Manuscript Information

• Title in Arabic/Persian Script: دعوة المسلمين
• Arabic Title: Da'wat al-Muslimīn
• Chinese Title: 乜帖 汉文注音释义 (Nie tie Hanwen zhuyin shiyi)
• Author: None
• Assembler: None
• Editor: None
• Scrivener: None
• Translator: None
• Type: Book
• Place: Beijing
• Year: 1982
• Standard Year: 1982
• Language: Chinese||Arabic||Persian
• Publisher: 北京市伊斯兰教协会 Beijing city Islamic Association
• Number of Pages: 112
• Description: A popular pamphlet with many iterations, mostly self-published. Contains detailed instructions on how to perform prayers and ritual ablution. Instructions are offered in Persian while the ritual incantations are in Arabic. Arabic incantations are translated and transliterated into Chinese (this particular register of Chinese is known as jingtangyu among Sino-Muslims), while Persian instructions are only translated into Chinese.
• Notes: Some incantations are directly in Persian (such as certain niyyat for ritual ablution), while in other cases Persian instructions are offered for circumstances where Arabic incantations are to be recited. This arrangement implies that earlier users of this tri-lingual manual might have known Persian before they knew Arabic. Considering the fact the text was in wide circulation long before this printed edition appeared -- the calligraphy seems to indicate as much -- it is not unlikely that earlier users of this text were Persophone, though the extent of their knowledge in Persian is hard to ascertain. There are signs that show the scribe's knowledge of Persian to be limited; it might have been skewed by his knowledge of Arabic, which may indicate the later date of this manuscript. This text is graciously gifted by Professor Matsumoto Masumi of Muroran Institute of Technology in Japan.