Files
Download Full Text (85.3 MB)
Description
The recent discovery of a 19th-century Arabic manuscript in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, initiated a period of intense collaboration between the Museum and the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, culminating in the 2023–24 exhibition ‘Power of the Word V: Circles of Knowledge.’ The first part of this article describes the manuscript, while the second part looks at its contents, a striking visual encyclopaedia, mostly from Safavid sources, entitled Tuḥfat al-Khāqān: Dawāʾir al-ʿUlūm wa-Jadāwil al-Ruqūm (A Gift for the Emperor: Circles of Sciences and Tables of Numerals). Its sections range from cosmogony and alphanumeric cosmology to geography, geomancy and the basics of ʿaqīda, all laid out and wrapped in complex circular, stellated patterns, and tables, totalling one hundred and eight diagrams. We examine and compare page samples from a handful of copies found in libraries around the world, and we offer some reflections on its relevance for the history of ideas and for data visualization technology
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Description Of The Manuscript 3
Title And Authorship 6
Contents 8
Incipit Spread 9
Circles/Tables 1–12 (Fols 2v–12r) 11
13–30 (Fol. 11r–16v): Alphanumeric, Alphabetic,
Astrological And Magical 20
31–37 (Fol. 17r–19v): Geomancy (ʿilm Al-Raml) 26
38–57 (20r–23v): Astronomy And Astrology 28
58–63 (Fol. 24r–27r): Geography 30
64–70 (Fol. 27r-30r): Alchemy And ‘Material Science’ 32
71–103 (Fol. 30v–43r): Qurʾān, Islamic Jurisprudence
(Fiqh) And Doctrine (ʿaqīda) 33
104–5 And 107 (Fol. 43v–44r): Supernatural
Occurrences Such As Visions And Miracles 36
106 And 108 (Fol. 44v–45v): Dynasties 36
On The Diagrammatic Nature Of
The Tuhfa 37
Conclusion: In The History Of Ideas 39
Bibliography 42
Appendix 1 45
Appendix 2 48
Appendix 3 52
About The Authors 54
Publication Information
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London, 2026
Series
Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Papers
AKU Student
no
Volume
13
ISBN
ISSN 2633-8890
Keywords
codicology, palaeography, diagrams, Arabic, Islamic philosophy, Shia cosmology
Recommended Citation
Acevedo, Juan and Bénard da Costa, Inês, "A Gift for the Emperor Dawāʾir al-ʿUlūm wa-Jadāwil al-Ruqūm, a Mediaeval Graphic Encyclopaedia of the 19th Century" (2026). Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series. Book 13.
Included in
Arabic Studies Commons, Islamic Studies Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons