Ɵ Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslin Qutabaya al-Dinawari al-Marwazi

Ɵ Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslin Qutabaya al-Dinawari al-Marwazi, known as 'Ibn Qutabaya', Kitab Qarib al-Hadith al-Sharif, containing third volume only (of three), in Arabic, decorated manuscript on thick buff paper [Abbasid territories (possibly Baghdad), dated Shawwal 580 AH (January 1185 AD)]single volume, 60 leaves, third and final volume of the text only, single column, between 15 and 16 lines cursive script with thuluth influences, early ink ownership inscriptions to title, some slight finger-soiling and staining, a few minor early worm-holes to lower edges (not affecting text), overall very attractive condition, 205 by 140 mm.; late eighteenth- or early nineteenth century leather over pasteboards, ruled in blind with centrally stamped Mamluk-style circular device to covers, spine a little faded, extremities rubbedIbn Qutabaya (d. 276 AH / 889 AD) was a Persian scholar, polymath and senior judge for the Abbasid Caliphate. During his lifetime he compiled a vast number of treatises on Islamic theology, hadith, Arabic grammar and history among other subjects. He remains one of the highest regarded hadith scholars and jurists of Sunni Islam, with many examples of his work being copied in manuscript form for an entire millennia after his death. This treatise is a continuation of an earlier version of the Qarib al-Hadith by al-Qasim al-Salah, whereby Ibn Qutabaya compiled a larger body of work on the foundations of the previous text. The present copy comprises one volume of a three-part work and is a strikingly early example of the text. Al-Alam notes that Chester Beatty Library has a copy of the first juz' copied in Baghdad and dated 279 AH (892 AD) and a further two juz' are held in the Az-Zahiriya library in Damascus (Al-Alam bibliography, IV, pp. 137). Despite the legacy of Ibn Qutabaya's works, only one early manuscript copy of this work has been traced at public auction: Christie's sold an example copied in Fez dated Jumada II 458 (March 1066 AD) on 24 April 2015 (lot 248, realising £11,250).