چکیده:
Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (634H/1236CE-710H/1311CE) wrotefour major works on astronomy: Nihāyat al‐idrāk fī dirāyat al‐aflāk (“The utmost attainment in comprehending the orbs), inArabic, first edition completed mid-Shaʿbān 680/November1281); the Ikhtiyārāt‐i Muẓaffarī (“Selections for Muẓaffar al-Dīn Arslan” [a minor ruler in Qasṭamūnī (modern Kastamonu,Turkey)], in Persian, completed sometime between 680/1281 and684/1285); al‐Tuḥfa al‐shāhiyya (“The imperial gift” dedicatedto the Vizier Amīr Shāh ibn Tāj al‐Dīn Muʿtazz ibn Ṭāhir inSiwās, in Arabic, first edition completed last part of Jumādā I684/ July or August 1285); and Faʿalta fa‐lā talum (“You’vedone it so don't blame [me]”), a supercommentary on theTadhkira fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa by Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, in Arabic,completed sometime after the Tuḥfa, which, Shīrāzī claims inFaʿalta, was plagiarized by a certain al-Ḥimādhī, whence theneed for this rather vituperative work). None of these works hasbeen edited or translated, which is rather surprising given the importance of all these texts for an understanding of Islamic astronomy. As a small contribution toward the goal of giving Shīrāzī’s works the editions they deserve, an edition and translation of the introduction and conclusion of the Nihāya are presented below.
خلاصه ماشینی:
0b-233b اه In the margin [Incipit and Introduction] (به تصویر صفحه مراجعه شود) وه نم ةرضح عیفر ینعأ هتدبزو رصعلا ةوفصو هتبخنو 6رهدلا ةصلاخ وه نم بانج (به تصویر صفحه مراجعه شود)یف (به تصویر صفحه مراجعه شود) [Incipit and Introduction] In the name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful Lord, you have been gracious; may you grant additional bounty Our master and teacher, the most excellent of men, the most learned of the world, the lord of mankind’s eminences, the model of the righteous, the sultan of the learned in the worlds, the touchstone of truth over all creation, the source of pride for the most worthy of humanity, the king of justices and judges, the pole of the faithful community, of truth and religion, Maḥmūd ibn Masʿūd al-Shīrāzī, may God continue the shadows of his glory and may God allow the Muslims to enjoy his favor and his bestowal of benefits, said:1 After praising God, the Creator of the heavens above the earths, as an example for careful observers, and their Adorner with the radiance of the fixed stars and the planets, as an inspiration for the hearts of the perspicacious with the intricacies of His craftsmanship of them, and praying for the master of the ancients and the moderns, Muḥammad, and his most excellent and virtuous family, I resolved at one time to compose for myself and for all colleagues a treatise in astronomy [ʿilm al-hayʾa] whose cognoscente gains happiness while its ignoramus is plunged in distress because it is the most noble of the sciences.