A Critical Analysis of the Translation of Aṭbāgh al-DhahabWith Introducing a Newly-discovered Old Translation of it and Comparing it With the Edited Text

Sharaf al-Din Shafrava was a well-known scholar and writer of the 6th century AH/12th century CE. One of his works is entitled Atbāgh al-Dhahab fi mavāʿiz va al-Khoṭab, in which Shafrava imitated Zamakhshari's style in Aṭvāgh al-Dhahab. There exists an ancient Persian translation of this book edited critically by Rabiʿ-Niyā and Valimanish and published by Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament in 1391SH/2012CE. The present article aimed at analysing this translation critically. To achieve this aim, the printed text (1389SH/2010 & 1391SH/2012) was compared with the base manuscript of the edition and also with the Arabic original (1309AH/1891CE & 1329AH/1911CE). The comparisons showed that the edited text suffered from several errors, omissions and additions (by the editors), and attempt was made to correct such errors and detect all the instances of omission and addition. The second aim was introducing an ancient and newly-discovered manuscript of this translation and comparing the text of which with the edited text. The findings showed that this manuscript has more equivalents of Persian origin, and is, in some passages, different from the previous ones. Due to the mentioned deficiencies and shortcomings and discovery of the said manuscript, re-editing the text seems necessary.