Ibn-i Kemal. Kitab Fiqh; manuscript of Kemal Pasha from the Ottoman Empire, 1551

Figh manuscript of Kemal Pasha from the 16th century–

Ibn-i Kemal. Kitab Fiqh. Işlâ-hu’l-Vikaye of the Kemâlpaşazâde. Arabic manuscript in black and red ink on gelatinized handmade paper. 284 (right probably 276) hs. numbered sheets (approx. 552 p.). Font space: 15.4 x 7.3 cm. Format: 22 x 14 cm. The beginning of the text with a decorative strip in gold ornament, with flowers and blossoms on an indigo background, the title double page with a four-line frame in blue and gold, each page of text in a simple gold frame. Headings partly in gold and red font, with red rubrication, vocalization marks, notes and underlining. Smoothed calfskin flap band d. Z. (without the flap, joints weak, one broken, edge damage, edges partly open, here and there a little more scuffed and bumped, spine probably once replaced) with floral arabesques on a deeply embossed gold background: three central medallions and four corner pieces each. Ottoman Empire dated “958 H” (d. i. 1551).

Kemal Pasha – or with his patronymic Ibn-i Kemal (1468-1534) was one of the most important legal scholars, historians and poets of the Ottoman Empire, who, among other things, a great chronicle of the House of Osman (Tevârîh-i Al-i Osmân). His central jurisprudence text is the so-called “Kitab Fiqh”, a collection of Islamic jurisprudence texts according to the divine Islamic laws, which are based on the surahs of the Koran and the Sunnah and were interpreted by Kemal Pasha.

The present manuscript is an early copy in the hand of Mehmed bin Yusuf, called Ba bin Awlia, which he ultimately dates to the year 958 of the Hejra (around 1551 AD). – Apparently complete, with numerous comments from the madrassa students in red and black, but only a few spots with some stains and signs of wear, here and there the text is a little rubbed off, but mostly very good and remarkably fresh. The first and last pages with ownership notes crossed out.