Page 207 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

The Omani Manuscript Collection at Muscat 197
who wanted to depose their Imam, in which he points out the issues
involved (cf. J.M. 6 iv). From 249 A.H. until his death in 260/873 he
was chief QadI in $uhar and was responsible for a number of the rulings
concerning the taxation of merchants involved in Oman’s rapidly
developing foreign trade.
(iii) Bashir, son of (ii)
Al-SalimI in the Lum'ah (W.21a) lists five works by him. From some of
the titles and from the extracts seen (notably in J.M. 1 and Bk. V,
Ch.VI of Jum‘ah al-$a’ighl’s Jawhar) it is clear that Bashir (as too his
brother ‘Abdullah) was very much concerned with problems arising
from the foreign occupation after the Civil War.
W. 41 A. ‘Abdullah ‘Uthman b. A. ‘Uthman, known as al-A$amm
Book XXVI of his al-Taj, copied from the original in 1107/1696, is
bound in with Book IX of the K. al Piya’ (W.42a) of ‘AwtabI
(acquisition number 461 or 469).
W. 42 Salmah b. Muslim al-‘AwtabI
(i) al-Qiya’ Books III, V, IX, X and XIII. From the internal evidence of
this and other works I would now place the piya’in the late 5th/11th
century; it is strongly influenced by the extreme Rustaq school teaching
of Ibn Barakah (W.44) and A. al-tfasan al-BisyawI (W.33), both of
whom are quoted (the latter was the teacher of Salmah’s teacher’s
teacher). Unfortunately the text of the piya’ itself gives no kunyah.
(ii) Extant in MSS nos. 138 and 1409 is a sirah by A. ’1-Mundhir (sic)
Salmah b. Muslim al-‘AwtabI to ‘All b. ‘AH and his brother al-tfasan b.
‘All al-KilawI (Kilwah). This is also found in MS 138 of Qalhatl’s
al-Sfrat al-Kilawiyyah (cf. W.52 below), but time did not permit a
detailed comparison of the two texts. Since the latter was probably
written in connection with events towards the middle of the 6th/12th
century (discussed in W.52 below), this Sirah is probably by the
younger ‘AwtabI (i.e. the author of the Ansab). If, in fact, this is the
case, then I think we can conclude that ‘AwtabI senior’s floruit was
toward the pnd of the 5th/11th century and his grandson’s during the
first half of the 6th/12th century.
W. 44 Ibn Barakah
(i) K. al-Muwazanah (see J.M. 10 iii)
(ii) The second part of Ibn Barakah’s Jami‘ has been printed (cf. A.
Muhammad ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad b. Barakah al-BahlawI al-
‘Umanl, K. al-Jami" ed. ‘isa b. Yahya al-Barum, Turathuna series, II,
1974).
W. 46 Ibn Ja‘far (A. Jabir Muhammad b. Ja‘far) ( . .
JSmi*. In many such collections of rulings by early ulama it is
frequently difficult to distinguish what has been added by way of
commentary. In the particular copy examined of this work (No. 1216,
cf. Smith V.104) the difference has clearly been shown by the copyist
and this helps considerably in discovering whether the rulings existed in
the time of the First Imamate or not.
W. 48 Ibn al-Na^ar family , , . . . .
From the content of other works (notably the Bay&n al-shary it is clear