Baillie, John, of Leys, 1772-1833 (Member of Parliament, and East India Company Official)
Dates
- Existence: 1772 - 1833
Biography
Hailing from Inverness, John Baillie of Leys entered the Bengal army of the East India Company in 1790 C.E., reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1814. His competence as a linguist led to his appointment as Professor of Arabic and Persian and of “Mohammedan Law” at Fort William College, Calcutta, from 1801-1807, during which time he published a Course of Lectures on Arabic Grammar (1801), and An Entire and Correct Edition of the Five Books upon Arabic Grammar (1802-1805). He also fought during the second Anglo-Maratha War 1803-1805, and held the position of Political Officer at Bundelkhand 1804-1806. In 1807 he was appointed British Resident (Political Agent) at the court of the Sa‘adat ‘Alī Khān, Nawwāb of Awadh (reigned 1798 – 1814), at Lucknow. He held this position for eight years.
On his retirement and return to Britain in 1816 he became a Member of Parliament, first for Heddon in England 1820-1830, and then for Inverness, Scotland, 1830-1833. He was also a Director of the East India Company at various times between 1823 and 1833. When Baillie died in London in 1833 his substantial manuscript collecion was overlooked. It was rediscovered there six years later by Duncan Forbes, Professor of Oriental Languages at King's College London, and subsequently returned to Baillie’s family in Scotland.
His grandson John B. Baillie of Leys bequeathed his grandfather's collection of 166 mainly Arabic and Persian manuscripts to the University Library in 1876. They are also listed in M. Hukk’s A descriptive catalogue of the Arabic and Persian manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (1925).
Found in 11 Collections and/or Records:
الاشباه والنظائر الفقهیه علی مذهب الحنفیه al-Ashbāh wa-al-naḍā'ir al-fiqhiyyah 'alá madhhab al-Ḥanafiyyah, undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)
A work on the Ḥanafī school of Islamic jurisprudence (includīng tenets and practice). The author is described as Zayn b. Najīm al-Ḥanafī, whose full name, as mentioned in other works, is Zain al-'Ābidīn b. Ibrāhīm b. Najīm al-Miṣrī (d. 969 or 970 A.H., 1561 or 1562 C.E.).
شرح مفاتیح الشرائع Sharḥ Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', 1175 A.H., 1761 C.E.
An extensive commentary upon Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', a treatise on Islamic law by Mawlānā Muḥammad Muḥsin Kashānī (still alive in 1105 A.H.). The present work, compiled in 1090 A.H.(1679 C.E.), is by the author's nephew, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Murtaḍá, known as al-Raḍī.
This commentary is in two volumes, OR MS 11 and 12.
شرح مفاتیح الشرائع Sharḥ Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', 1175 A.H., 1761 C.E.
An extensive commentary upon Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', a treatise on Islamic law, by Mawlānā Muḥammad Muḥsin Kashānī (still alive in 1105 A.H.). The present work, compiled in 1090 A.H. (1679 C.E.), is by the author's nephew, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Murtaḍá, known as al-Raḍī.
This commentary is in two volumes, OR MS 11 and 12.
فقه الامامیّة Fiqh al-Imāmiyyat, undated copy
A digest of Twelver Shi'ite Islamic Law by Sirāj al-Ḥaqq. There appear to be substantial lacunae in the present copy.
فقه الامامیه Fiqh al-Imāmiyyah, 1205 A.H., 1790 C.E.
A digest of Twelver Shi'ite Islamic Law by Sirāj al-Ḥaqq. The work (or this copy) was written at the request of Sir William Jones (so states a note at the beginning, and another at the end, in the hand of Col. John Baillie).
فقه السراجیه Fiqh al-Sirājiyyah, undated copy (original text composed 12th or 13th cent. C.E.)
The well-known treatise on the Islamic Inheritance law by Muhammad b. Muḥammad Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sajāwandī (about 600 A.H., 1203 C.E.), whose name, however, does not appear in the present copy. OR MS 17 is a further volume of this work.
فقه السراجیه في المساقاة Fiqh al-Sirājiyyah fī al-Musāqāh, undated
The well-known treatise on the Islamic Inheritance law by Muhammad b. Muḥammad Sirāj al-Dīn al-Sajāwandī (about 600 A.H., 1203 C.E.), whose name, however, does not appear in the present copy. This is the second volume of this work. Or Ms 16 is the first.
فقه في الحدود والقصاص والتعزیرات Fiqh fī al-ḥudūd wa al-qiṣāṣ wa al-ta'zīrāt, undated
کنز الدقائق Kanz al-daqā'iq, undated copy (original text composed 13th or 14th cent. C.E.)
A work on Ḥanafī Law, by Abū al-Barakāt 'Abd-allāh b. Aḥmad b. Maḥmūd al-Nasafī (d. 710 A.H., 1310 C.E.). It is an abridgement of his al-Wāfī. This manuscript has been annotated in places in English. The annotations appear to be a reader's notes, translations and interpretations of the meanings of certain sections of the Arabic text. The hand appears to be that of John Baillie.
مختلف الشیعه في احکام الشریعه Mukhtalif al-Shī'ah fī aḥkām al-sharī'ah, 958 A.H., 1551 C.E.
Sections of an important digest on Shi'i law by the celebrated al-'Allāmah, Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf b. 'Alī b. al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī (d. aged 78, 726 A.H., 1325 C.E.).
The present incomplete copy consists of divisions 3 and 4 of the work, and is divided into six books. The topics treated among them include commerce, debts, trusts and deposits, rent, gifts, and marriage.