A 443-Year-Old Manuscript of a Poetry Book Unveiled in Mashhad

A manuscript of “Kholāsat al-Ash’ār va Zobdat al-Afkār” (The Essence of Poems and The Cream of Thoughts) by Taqi al-Din Kashani, dating back 443 years, was unveiled at the Astan Quds Razavi Library in Mashhad.

Seyed Amir Mansouri, an expert in manuscripts at Astan Quds Razavi, stated at the unveiling ceremony: “This work, written in the author’s own hand on 45 folios with 26 lines each, was transcribed in the year 1004 AH (1595/96 CE). It includes a list of the poets whose biographies are mentioned in this Tazkirah (biographical anthology).”

“The work also contains the names of some rulers and their poems. This copy is among the works donated by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the Astan Quds Razavi Library,” he added.

“Kholāsat al-Ash’ār va Zobdat al-Afkār” is a Tazkirah whose writing was ostensibly commissioned by the government at the end of the first Islamic millennium during the reign of Shah Tahmasb Safavi. It was started by Taqi al-Din Kashani and took 40 years to complete.

Taqi al-Din Kashani also had a special devotion to Imam Reza (AS), as phrases like “O Imam Reza (AS), help!” are visible in this work. The seals on the manuscript are also of particular importance.

The Organization of Libraries, Museums, and Documents Center of Astan Quds Razavi, with 58 libraries in Mashhad and other cities, holds several thousand museum pieces, 2 million periodicals, 106,000 manuscripts, 65,000 lithographic books, and 13.5 million historical documents, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive libraries in the Islamic world.

Currently, over 8,200 manuscripts in the field of literature in Persian and Arabic are preserved at the Central Manuscripts Center of the Astan Quds Razavi Central Library. The oldest manuscript on this subject, in Arabic, is the “Sharh Divan-e Tamim ibn Muqbil” (Commentary on the Diwan of Tamim ibn Muqbil), which dates back to the year 380 AH (990/91 CE).

Source: Miras Arya News Agency | News Code: 1404062601797