Kitāb Nuḫab al-dakā’ir fī aḥwāl al-ǧawāhir (The Book of Selected Treasures which deals on the Properties of Gemstones)

This paper examines the al-Anṣārī manuscript, titled: Kitāb Nuḫab al-dakā’ir fī aḥwāl al-ǧawāhir (The Book of Selected Treasures which deals on the Properties of Gemstones) came in two section and a conclusion. In the first part we will introduce the author, his most important works, his mansuscript provenance, and we will discuss the manuscript in terms of: the title of the treatise, its date, method, the author's sources, copies, and notes; while the second part deals with the translation manuscript into Italian and then focuses on a manuscript critique, its content and its formal characteristics. We will also delve into the manuscript’s text describing the paper type, the script, as well as the ink that was used in copying it. In the conclusion, we will address the difficulties that scholars face when they embark on the process of revising manuscript and translating it into another language. The treatise of al-Anṣārī, Kitāb Nuḫab al-dakā’ir fī aḥwāl al-ǧawāhir, preserved in manuscript BUB ms. 3406, cc. 91r.-101r., Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna; manuscript 3406 is a miscellaneous manuscript of the 16th century and its provenance was Luigi Ferdendo Marsili Fund The manuscript includes two other works by al- Anṣārī, namely: Iršād al-qā‘id ilà asnà al-maqā‘id (cc. 1r.-71r.) and Ġuniyat al-labīb fi ġaybat aṭ-ṭabīb (cc. 71v.-90v.), which were all three copied in Constantinople in the years 1007 and 1008 A.H (1598-1599 A.D.). In addition to the al-Anṣārī trilogy, the ms. 3406 also contains two incomplete writings by al-Ḥaḍr al-Mūṣlī (cc. 101v.-105r. e 105v.-132v.). This rare manuscript is part of a large collection of Arabic-Islamic manuscripts of which the Bologna University Library owns, and they are considered one of the richest collections of Islamic manuscripts (711 codices) hosted in an Italian public library, the Oriental Manuscripts Fund of the Bologna University Library. Over the course of several centuries the library, in addition to preserving these manuscripts with utmost care, has carried out various restoration processes and rebinding of many volumes. A many great them are written in Arabic and dated from the 13th to the early 18th century. The collection covers an extremely wide range of themes: dozens of beautifully decorated Holy Qur’ans, hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, theological debates, prayers, grammars, poetry and metrics, mysticism, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, history, geography, etc.