305

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.431, cont., 12.432)

Cod. Or. 12.432 A versified work on Hanefite jurisprudence The work in mesnevi rhyme was composed, as is clear from the preface (3a:2-4), by Devletogli Yüsuf Balikesrf in 827-8 (1423-5), and dedicated to Sultan Murad II (2b: 8). The author clearly did not give the work a title, and it is known as ‘Kitab el-Beyan' (cf. Karatay 227), or was given descriptive titles on the bottom edge such as ‘Manzüme-i mesd’il e$-$er'rye' (cf. Flemming 343) or ‘Manzumet fikh Turk? (the present copy). According to Katib Celebi (Kashf az-zunün VI, p. 465), the work was a translation of the popular Arabic al-Wiqaya, a summary of al-Marghinanl’s al-Hidaya, written in the 6/12th century (cf. Flemming p . 273; GAL I, pp. 376-7). The copy is undated but a note on f. 243b written in 995 (1587) makes it plausible that it dates from the late 16th century or earlier. The work consists of an introduction, including an author’s preface (lb-5a), and a series of unnumbered books’ (kitab), subdivided into chapters (bob) and sections (fast), devoted to the usual range of subjects, from canonical purification (taharet, 5a), to the problem of hermaphrodites (hunsa, 242b). Marginal corrections and additions; a few pencil notes by Taeschner. The end-