The diploma of the trgypt tan calligr apherHasan al-Rushdr-bv Adam GacekMclennan Library, the main library of McGill Uni-versity, houses a small collection of Arabic, Persianand Ottoman Turkish codices, as well as over 200fragments and calligraphs. Among the valuabie calli-graphic collection there are some eighty-two signedcalligraphic pieces and twenty-eight diplomas (.ijazat),thirteen of which are to be found in a unique smallformat manuscript (AC 156).

The manuscript in question is written on whatappears to be Persian laid paper and measures194mm x 1l8mm. I t consists of twelve fol ios and twofly leaves (European laid paper showing a fragment ofa watermark. probably three hats with feathers). Folios10 and 11 are glued together. The whole is bound indark-red leather. with gilt decoration but without theotherwise charcteristic flap. This and the type of paperpoint to Persian craftmanship. This is quite unusual inview of the fact that the manuscript was produced inEgypt. The beginning of the text, written in a vocalizedNaskh hand. is surmounted by an elegant headpieceexecuted in gold and colours and is enclosed in agolden frame (135 mm. x 75 mm.) out l ined by twoblack rules. Round gold disks serve as text division.The end of the main text (f. 7b) carries the date 1 1574.H.. i .e. 1744 or 1745 A.D. Appended to this text aretwelve other diplomas, which serve as endorsements, aswell as two statements (f. 8a and 8b) simply recordingthe facr that so and so was present during the session(ntajlis) of granting the diplomas. All but the lastendorsement bear the date given above. The final, one-page diploma, is dated dhAl aliJ or dhal and numberone ( i .e. Dh0 al-Qa'dah) [ ]163 1 [October 1750].

This unique manuscript, purchased by Dr. G.R.Lomer (1882-1970), a former Librar ian of McGil lUniversity, is the diploma granted to Hasan al-Rushdiby his teacher Abd Allh al-Anrs al-Mawlawr andendorsed by a host of famous calligraphers of theperiod. The main text, apart from being a diploma, is akind of catena (silsilah) of calligraphers beginning withMulrammad al-Nun, the teacher of Abd Allh al-Anrs,and ending with Al ibn Abi Tlib and Muhammad. Itis interesting to observe that there is no signature ofthe master to be found and everything points to thefact that the main text was executed in fact by al-Rushdr himself. It is on the basis of this exercise thatthe other calligraphers could grant al-Rushdr their

licence to sign his work with the word kataba i.e. hewrote. he executed i t 1.

Hasan Afandr ibn Abd Allh al-Rushdi. of Turkishorigin (al-R[mi). was a slave of the late Ah Agh, anemissary of the Sublime Porte (Dar al-Sa'dah). Hismaster bought him in his youth and educated him inthe art of penmanship. His diploma, reiates al-Jabartr,was granted to him in the presence of a large audience.Al-RushdT later married the daughter of his teacherand after the death of the calligrapher Ism'rl ibn Abdal-Rahmn al-Wahbi. a pupil of Muhammad al-Nurr(d. l l87 A.H.i l174 A.D.), he was declared he shaykhof calligraphers. It is to him, that Murtad al-Zabld1the author of the well-known dictionary Ti al-'arus,dedicated his work on calligraphers entitled Hikmat al-ishraq ila kuttab al-aJaq. Hasan al-RushdT died thesame year as al-Zabrd, namely 1205 A.H/1790 A.D.2.

Al-Rushdr's teacher Abd Allh Afandi, known asal-Anis, the Head of a Mawlawl taktyah in Cairo, firststudied calligraphy under Sulaymn al-Shkin, a pupilof Husayn al-Jaza'irl, and later under Muhammad al-N[rr. from whom he received an ijazah. According toa l -Jabar tT he d ied in 1159 A.H. /1746 A.D.3 .

The document composed by al-AnIs is a small tract,a kind of exhortation (trasyaft) in the spirit of suflsm.The author begins with the traditional formulae.namely basmalah, hamdalah, shahadah, tasliyah andha'dtyah. He introduces himself after the ba'dtyah (.2b), after which follows a section in praise of penman-ship and Hasan al-Rushdi himself. Then on folio 4abegins he ijazah proper. Al-Anis gives al-Rushdr per-mission to transmit the knowledge of calligraphy onhis authority and on the authority of his teacher'steachers. He also gives him licence to set himself up asa teacher and, most importantly, to sign his work withthe phrase katabahu Hasan al-Rushd (f. 4b).He thenproceeds to admonish him to respect the rules ofcalligraphy; for example, not to cut the word at theend of the line and to correctly point and vocalize it. Inshort, to follow the rules of Shaykh Hamd Allh. Al-Anrs also adds that he should not elevate himself aboveothers.

After this exhortation follows his chain of authori-lies (sanarl including such famous calligraphers asShaykh Hamd Ailh, Khayr al-Drn al-Mar'ashr, AbdAllh al-Sayra, Yqut al-Musta'sim, Ibn al-Bawwb,

Manuscripts of the Middle East 4 (1989) acl Ter Lugt Press, Donkersteeglg,2312 HA Leiden, Netherlands. 1989 rssN 0920-0401

ADA\4 CACEK, THE D IPLOMA O I - HASAN AL -RUSHDI 45

Ibn Muqlah and, traditionally, Hasan al-Basrr, Ali andMulrammad. The main links in the School of ShaykhHamd Allh, known as al-tarqah al-hamdyah, are:

L Muhammad ai-Nlri (Mulrammad ibn Ibrhrm al-Maqdisr, known as al-Nir , d. 1162 A.H.l1749 A.D.)o.

2. Husayn al-Jaz'tr1 (Husayn ibn Abd Allh al-Jaz'irr al-RlmT, also expert in arabesque - sina'at al-t a w r q - , d . l l 2 5 A . H . l l 7 l 3 A . D . ) s .

3. Darwlsh Al (known as al-Shaykh al-Thn, d.1086 A.H. /167 5-6 A.D. 6 .

4.Khlid al:Azlz (Halit Erzurumi, d. 1040 A.H.i1 6 3 0 A . D . ) ? .

5 . Hasan a l -Uskudr i (d . 1023 A.H. l1614 A.D. ) t .6. Pir Mullammad Afand (Muhammad ibn Shukr

A l lh , d .988 A.H. /1580 A.D. ) r .7. Darwsh Mutrammad (father of Pr Mulrammad

Afandr , d . l00 l A .H. /1592-3 A.D. ) 10 .8. Musta-a Dadah (father of Darwrsh Mulrammad

and son of Shaykh Hamd Allh, also referred to as hisfa ther , Ibn a l -Shaykh, d .945 A.H. /1538 A.D. )11 .

9. Hamd Allh, known as Ibn al-Shaykh al-Amsr(d .926 A.H. / I 520 A.D. ) 12 .

As mentioned above the main ijazah is foilowed by aseries of additional diplomas and statements. And thusthe first in this series of diplomas is signed by theteacher of al-Ants, Muhammad al-N[rr, who remarksabout his pupil's excellent choice of words. The otherdiplomas are signed by:

Ism'rl al-Zuhdl(brother of Mustaf Rsim, d.l22lA . H . / 1 8 0 6 A . D . ) ' . .

Hasan al-Diy'r, a pupil of Jaz'ir1(thus, without thearticle), later al-Shkir (Hasan ibn Hasan al-Diy'i al-Mis r r , b . 1098 A.H. /1686-7 , d . l l82 A.H. l1768-9 A.D.or l l80 A.H.i l767 A.D. According to al-Zabdr hestudied first under his father, then under his shal'kh al-Sayyid Ali and Slih Afandr Hammmjr-zdah. alsoknown as a l -Hammmr, who d ied in l l24 A.H. i1712A.D. Al-Jabart adds that he not only mastered thestyle of al-tartqah al-hamdryah but also the style oftartqat lbn al-Sa'igh)ra.

Ahmad ibn Ism'rl (most probably Shihb al-DrnAbu al-Irshd Ahmad ibn Ism'rl al-Afqam, a pupil ofa l -Shk i r , d .1215 A.H. /1800-1 A.D. )1s .

Ah, known as al-Mlikr, a pupil of MuhammadNtrr (thus, without the article) (possibly the same asal-Sayyid Al, a teacher of Hasan al-Diy'r, see above).

Ibrhim Ab[ al-Fath al-Riwaydi (thus vocalized), apupil of Ahmad al-Azharl (Ab[ al-Fath Ibrhim ibnQsim al-Riwaydi al-Hammmr al-Wa{'r, received hisijazah from the above mentioned Ahmad, known i's al-Afqam. According to al-Kurdr he was born I127 A.Hl1715 and d ied in l2 l l A .H. l1796-7 A.D. ) 'u .

Alrmad Abu al:Iz4 a pupil of Ahmad al-AzharT(Ab[ al-'Izz Ahmad ibn Ylsuf al-Shanawnr al-Misrtal-Shf i ' r , d.1207 11792 A.D.) ' ' .

Mulrammad al-Azharr, a pupil of Muhammad al-Kiridi (Mehmet Giridi, a pupil of Hfi2 'Uthmn,d . 1 1 6 5 A . H . / 1 7 5 1 A . D . ) " .

Abd Allh, a pupil of Anrs (thus, without the article)al-Mawlawl

Ahmad al-Mukhlis, a pupil of Muhammad knownas Nln (thus, without the article).

Sulaymn, a pupil of Hasan al-Diy'r (Sulaymn ibnAbd Allh al-R[mi al-MisrT, d.l l79 A.H.i l756-6A .D . ) t n .

Mulrammad Najrb Suyilji-zdah al-Ayyubr(Muhammad Najb ibn'Umar, the author ol Devhat-t i l -k i i r tb, d .1171 A.H. l l '757 A.D. or 1172 A.H. i l758-9 A .D . ) ro .

The two statements of attendance are signed by twopupils of al-AnTs, namely Ism1l al-Hmid and 'Umaral-H.fi2 bi-al-Qur'n. So far nothing else is knownabout their lives.

* Reproduced with the kind permission of The Depart-ment of Rare Books and Soecial Collections of the Mccil lUnivers i ty L ibrar ies.

NOTES

1 The technical word for the expression katabahu isktbah (thus vocalized in Hikmat al-ishrdq of al-Zabidi, seebelow). The granting of the l icence is introduced either bythe word ajaztu or adhantu, meaning 'I permitted, I autho-rised'. e.g. adhantu bi-v'ad' al-kitbah li-katih hadhihi al-qit 'ah(as in no. AC97 in the McGill collection). In view of the factthat there are man)' other words used to express writ ing andcopying. the word kataba assumes here great importance.To be able to writc kataba before one's name presupposesthe possession of a d ip loma. In other words. i t is only thefully f ledged call igrapher who is entit led to use it. Otherwords encountered in conjuction with a signature areharrara, n(tmmaqa, resame, mashaqa, raqama and sa\,bada.For possible meanings of these see A. Schimmel, Calligraph.vand Is lamic cul ture (New York, 1984), p. l7 l , n . 61.

2 For biographical information on Hasan al-Rushdr seein particular Abd al-Rahmn al-JabarI1, Ta'rkh 'a.ja'ih al-athar / ol-tarajim wa-al-akhhar (Beirut: Dr al-Fris, n.d.),vol.2. pp. 116-117. Hikmat al-ishraq of al-Zabldl was editedby Abd al-Salm Hr[n and published in his l{aw'adir al-mukhtutut (Cairo, 1954). vo l .5, pp.50-99. The other famouspupil of al-Nlri was Ahmad ibn Abd Allh al-Shukri. d.l l94 A.H. i l780 A"D. (see a l -Zabid i , pp.95-96 and a l -Jaba r t r , vo l . 1 , p .551 ) .

3 Al -Jabart i , ih d. , vo1.1, p.247 .a Al-Zabidi, Hikmat al-ishraq, p.94. See also Muham-

mad Thir al-Kurdi, Ta'rrkh al-khatt al-'arabr v'a-adabuhu(Ca i ro ,1939 ) , p . 251 .

s Muhammad Khahl al-Murdr, Silk al-durar.fi a')'an al-qarn a l - than 'ashar (Cairo, l874-1883), vo l . 2 . pp. 55-56.

6 Al-Zabldt, Hkmat al-ishraq, p.92; S. Rado, Ti)rk hat-tatlan (Istanbul, n.d.), pp. 100-101.

r Cl. Huart, Les calligraphes et les miniaturistes deI'Orient musulman (Paris, 1908), p.134; Rado, Tiirk hat-(tt lart, p.93l, al-Zabrd1 op. cit., p.91.

46 MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST, l ( I989)

The diploma of the Egyptian call igrapher Hasan al-Rushdi.MS McGi l l Univers i ty L ibrary AC 156. b inding.

8 Huart , Cal l igraphes,p. I32; Rado. op. c i l . , p .86.e Hua r t , op . c i t . , p . l 24 ; Rado , op . c . i t . . p .77 .10 Huart , op. c i t . , p . 128; Rado, op. c i l . , pp. 80-82.I I Huart , op. c i t . , p . l l2 ; Rado, op. c i t . , p .65.12 Huart , op. c i t . , pp. 108-112; Rado, op. c t . . pp.49-54.13 Huart , op. c i t . , p .188; Rado, op. c i r . , 186.ta Al-Zab1dt, op. cit., pp. 94-95; al-Jabartr, op. t,t., vol.l,

pp.333-334. For Hammmj i -zdah see Rado, op. c i t . ,p . l2 l .Al-Diy'i 's chain of authorit ies in the School of Ibn al-S'igh is: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Mu'ti al-Simillwr,Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ammr, Muhammad ibn

Ammr, Yahy al-Marsaf, ism'rl al-Mukattib, Muham-mad al-Wasmi. Abn al-Fadlal-A'raj and Ibn al-S'igh (Abdal-Rahmn ibn Ylsuf. d. 845 A.H./1441-2 A.D., the authorof Tuhfat ult al-albab fi sina'at al-khatt v,a-al-kitab).

's Al -Kurd . op. c i t . , p .224; a l -Zabld , op. c i t . , p .95.16 Al-Kurdr, op. cit., pp.221 and 313 ; al-Zabld1, op. cit.,

p . 95; a l -Jabart i , op. c i l . . vo l . 2 , p.177 .1? Al -Jabart r , op. c i t . , vo l .2, p.147.18 For Muhammad al-Kiridr see Rado, op. cit., p. 150.1q Al -Jabart1, op. c i t . , vo l . 1 , p. 332.20 Huart , op. c i t . . p .176; Rado, op. c i t . , p .159.

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