Folio from a dispersed manuscript
copy of the Dalâ’il al-Khayrât  
written in the Sudani script


Nigeria or Western Sudan
early 20th Century

 


Folio 100a


Folio 100b

Folio 100a  from a dispersed manuscript copy of the Dalâ’il al-Khayrât

Folio 49b  from a dispersed manuscript copy of the Dalâ’il al-Khayrât

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Description:

    Leaf Dimensions:  11.5 cm wide x 17.5 cm high

    Folio from a dispersed manuscript copy of the Dalâ’il al-Khayrât.
    Inner margin of page edge is cut.
    Stiff, thick tan colored laid paper.
    Chain and rule lines are visible in the paper.
    Partial watermarks are present along the bottom edge the leaf.
    
    
    
Side a

    Five lines of text.
    Main text is written in black ink in Arabic.
    Fourth line of text is written in red.
    Text markings in green, yellow and red ink.
    The text is written in a Sudani style Maghribi script (Ifriqi script).
    No interlinear or marginal notes present.

    Leaf is numbered 100 in pencil at the upper right corner of the page.
    Dealer (Griffon's Medieval Manuscripts, Inc.) catalog number 26509 
    written in pencil lower right corner of page.



Side b

    Five lines of text.
    Main text is written in black ink in Arabic.
    Third line of text is written in red.    
    Text markings in green, yellow and red ink.
    The text is written in a Sudani style Maghribi script (Ifriqi 
    script).
    No interlinear or marginal notes present.
    Catchwords at bottom of the page in different smaller and 
    script than that of the main text.
    

 

 


Additional notes. 
     

     The Dalâ’il al-khayrât or "Guide to Good Deeds" or 
     "The Indications of Grace" is a collection of prayers 
     and devotions.  It was composed by Muhammad bin Sulay-man 
     al-Juzuli, a Moroccan, who died in 1465.
     
     Copies of this immensely popular work often included 
     illuminated pages showing paintings of Mecca and Medina.
     The work also includes an elaborate genealogy of the Prophet.
       
     Sudani is an Arabic script which is used in Sub-Saharan 
     West Africa.  It is a thick densly written linear script 
     which originated in the 13th century in Timbuktu.  This 
     type of West African Arabic script is also known as the 
     Ifriqi script.  It belongs to the Maghribi family of scripts.
     
     
    

 


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All presented material is Copyright © 2005, 2006, 2009 by Theodore Bernhardt.
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