On its margins one finds a variety of annotations. Among them are the scribe’s own conjectures about the correct reading of certain words, introduced with the phrase, “perhaps it should read….” There are also restorations of omitted passages, showing that the copy was compared with another exemplar; clarifications of difficult words accompanied by the term (bayān, “explanation”); headings inserted for some of the discussions contained in the book; and notes on the differences between manuscripts, indicating that the scribe had a second copy before him—or that these notes were already present in the master copy and he reproduced them verbatim. He marks such differences with either (n) or (kh). A further siglum, (ẓ), is most often used when he encounters a problematic word or line of poetry.

4 – The Kuwait copy (K)

This manuscript is kept at the Center for Manuscripts, Heritage, and Documents in Kuwait under number 97–64. It comprises 165 large-format pages, each bearing between 28 and 33 lines. The text is written in a clear, elegant Persian hand. The copy once belonged to Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqī before passing to the Center.

According to the colophon, it was transcribed on Monday, 12 Shawwāl 1312 AH. Two scholarly brothers alternated in copying it, and the colophon reads as follows: “The complete copying of this precious book from its beginning up to page 115 was finished by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan (1)—may his Lord safeguard him. From page 116 to the end it was written by Abū Ismāʿīl Yūsuf Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Ṣābir al-Ḥanīf al-Sunni al-Muḥammadi. Completed on Monday, 12 Shawwāl 1312 AH. May the most exalted prayers and purest greetings be upon its author.”