---

UNDER REVISION AND COMPLETION 2009-10

 

In making these ongoing and highly provisional translations of Surahs of the  of the Qayyūm al-asmā'  I have consulted various mss. including a clearly written copy of the very early mss dated 1261 (now Haifa IBA vi)  in the hand of Muhammad Mahdī ibn Karbalā'ī Shāh Karam, Browne F.11 (1891) and a very clear mss.  dated 1323/1905-6 originating in Iran (INBA) and found in the Afnan Library.  Scanned pages  from this early ms. (1261) and a typed version of this text with endnoted alternative readings from select  further mss. will in due course be incorporated along with a complete English translation. The Arabic text which precedes the translation of QA1 etc on this Website will in other words register the text of the early Karbalā'ī Shāh Karam mss.  noting other textual readings from other mss. such as the QA. mss. dated the 1st Muḥarram, 1323/ 8th March 1905 (copy in Afnan Library, London).  The tentative translations  posted here (many first completed in the early 1980s and subsequently revised) will eventually encompass the whole of the Qayyūm al-asmā', the Arabic text of which exists in a large number of sometimes very good mss. This ongoing translation is not, however, made from a critical edition (not yet fully established) but attempts a fairly literalistic rendering based on a few good mss., only resulting in a semi-critical edition (in progress).

Significant textual variants or possible omission(s) will be sparingly indicated by a red asterisk * (and /or a reddened text) placed within the Arabic text of QA (in New Times Roman unicode font) and clarified  at the end of the Surah  translation through a succinct clarification of variant readings in text critical endnotes.  Such texts of the QA as exist provide a fairly solid basis for a future critical edition. Significant variant readings appear not to be as numerous as was once suspected though versification in line with  the Bab's own template of 42 revealed verses per Surah ( see the translations below) is sometimes difficult (if not impossible) to establish with confidence.

One might at this stage guess that something like 95% of the text  of the QA is  sound. In the sparingly registered text critical notes appended here to the surahs of the QA., the following abbreviations are used for QA manuscripts consulted

• QA ms. 1261 = Muhammad Mahdī ibn Karbalā'ī, dated 1261. One of the earliest extant mss.

• QA cited Izhaq = early citations of the QA in Muhammad Karim Khān Kirmanī (d. 1871) Izhāq al-bāṭil  ("The Crushing of Falsehood"), 1261/1845).

• QA ms. F.11 = Browne Coll. Cambridge Univ. F.11 (1891)

• QA ms. 1323 = QA copy made 1st Muḥarram, 1323/ 8th March 1905.  More  MSS. to be added here  

• ADD

• ADD

• ADD

Towards a Critical edition and Translation of the Qayyum al-asma' of the Bab

QA. 1

The Sūrat al-mulk  Introductory Notes

سورة الملك  

Sūrat al-mulk  = The Surah of the Dominion

Sūrat  Yūsuf = The Surah of Joseph

Sūrat al-ḥuriyya = The Surah  of the Maiden

سورة الحیّ

Sūrat al-ḥayy =The Surah of the Living One

 سورة الرّؤيإ

Sūrat al-aḥkām  [I]  =The Surah of the Decrees 1

سورة الغلام 

QA LXXVI

 سورة الورقة

سورة التربيع

سورة المجلل