(D. R Z4z F T8 27) Presented Fu Frederick De Jong Dz Jan Jast Vitkamr
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The Ltbrary of al-ía1rtIíálid al-Sahnzirt al-NaqSbandi(d. r z4zf t8 27) A facsimileof the inventory of his hbrary (MS Damascus,Maktabat al-Asad, No. zr9) Presentedfu Frederickde Jong dz Jan Jast Vitkamr l. INrnopucrroN ever, this would mean that the daftar was completed two days after the session.In this caseit could have 'l-Qa'da On 14 pu 1242 (9 June 1827),the great beencompiled to serve.in conjunction with the legali- Naqóbandria-r.'& 5álid al-Sahrazfiridied of the plague zed copy of the minutes. as a deed of ownership. in Damascusr.He left behind his own branch of the However. the fact that the minutes explicitly refer to Naqibandiyya2,knou'n as the Kálidi1'1'a.r'uhich had the contentsof the dtítur (seee.g. line l2 of the text of ftalíJasall over the Ottoman Empire and be1'ond3. Íhe rrnl.ttlur:,,, k ttrrtttrtttth rrt h i-lu19ld uI - da.í tar . .) exclu- Shortly before his death. {.álid designatedas his desthis possibilitl: obriouslr the ddiur was presented successorhis faltf'u. Ismá'rl al-Ináránra.Ismá'rl. riho in court. had been acceptedby' all of Kálid's l5ult/usas their Another explanation for the seemingly reversed supreme nturiicl. also died of the plague two weeks chronology of the dates could be that the text prece- after Kálid. In his turn. Ismá'rl had designated ding the inventory was added, on a spacewhich had 'Abd Muhammad b. Alláh al-{ánr as his successor. especiallybeen left blank for the purpose, after the Thereafter, rivalry and conflict between the kaltfas, court session.Here the contentsof the documentswill many of whom had not acceptedIsmá'Il's preference have been known to all partiesanyway. The introduc- 'iddat for al-Kánis, resultedin the disruption of the organiza- tory nature of the text (cf. ba1'an al-kutub al- tion of the {.álidiyya. Eventually, the order broke up ntawguda...) suggests.however, that it was conceived into relativelyisolated clustersó. to be an integral part of the tlaltar from the beginning. In addition to the problem of safeguarding the Also the positionof the sealssuggests that the text of continuity of his tartqa. al-iayf {.álid left posterity the da./'turrvas completed and that the seals were with a problem concerning the 1egal status of his stamped acrossthe written pagesbefore the minutes books. As appearsfrom MS Maktabat al-Asad (Dár were added: seals blur the text of the da/'tar in a al-Kutub al-Tahiriyya)No.2591, Kálid made a family number of cases.while the minutes seemto have been w'aqf of all the books in his possessionin the year written carefully around the seals. Thus, since the 1240i1824-5.The w,aqf'deed, however, had never been introductory text cannot have been added after the registeredin court but had survivedonly, by reasonof court session,and since the daftar cannot have been its being written on the fly-leaf of one of his books, compiled to serveas a deedof ownership,it seemsonly al-Qamusal-Muhrts. The text of the wac1fit'1'aprece- possibleto explain the dating of the legalizedcopy of ding the inventory of Kálid's library was copied on the minutes as a scribalerror. Monday, 7 Óumádà II1270 (7 March 1854).Wac1fiy1,a and inventory were copied by the same copyist. This inventory, which is the core of the manuscript under 2. Tup. Weqnvv.e, discussion,is followed by the minutes (mahdar) of a court sessionwhich was to settle the dispute between As mentioned in the w'aqfivya,al-íayf; Kálid himself Kálid's descendantsover the statusof the books. had written the deed on the fly-leaf of al-Qamus al- The contents of the texts suggestthat the v,aqfiyya Muftl The text of the v'aqf deed,transcribed at the was copied and the inventory made primarily to be beginningof the inventory of the library, is also repro- 'Abd usedin this court session.If the dating of the minutes duced in al-Magid al-KánT's al-Hadà'iq al- (5 Óumádá II 1270/ 5 March 1854)is correct, how- Wardiyl,a, where it is precededby an account by which Manuscripts ofthe Middle East 2 (19U7) i Ter Lugt Press.Donkersteeg 19,2312 HA Leiden. Netherlands.1987 ISSN09:0-0401 THE LIBRARYOF AL-SAYKKÁLID AL-NAQSBANDÍ 69 judge. who {álid made it known to his l5ahfasand disciplesthat The text of the deed was presentedto the he had made all his books v'aqf .The wac1fiyyastipula- requested that two persons testify that the books testhat: concerned were v,aqf in accordance with the stipula- le l. the tav'liya and the nazar of rhe w'aqf are to be tions of the waqif mentioned . Al-íayf; Muhammad 'Abdalláh held by eldestsons, and by their sons thereaf- Efendi b. al-S.ánial-Naq5bandr and al-bAgs S.álid's 'Abd terlo: {.idr Efendi b. al-Kanm Efendr al-Kurdr al- 2. in the caseof thesesons and their children being Naq5bandi2otestified that they had known the u'aqif' dead (or indisposed), ï"hetav'lit-a and nazariltya will be and the books, and that the books were the waclfof al- held, in order of precedence.by Ismá'íl al-Ináránr, iayf {àlid on the strength of what was stipulated in 'Abd Muhammad al-Násih, al-Fattáh, and Ismá'ri the waqf deed. The muftt and the court clerk, Alrmad Efendi al-Gaznl t '. Nlri al-Qal'r, attested to the honourable record of 3. when one of the sons losesthe tawli-vaof the',raql'. both witnesses(ta:Ëi-la), and the testimony of both 21. but later qualifiesfor this function again, ï.hetavliva disciplesof al-iayft ISálid was accepted will be restoredto him and will not remain with one of This led the judge to declare Íhe w'aqf legally valid the personsmentioned above; and the contentsof the w'aqf'deedas legallybinding, as 4. in the absenceof sons, the tawliya and nazar wlll claimed by the defendant.He prohibited the plaintiff be held by one of S.álid'sclosest relatives. one after the and the other descendantsol al-íavfr (álid to obstruct other. provided that he has knowledgeand piety; the defendant. 5. thereafter[i.e. in the absenceof qualified persons Thereupon.the plaintiff claimedthat the tlaql'was in the aforementionedcategories]. the most pious. not le-eal11'binding. sincethere was no original deed, righteousand knowledgeablemember of the NaqSban- the tucll had not been registered.and no judge had diyya {álidiyya will assumeÍhe tutrlivtt and nu:urí)'.tct: passedrerdict concerningits legal ralidity when the 6. thereafter.another pious member of the Naqíban- rrriq/- u as established22. diyya, or of any of the other tartqosof the saints,may Eventually. after consultation.the judge gave as hold theseoffices; verdict that the n'aqf'wasvalid and legally binding in 7. all books are made waqf in accordancewith the accordancewith the opinions of the Imáms Abu Y[suf nta/hab of al-Imám al-Sáfi'T12; and Mulrammad,23that it had to be honoured,and 8. no badal is allowed. not even of the smallest that it would be registered2a.Finally, he prohibited the tract1 3. plaintiff to obstruct the defendantin (the management o0 the vaqf2s. 3. Tur couRl pRocEEDt\(;sA\t) THEvERDIcr '1. Tllr I\\ EvroR\ .\\D ITS CoNTENTS 'Alï The court waspresided over by' Ridá. the Chief Judge (qadt ctl-qutlclt)ol Damascus.while the mtítí of The inventoryis describedbi' Muhammad Riyád al- Damascusta.Muhammad Táhir Efendïls, was also Máiih in his catalogueof the S[Íi manuscriptsin the present.The dispute involved two femaledescendants Táhiriyya Library (Dár al-Kutub al-7áhiriyya) in of al-íayft Kálid: al-say.vidaKadïfá Hánim binÍ al- DamascusT.It seemsthat the entire holdings of this ia-r( Yrlsuf Efendi al-Kurdr al-NaqSbandiand al-halfia library were recentlyincorporated into a larger organi- 'Abdalláh ÀftaU bint r6. The plaintiff, ctl-sa1'fida zaÍion,namely the Assad National Library (Maktabat {adr!a, was representedby al-.íarli Yahyá b. Asad al-Asad,P.O.Box 3639. Damascus). so calledafter the Alláh al-Harráti. The legal representativeof the defen- Presidentof the SyrianArab Republic.In this library 'Umar dant, at-haggaÁftab. was Efendi b. Y[suf al- the MS has retainedits original number. 259. The Kurdrl?. Legal representationof both women was presentstud-v and facsimileedition were made on the certifiedby the judge. in accordancewith the testimony basisof a microfilm presentedby the Assad National concerningthe proper legalstatus of the representation Library to the Library of the University of Leiden in 'Abd in the case of each representativegiven by al- the courseof October 1985,through the servicesof the 'Abd Qàdir b. Sams al-Drn al-Kurdr and Dá'[d b. Dutch embassy in Damascus2ó.According to the Alláh al-Kurdï. 7áhiriyya Library catalogue,the original MS measures Al-sayyída [adi[a claimed that the books of al-íay-ft 40 x 14 cm to the page.The facsimileis thereforenot Kálid had beenthe property of his deceasedson Na[m given in actual size,but somewhatreduced. It contains al-Drn Efendtr8, who had been her legal representa- 14 numberedfolios; of these/. la is the title-pageand tive, and that she was now entitled to her mandatory f. l4b would seemto be blank. On"ff. lb and 74a are shareofthese books. The defendant.however. obstruc- the legal texts concerningthe status of the w,aqfof al- ted her from obtaining her share by denying that the iayft \álid' s manuscript collection. On the title-page is books were property, claiming instead that on the a v'aqf stamp, containing the name of al-iayl {.álid al- strength of the waqf-deed written in the Qamus these Naq5bandi.This stamp is repeatedtwo or three times constituted a family w'aqf esrablishedby al-iayf; Kálid.