The Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (d. 710/1311) Codex (Ms. Mar'ashī 12868)

Manuscript collections around the world preserve a considerable number of items written by the hand of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (634/1236-710/1311), one of the highly esteemed scholars of the eastern lands of Islam during the late 7th/13th and early 8th/14th century. Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī is, moreover, known to have written in 685/1286 in Konya a collective manuscript (majmū'a). Knowledge about this codex was for a long time restricted to the evidence provided by an incomplete copy that was transcribed in 1060/1650 and is nowdays part of the manuscript collection of the Parliamentary Library in Tehran (MS Majlis 593). The codex written by the hand of quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī has recently resurfaced and is now in the possession of the Great Library of Āyat Allāh al-'uẓmā Mar'ashī Najafī in Qum (MS Mar'ashī 12868). Textual similarities between the Shīrāzī Codex and another codex that is part of the Fâtih Collection - now held in the Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul - (MS Fâtih 3141), suggests that this codex, written by the hand of Tāj al-Dīn al-Kirmānī, a student of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, was likewise transcribed from the Shīrāzī Codex, although the scribe does not indicate his source. The present paper contains a detailed description of the Shīrāī Codex.