The Unique Manuscript of al-Burṣān wa-l-‘urjān by al-Jāḥiẓ: A Tentative Dating of an Andalusian Manuscript

The Unique Manuscript of <em>al-Burṣān wa-l-‘urjān</em> by al-Jāḥiẓ: A Tentative Dating of an Andalusian Manuscript

The Rabat manuscript, BNRM, 87-Q, is a unique copy of Kitāb al-burṣān wa-l-‘urjān wa-l-‘umyān wa-l-ḥūlān written by the Basrian al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/869). It was used for the two known critical editions of this text (1972, 1982). Their confrontation with the manuscript reveals their merits and their limits. The codicological and paleographical examination of the manuscript allows us to consider it as an Andalusian book production and to suggest an approximate dating of the end of the 4th/10th or even of the beginning of the 5th/11th century. The identification of one of its first possessors is an additional argument for this dating and localization. These elements make this document a rare witness to the dissemination of some writings of al-Jāḥiẓ in al-Andalus.

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