradition says that the story is based upon real persons. Some of the verses are alleged to have been written by Majnun himself. The poet Nizami was born at the end of the Umayyad period and studied traditional epic poetry, which incorporated love lyrics or ghazal. Nizami became one of its greatest proponents. Nizami completed his Laili u Majnun in 1188, his lyrics reflecting his Sufi faith. Nizami wrote for a small circle of sophisticated, highly educated readers at Persian court. He dedicated his poem to his patron Shirwanshah Acksitan Minuchihr, a Transcaucasian chieftan. Illumination on polished laid paper, coated with gold powder suspended in a liquid to give it sheen. The page layout is of four columns, each separated by a strip of blue pigment on which are painted blossoms in liquid gold and long, thin stylized leaves.

This collection of poetry, written by Zīb al-Nisā Begam (1638-1702), the daughter of Awrangzib (1618-1707), the last major Mughal Emperor of India, is written in a nasta ‘liq script on laid paper with endsheets watermarked with a crowned shield with bird and tower. The text is written in double columns with headings in red across both columns. Overlining, synonyms and decorative elements are in red. The late rebinding destroyed some of the commentary. As a member of the royal family, Zib al-Nisa studied Persian, Arabic, Dari, Hindi, calligraphy, mathematics, and astronomy. By the age of seven, she had memorized the Qu’ran. As a young woman, she held considerable influence over her father’s political thinking, often helping him settle disputes between Sunni and Shia. She held her own courts at Delhi and Lahore, which became meeting places for scholars and poets. She established a library and employed calligraphers to copy classical Arabic texts translated into Persian. She established a scriptorium in Kashmir, noted for its excellent paper and scribes. She began writing poetry when she was fourteen. Zib al-Nisa chose the Sufi path over that of her strict Muslim father. In 1681 her younger brother unsuccessfully rebelled against her father. Zib al-Nisa was accused of allying herself with the rebellion and was imprisoned. From that time, there is no record of her until her death in 1702. She was able to circulate her poetry as “Makhfi,” or, “the hidden one.” Thirty-five years after her death more than four hundred of her poems were collected and translated into Persian as Diwan-i Makhfi. Many of her poems are ghazal, an Arabic form. Zib al-Nisa’s poems are expressions of her Sufi belief and her personal devotion to Allah.

Published by ‘Abd Allāh Abū al-Su’ūd in Cairo, this semi-weekly was one of two of the first independently published newspapers to appear in the Arab world.

Illustrated with hand drawings scanned into a computer, the book is shaped like a building typical of those symbolized on historic Jewish wedding rings and is presented in a representational jewelry box. Edition of three hundred copies, signed and numbered. University of Utah copy is no. 114.