MUHAMMAD BAQIR IBN MUHAMMAD TAQI MAJLISI (D.1698... Lot n° 154

Arabic and Persian manuscript on paper, each folio with 21 lines written in black naskh and nastaliq script, parts with Persian interlinear translation in red nastaliq script, text within gold and polychrome frame, catchwords and keywords in red and blue, opening bifolio with finely illuminated headpiece, marginal occasional notes in black and red, colophon dated Ramadan1107 AH/1695 AD in Asfahan, with later added notes, ownership statements and seals. In original Qajar floral lacquer binding. Text panel: 10 by 19 cm. Folio: 15 by 24 cm. CATALOGUE NOTE Zad al-ma'ad is organized into 14 chapters with an epilogue. The first nine chapters are about supplications and religious practices in 12 lunar months, which at first gave an introduction on the religious virtues of each month followed by the supplications, ziyara and religious practices of each day and night of every month. In the tenth chapter, the supplications which are common in all the months are stated. In the eleventh chapter, ziyarah of the fourteen infallibles are stated, which were not mentioned in the last chapters. The thirteenth chapter is about the religious practices on dead people and funeral ceremony. And lastly the fourteenth chapter gives a summary on the rules of khums, zakat and i'tikaf (a period of retreat). And finally the epilogue is about kaffara (expiation). Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Taqi Majlisi born in 1627 was Shaykh al-Islam during the reign of Safavid Shah Sulayman (r.1666-94). One of the most famous Muslim scholars in jurisprudence and hadith and also among the most influential government officials of Shi'a in Safavid era and the author of Bihar al-Anwar which is a hadith collection. He was an expert in several Islamic sciences such as Tafsir, hadith, jurisprudence, Usul, history, Rijal and diraya, philosophy, logic, mathematics, literature, geography, medicine, astronomy and occult sciences.