More than the main text
Manuscripts may preserve copying dates, ownership, endowment notices, authorizations, auditions and corrections. Their evidential weight depends on their relation to the copy, their authors and their legibility. An early manuscript is not automatically an autograph, and a marginal note may belong to a later reader.
Al-Qūnawī’s Fihrist copy
Shams volume III examines the Fihrist copy in al-Qūnawī’s hand and its reading before Ibn al-ʿArabī in Ṣafar 627 AH. It reproduces images and discusses an unclear phrase, proposing a historical possibility conditional on its reading. This illustrates an important distinction: a possibility should not become an established journey in a biography before the evidence is resolved.
Reading the Futūḥāt witnesses
When comparing digital text with an image, record volume, folio or page, and side; distinguish original corrections from editorial interventions. The two authorial Futūḥāt versions need particular care. Use the Konya images and Cairo edition as identifiable witnesses with the site’s alignment notes, and check attribution before citing.
Sources and further reading
The source language appears beside each link. External books and sources may remain in their original languages.