of Rajab al-Fard in the year 1352 AH. It was taken from a manuscript riddled with errors, and the copyist exerted himself to correct whatever mistakes of the first scribe he could ascertain. May Allah reward everyone with the best reward, and may blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, his family, and his Companions. Āmīn.”

The copyist then collated it with another exemplar, recording the differences in the margins and marking them with the letter (n). At the end he notes that he compared it with two copies other than the original.

What is striking is that he also compared it with the printed edition, as he explicitly states at the sign (q). It appears that he sometimes emended the text on that basis, for many of his corrections coincide with the printed version.

Heartfelt thanks are due to the respected King Saud University for making its priceless scholarly holdings available online.

7 – The Paris Copy (B):
This copy is preserved in the National Library in Paris under catalogue number 566. It consists of 35 large-format folios, about 35 lines to a page. I obtained a reproduction from the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies—may Allah reward them generously.

Its title reproduces exactly that of the archetype: “This is an abridged account of the condition of the imam, the eminent scholar, Shaykh al-Islam Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn…"