Page 205 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

The Omani Manuscript Collection at Muscat 195
to the Qa<ji A. ’1-‘A1T al-Ffasan b. Ahmad b. Na$r al-Hijarf (d. 502 or
503/c. 1109) and others.
(ii) Three Sirahs of the QadT A. ‘Abdullah Muhammad b. ‘Isa b. Hamd
Allah al-Sirri.
(a) the conditions he imposed for recognising the Imam;
(b) his view on this tawbah, addressed to the Imam;
(c) his Sirah entitled al-Farq bayn al-Imam al-'alim wa-ghayr al-'alim.
(iii) The beginnings of a Sirah of the Imam (sic) A. Zakariyya’ Yahya b.
Sa‘Id to the Imam (sic) A. ‘Abdullah Muhammad b. Talut al-Nakhll.
A. Zakariyya’ was killed in 472/1079-80, and has left a jami\ Neither
figure was, in fact, an Imam.

Part III. This section may be drawn from a work entitled K. Slrat
al-A’immah (al-qafimin bi ’1-haqq fi’l-ummah al-kashifin kull
ghummah). It includes:
10. (i) The well-known correspondence of ‘Abdullah ibn Ibad (the
eponym of the Ibadiyyah) with the Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan.
(ii) The Sirah of Shablb b. ‘Afiyyah al-‘UmanJ. Shablb was one of the
survivors of al-Julanda b. Mas‘ud’s Imamate who attempted to keep some
sort of IbadI state going in central Oman; there is a considerable
difference of opinion about his status (cf. al-Saliml Tubfah, 1961, Ed. I,
104ff.).
(iii) The K. al-Muwazanah of Ibn Barakah (W.44). This is an extreme
Rustaq party polemic rejecting all compromise.
11. Book II of a compilation which includes the K. Manthurat al-Ashyakh.
The Manthurat itself seems to be an early compendium dating perhaps to
the 6th/12th century. It cites the writings and judgements of a number of
the early ‘ulama’ and it is around these that the rest of the work is
developed. Among the judgements is a very interesting section on the aflaj
irrigation system, with rulings down to the Ya'aribah period (18th
century).

III. K. Jawhar al-athar wa-minhaj al-abrar wa-asma’iha, a treatise of 14
large volumes, apparently by Jum‘ah b. ‘All al-$a’ighl (18th century?).
Vol. V of the complete set (MSS acquisition numbers 884-97) was
found to contain some interesting early material relevant to this study.
(For miscellaneous volumes other than this set cf. Smith V. 119, 120 and
127.)

B. MSS examined of authors discussed by the writer in
Arabian Studies III (supplementarynotes)
W. 32 A. ‘Abdullah Muhammad b. Ruh b. ‘Arab!
None of his works was seen, except in quotation, but from evidence in
other sources it would seem he belongs to the second half of the
4th/10th century and was a teacher of A. Sa‘Id al-Kudaml (W.39).