{PDF} Keys to the Sciences (“Maq?l?d al-?ul?m”): A Gift for the Muzaffarid Sh?h Shuj?? on the Definitions of Technical Terms Gholamreza Dadkhah, Reza Pourjavady (eds.)

Edited with an Introduction by Gholamreza Dadkhah & Reza Pourjavady.

‘Maq?l?d al-?ul?m’ (‘Keys to the Sciences’) is a significant source on definitions of Arabic scientific terms in the post-classical period. Composed by an anonymous author, it contains over eighteen hundred definitions in the realm of twenty-one religious, literary, and rational sciences. The work was dedicated to the Muzaffarid Sh?h Shuj??, who ruled over Shiraz and its neighbouring regions from 759/1358 to 786/1384. The present volume contains a critical edition of ‘Maq?l?d al-?ul?m’ based on its three extant manuscripts. In the introduction, the editors review previous scholarship on the text, present an overview of patronage at the court of Sh?h Shuj?? and identify some of the sources used by the author of the work. They suggest that the work in its structure mirrors Ab? ?Abdull?h Khw?razm??s ‘Maf?t?? al-?ul?m’, completed in 366/976.