Arabic Manuscripts -Kitab al-yanabi‘

Arabic Manuscripts

Kitab al-yanabi‘

Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani was among the eminent early Ismaili da‘is of Persia in the 4th century AH /10th century CE. His contributions to various philosophical and cosmological doctrines of the Fatimid Ismailis can be traced through his numerous works, of which at least a half dozen (not counting minor epistles) are extant.

The title Kitab al-yanabi‘ or simply al-Yanabi‘ translates as The Book of Wellsprings or The Wellsprings. Yanabi‘ is the plural of yanbu‘, meaning spring, source, fountainhead, or wellspring. The work, in 40 chapters, is organised as a collection of themes, each individual theme being the subject of its own section or chapter, a yanbu‘. The Kitab al-yanabi‘ presents a theory of knowledge that accounts for the totality of the cosmos, seen by al-Sijistani as a macrocosm, and of humankind, as its microcosm.

The main body of al-Sijistani’s writing dates to a period just prior to 361 AH/971 CE, and an approximate date of 350 AH/961 CE, falling within the reign of the Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu‘izz, seems reasonable for this treatise.

Nearly a thousand years separate the time of composition and the date of this manuscript. Written in bold black naskhi script, this manuscript is one of three copies of this work in the IIS Library’s collection.

Copied in 1351 AH/1932 CE, by ‘Ali ibn Hammud Shubayl a-Hamdani

142 pages, 230 x 160 mm

www.iis.ac.uk

Peace,Unity,Brotherhood.................ismailione
ismailione@gmail.com