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Lot Essay
The importance of these two folios lies in the fact that it bears the handwritten note of Abu Hafs 'Umar bin Muhammad bin Mu'ammar bin Tabarzad, a renowned scholar, attesting that this manuscript was read to Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf (Saladin). Historical sources referring to the illustrious figure and contemporaneous with him are rare. In this particular case it refers to Salah al-Din as muhaddith or scholar in the science of hadith, a lesser known facet of the sultan's personality. In his Biographical Dictionary, Al-Zerekly mentions that Salah al-Din trained in fiqh, adab and hadith in Cairo and Alexandria (Al-Zerekly, Al-A'lam, Beirut, 2007, vol. VIII, p.220). Salah al-Din was appointed vizier to the last Fatimid Caliph, al-'Adid before taking control of Egypt and Syria after the death of the Caliph and Nur al-Din Zenki (AH 569). He entered Damascus without a fight in AH 570, becoming a central and iconic figure of the Crusades.
The note is dated 13 years after the Sultan's death by Ibn Tabarzad who according to Ibn Khalliqan's dictionary was 'a Traditionist of great celebrity [..] The Traditions which he had received by oral transmission were remarkable as coming from the highest authorities, and, as he travelled through various countries teaching (them) to others [..] he filled the earth with the certificates which he gave to those who heard him deliver Traditions [..]. He lived to so advanced an age that he remained without a rival [..]. He died in Baghdad in 1210 AD' (Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary translated from the Arabic by Mac Guckin de Slane, vol. I, Paris, 1843'. According to the note on one of these folios, Ibn Tabarzad read the complete volume III of Kitab al-ja'diyat to Salah al-Din. Kitab al-Ja'diyat is a work by Abu al-Hasan 'Ali bin al-Ja'd bin 'Ubayd al-Hashimi. Who was a religious scholar from Baghdad (750 - 845 AD). It is a work on hadith in 12 sections (Al-Zerekly, Al-A'lam, Biographical Dictionary, Beirut, 2007, vol. IV, p.269).
The note is dated 13 years after the Sultan's death by Ibn Tabarzad who according to Ibn Khalliqan's dictionary was 'a Traditionist of great celebrity [..] The Traditions which he had received by oral transmission were remarkable as coming from the highest authorities, and, as he travelled through various countries teaching (them) to others [..] he filled the earth with the certificates which he gave to those who heard him deliver Traditions [..]. He lived to so advanced an age that he remained without a rival [..]. He died in Baghdad in 1210 AD' (Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary translated from the Arabic by Mac Guckin de Slane, vol. I, Paris, 1843'. According to the note on one of these folios, Ibn Tabarzad read the complete volume III of Kitab al-ja'diyat to Salah al-Din. Kitab al-Ja'diyat is a work by Abu al-Hasan 'Ali bin al-Ja'd bin 'Ubayd al-Hashimi. Who was a religious scholar from Baghdad (750 - 845 AD). It is a work on hadith in 12 sections (Al-Zerekly, Al-A'lam, Biographical Dictionary, Beirut, 2007, vol. IV, p.269).