PERF No. 731: The Earliest Manuscript Of Mālik's Muwaṭṭaʾ Dated To His Own Time

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First Created: 18th June 2004

Last Updated: 19th June 2004

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

PERF No. 731, "the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Mālik ibn Anas". Recto Side.

PERF No. 731, "the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Mālik ibn Anas". Verso Side.

Date

Second half of 2nd century of hijra. This papyrus fragment is dated to Mālik's (d. 179 AH / 795 CE) own time.

Manuscript Number

PERF No. 731

Script

Early book hand carefully executed, especially on the recto. Note the angularity of the letters and the use of very early forms for some of them, such as the nūn in min of recto 2, the final qāf with slight double loop of recto 5, the extended initian ʿayn of verso 5 and 12, and the haʾ with beam, which is the characteristics of its sister forms, as in recto 8 and 14 and verso 3. Diacritical points are used rather freely. The alif of prolangation is generally omitted. The vowels and hamzah are indicated on in recto 9. A circle is used for punctuation; and a dot within the circle indicates collation.[1]

Recto has the contents of Bāb al-Targib fī-Sadaqah.

Location

Austrian National Library, Vienna.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Austrian National Library, Vienna, for providing us the manuscript.

And Allah knows best!

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References

[1] N. Abbott, Studies In Arabic Literary Papyri: Qur'anic Commentary And Tradition, 1967, Volume II, University of Chicago Press: Chicago (USA), p. 114.

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