مجله متن شناسی ادب فارسی
سال شانزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 61، بهار 1403)

In this research, by referring to an old description and several contemporary descriptions of Makhzan al-Asrar, while comparing the commentators' opinions in the analysis of verses from this work, the differences and ambiguities of the description of the verses have been discussed. Considering that the selected verses are controversial, paying attention to the opinion of each commentator and comparing them with each other, on the other hand, shows the importance and position of each work, ambiguities, and possibly the semantic inadequacies of each verse become obvious. Mohammad Qavam Balkhi's commentary is one of the oldest manuscripts of MakhzAn al-Asrar, which dates back to the 8th century and has influenced many later commentaries. Hassan Vahid Dastgerdi's commentary is one of the first contemporary printed commentaries, and along with Behrouz Servatiyan's and Barat Zanjani's commentary on Makhzan al-Asrar, it has been of great interest to researchers in this field. The results of the current research shows that the difference in meaning and interpretation in these explanations is relatively high, and sometimes they have differences. In addition, some of these meanings do not solve the problem in the end, and the ambiguity of the verse remains. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the more precise meaning of the verses while referring to the textual context of the verses, and taking advantage of the poetic evidence of other Nizami poems, descriptions, and interpretations of Makhzan al-Asrar should be discussed again.

Categorization of literary works into various types has been a focal point for literary critics since ancient times. Persian literary texts have been classified into genres, such as epic literature, didactic literature, and lyrical literature. However, there has been independent research on the introduction of other literary genres. To date, the role of texts, such as the histories of Bal'ami, Bayhaqi, Jovini Jahāngoshā, and Wasāf, which blur the lines between their historical and literary values, has not been clearly defined. These texts have not been collectively examined to identify their general and common characteristics and establish a precise classification of their various branches and sub-branches as an "independent literary genre." Due to the shared features among historical texts and their distinctions from other literary works, they can be considered an independent literary type termed "historical literature." This study aimed to define the characteristics of this new literary genre and provide a comprehensive classification.

The historical book of Jahangosha Joveyni (658 AH) holds significant importance as a historical work from the Mongol period, surpassing similar works in terms of its historical and literary value, as well as its early composition. This superiority can be attributed to the literary qualities of the text, particularly its artistic order, which differs from the standard syntactic construction. Artistic order characterized by ungrammatical syntactic construction contributes to the aesthetic quality of the text, playing a crucial role in its artistic expression and literary significance. The avoidance of grammatical norms in syntax is achieved through 4 principles: displacement, substitution, reduction, and increase. Through an examination of Jahangosha's history, it was found that while this syntactic norm avoidance led to unconventional syntax, it also enhanced the prominence and aesthetic impact of the text. Notably, Joveyni artistically employed the principle of "increase" through protest sentences, transforming it into a distinctive stylistic feature and a unique linguistic behavior. This study demonstrated the effective use of grammatical avoidance by Joveyni, highlighting the artistic and aesthetic value of his work.

Alexander the Great is one of the historical figures whose life, Adventures, and campaign stories have such a wide reflection in Persian poetry and prose that such a great Persian poet as Nizami Ganjavi also has addressed this issue in his Iskandernāme. This largest Nizami's work has two parts: Sharafnāma and Iqbalnāma. Many of the stories and anecdotes in Nizami's Khamsa and especially Iskandernāme are taken from many oral and written sources, historical and fictional texts, Legends, and myths in Persian, Arabic, and other languages to which Nizami, in his own way, has had direct and indirect reference. Certainly, Nizami has relied on his knowledge and other existing works and sources to form the story of Alexander. This article aims to introduce the sources used by Nizami from his statements and references in Iskandernāme by the method of descriptive and content analysis. Findings indicate that Nizami while being mastered in various sciences and other languages, especially Arabic, had access to historical, Geographic, literary, philosophical, and mythical works of nations and a large part of narrations, anecdotes, and events of his Iskandernāme are taken from these works or their translations and with his rhetorical art he has embellished and composed them and then has made some changes in them.

Jalaloddin Davani who has written many books, treatises, and letters, is one of the great scholars of the Shiraz school of thought during the Timurid period. Considering his influential attitude in the dynamics and excellence of Persian mystical literature, it is important to know about his Persian works which often include mysticism, philosophy, and theology. Obviously, before judging his opinions and beliefs, one should investigate the authenticity of his works. Therefore, the present research aims at the critical codicology of Persian works attributed to Davani to determine their authenticity. Reviewing the catalogue of manuscripts in the libraries shows that, in most catalogues, there are many mistakes in the title of Davani's Persian works. These bibliographic mistakes have been repeated in the works of many subsequent authors. To write the paper First, based on the Union Catalogue of Iran Manuscripts (Fankha), the titles of all Persian works attributed to Davani were identified. Then, using his Persian manuscripts and other sources, the authenticity of his Persian works in the catalogue of manuscripts was examined. In this study, through the comparative investigation of Davani's Persian manuscripts in Iran, some of our codicological and bibliographic information about Davani's Persian works have been corrected, especially the title and number of his authentic and non-authentic works. The result of the current critical codicology showed that Davani has written at least twenty original Persian works. In addition, according to the entries of Davani's Persian works in Fankha, at least nine non-original Persian works have been attributed to him. Thus, at least nine entries of Davani's Persian works in Iran seem incorrect.

Manuscript 2754 at the library of Astan Quds Razavi is one of the translated copies of the Quran dedicated to the fifteenth part of the scripture (from 17:16 to 18:73). The translation is written between the Arabic lines of the Quran and in Naskh style. The translator and writer of this manuscript are unknown but, due to the antiquity of the language and the script, it dates back to the fifth century AH. In the 6th century (AH), the manuscript was gifted by Abi al-Qasim’s daughter, a lady from Khorasan. It has 53 pages each with the size of 17 × 25 cm, 5 lines of text, and 5 lines of translation. In terms of orthography, the text is free of mistakes, cross-outs, and left-outs. The verses in this ink-written script are in four colors (black, red, green, and yellow). The text of the translation is written between the lines of the verses in a small font but in a legible manner, and there is no trace of a specific dialect in it. Therefore, it cannot be attributed to a specific area. Considering the old script and phonetic, grammatical, and lexical features, the translation seems to belong to the 5th century (AH).