Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr

Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr (Supplement to the Wine of the Age) is an Arabic biographical supplement composed by Abdullah al-Jazairi (1112–1173 AH / 1700–1760 CE) to supply biographies of scholars and poets omitted from Ibn Ma'sum's biographical anthology Sulafat al-Asr fi Mahasin Shu'ara' Kulli Misr Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1.

Background and Purpose

The author recorded the work in his autobiographical catalogue al-Ijazah al-Kabirah, noting that while Ibn Ma'sum (Ali Khan ibn Ahmad, d. 1118 or 1120 AH) produced an admirable collection of prominent eleventh-century figures, he had missed numerous notables from Khuzestan and neighboring regions Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr. This omission occurred because Ibn Ma'sum composed Sulafat al-Asr during his lengthy stay in India, leaving him unfamiliar with figures whose reputations had not reached him there Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr. Al-Jazairi therefore compiled entries for several regional scholars and poets whose circumstances he had researched, emulating Ibn Ma'sum's literary diction and rhymed prose style, which met with the approval of al-Jazairi's father, Nur al-Din ibn Ni'mat Allah al-Jazairi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr.

Contents and Structure

The book is an exceptionally concise work, occupying no more than ten leaves in medium format Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr. In its core manuscript tradition, it contains biographical entries for six scholars and poets:

1. Isma'il ibn Sa'd al-Musawi al-Huwayzi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1
2. Shihab al-Din ibn Ma'tuq al-Musawi al-Huwayzi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1
3. Ma'tuq ibn Shihab al-Din al-Musawi al-Huwayzi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1
4. Fath Allah ibn Alwan al-Ka'bi al-Dawraqi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1
5. Qiwam al-Din al-Hasani al-Sayfi al-Qazwini Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1
6. Nur al-Din ibn Ni'mat Allah al-Jazairi, the author's father Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1

In modern print, two additional entries—covering Ali Balil al-Musawi al-Dawraqi and his son Ibrahim ibn Ali Balil al-Dawraqi—were appended by the editor from a fragmentary miscellany whose introductory phrasing mirrors al-Jazairi's style Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1.

Transmission and Editions

Due to its small size and inclusion in unindexed miscellanies (majami'), the supplement became extremely scarce and was regarded as lost by some researchers within the author's family, aside from brief excerpts quoted in al-Ijazah al-Kabirah Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1. It was referenced by Aqa Buzurg al-Tihrani in al-Dhari'ah ila Tasanif al-Shi'ah and by Muhammad al-Jazairi in al-Shajarah al-Mubarakah Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr.

The primary surviving witnesses include:

• A manuscript transcribed by Muhammad Ali al-Rawdati al-Isfahani (begun in 1365 AH) from a 1200 AH copy penned by the author's son, Baha' al-Din Muhammad, directly from al-Jazairi's autograph Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr.
• A manuscript held at the Mar'ashi Najafi Library in Qom (MS 7337), transcribed in 1213 AH by the author's grandson, Ni'mat Allah ibn Muhammad Hadi ibn Abdullah al-Jazairi, which lacks the biography of Fath Allah al-Dawraqi Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr.

The text was edited by Hadi Balil al-Musawi and published in Muharram 1420 AH by al-Maktabah al-Adabiyyah al-Mukhtassah in Qom Tadhyil Sulafat al-Asr+1.