Safīna-yi Tabrīz (Persian:سفینهٔ تبریز, "[The] Vessel of Tabriz" or "[The] Treasury of Tabriz") is an important encyclopedicmanuscript from14th centuryIlkhanidIran compiled by Abu'l Majd Muhammad ibn Mas'ud Tabrizi between 1321 and 1323.
"Safina" (Persian:سفینه,Arabic:سفينة) is anArabic word meaning "vessel". In term of manuscripts, it denotes a special form of a book whose cover is elongated. Thus when the book is opened, it resembles a long vessel. InPersian use, 'safineh' is a synonym for 'jong' (جُنگ) which means a collection of essays or poems.
Based on the manuscript, the book has been published in facsimile byTehran University Press.[1] As it constitutes a rare Islamic manuscript that has recently been discovered, it has generated a great deal of interest amongIslamic,Iranian andMiddle Eastern scholars. It is almost perfectly preserved, and contains 209 works on a wide range of subjects, in Persian and Arabic as well as some poetry denoted byFahlaviyat and theIranian language ofTabriz. According to Professors A. A. Seyed-Gohrab and S. McGlinn, The Safineh:is indeed a whole treasure-house, compressed between two covers. One of the important features of the Safinah is that it contains works of a number of philosophers who were not known until the discovery of the manuscript.
The texts of the Safina-yi Tabrizi contain separate chapters covering[2]hadeeth(traditions of the prophet of Islam),lexicography,ethics,mysticism,jurisprudence,theology,exegesis,history,grammar,linguistics,literature[3]literary criticism,philosophy,astronomyastrology,geomancy,mineralogy,mathematics,medicine,music,physiognomy,[4]cosmography andgeography. According to Professors A.A. Seyed-Gohrab and S. McGlinn, some ofthe best available texts of important works of Islamic culture and learning are contained in this work.[5]
Several recent conferences have been held inIran as well as the West discussing the different aspects of this book. The two most important conferences with this regard were held in the university ofLeiden[2] and theUniversity of Tabriz inIran. The conference held in the city ofTabriz where the work was composed was designated with the theme:Tabriz in the mirror of The treasury of Tabriz.
According to Professor Seyyed Ali Al-e Davud:The picture one gets from the 7th and 8th century Islamic era from the Safina Tabriz is a complete picture of the cultural, scientific and social settings of that time. One of many aspects of this manuscript deals withIslamic philosophy. In his recent book[6] ProfessorSeyyed Hossein Nasr has described the manuscript as anearth shaking discovery. Dr.Nasr provides a brief overview of the philosophical treatise of the Safina.
The compendium constitutes about 209eclectic articles spanning numerous subjects and topics. All the articles are written in Persian and Arabic althoughFahlaviyyat poetry and sayings are seen in some of the articles.
Articles 77, 79 and 80 are in Arabic and fromAvicenna. They touch upon the question ofdestiny vsfree will among other philosophical topics. The questioner is the famous Persian poetAbusa'id Abolkhayr.
Article 84, in Persian, is a philosophical work ofNasir al-Din Tusi titled: "Aghaaz o Anjaam" (The beginning and the end).
Article 90, also in Persian, deals with how to find the moon in the current Zodiac without using a calendar. This article is taken from Nasir al-Din Tusi.
Article 92 contains tables of the position of stars and astronomical calculations.
Article 97 deals with mathematics. It contains three sections and each section is composed of two subsections.
Article 99 also in Persian deals with medicine and the benefits and harm of various fruits, plants and breads.
Articles 112 and 113 list the date of birth of Prophets, Caliphs, important scholars, pre-Islamic kings of Persia as well as post-Islamic kings, and the birth of important philosophers like those ofAristotle andJamasp, the companion of Zoroaster. Relative to his own time, the author placesAdam at 6700 years before andNoah at 4900 years before.
Article 114 (in Persian) is about the history of Tabriz. It mentions the building of Tabriz in the hands of Wahsudan, theRawadid ruler.
Article 134 contains the dictionaryLughat-i Fors (lexicon of the Persian language) ofAsadi Tusi.
Articles 138 and 139 (in Persian) deal with the moral and philosophical topics presented by the Sassanid VizirBozorgmehr.
Article 145, which is composed of three sections, is aboutmusic and is written by Ajab ol-Zaman Mohammad ibn Mahmud Nishapuri.
Article 163 in Persian deals with the health benefits of perfumes and good smelling medicine.
Article 165 in Persian is titled: "The reason for snow and rain" and has 20 sections.
Article 166, in Persian, is about geography and deals with the regions and cities of the world.
Article 196, in Persian, is about knowledge and logic.
Article 205 titled: "A short report on the BaniUmmayad" is in Arabic and gives a brief history of theUmayyad dynasty fromMuawiyah all the way to the lastUmmayyads ofSpain.
Besides standard Arabic and Persian, the texts contains many every day expressions of theancient Iranian language of Tabriz during the Ilkhanid era also termed asFahlaviyat deriving from the word Pahlavi. As it is evident in chapter 124, page 533, in that time the language of Tabriz was not Turkish and the common language in Tabriz was Pahlavi (or ancient Azari)[7]
A sample expression of Fahlaviyat from the mysticBaba Faraj Tabrizi in the Safina:[8]
انانک قدهي فرجشون فعالم آندره اووارادا چاشمش نه پيف قدم کينستا نه پيف حدوث
Standard Persian:
چندانک فرج را در عالم آوردهاند چشم او نه بر قدم افتادهاست نه بر حدوث
The Safina (written in the Ilkhanid era) contains many poems and sentences from the old regional dialect of Azerbaijan. Another portion of the Safina contains a direct sentence in what the native Tabrizi author has explicitly called as "Zaban-i-Tabriz"(language of Tabriz)[9]
دَچَان چوچرخ نکویت مو ایر رهشه مهر دورش
چَو ِش دَ کارده شکویت ولَول ودَارد سَر ِ یَوه
پَری بقهر اره میر دون جو پور زون هنرمند
پروکری اَنزوتون منی که آن هزیوه
اکیژ بحتَ ورامرو کی چرخ هانزمَویتی
ژژور منشی چو بخت اهون قدریوه
نه چرخ استه نبوتی نه روزو ورو فوتی
زو ِم چو واش خللیوه زمم حو بورضی ربوه
Interesting debates between various objects constitute some of the articles of the Safina. In each of these debates, each object boasts of its own quality relative to its opponent while attempting to belittle their opponents. Through these abstractions of inanimate objects, the authors use bothpoetry and composition to convey moral and philosophical lessons. The following listed articles all in Persian are the debates between the inanimate objects.
Article 45: The debate between the Rose and Wine (Monaazereyeh Gol o Mol / مناظرهء گُل و مُل) by Abu Sa'id Tirmidhi
Article 46: The debate between the Cypress tree and Water (Monaazereyeh Sarv o aab / مناظرهء سرو و آب) by Qadi Nezam al-din Esfahani
Article 47: The debate between the wine and hashish (Monaazereyeh Sharab o Hashish / مناظرهء شراب و حشیش) by Sa'ad al-Din ibn Baha al-din
Article 48: Another debate between the wine and hashish (Monaazereyeh Sharab o Hashish / مناظرهء شراب و حشیش) by an unknown author
Article 49: The debate between the sword and the pen (Monaazereyeh Shamshir o Qalam / مناظرهء شمشیر و قلم) by an unknown author
Article 50: The debate between the earth and sky (Monaazereyeh Zamin o Asemaan / مناظرهء زمین و آسمان) by unknown author
Article 51: The debate between the fire and the earth (Monaazereyeh Al-Naar va Al-Toraab / مناظرهء النار و التراب) by Amin Al-Din Abul Qasim Al-Haji Bolah
Article 52: The debate between the sight and hearing (Monaazereyeh Al-Sama' va Al-Basar / مناظرهء السمع و البصر) by the compiler of the Safina, Abu'l Majd Muhammad b. Mas'ud Tabrizi
Article 53: The debate between poetry and prose (Monaazereyeh Nazm o Nasr / مناظرهء نظم و نثر) by Abu'l Majd Muhammad b. Mas'ud Tabrizi
In the book "Seyed-Gohrab, A. A. & S. McGlinn, A Treasury from Tabriz: the Great Il-Khanid Compendium. (Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers)" to be published in February 2007, the following English articles touch on the various aspects of the Safina: