The dating of Ms Maxwell 93 in the Royal Asiatic Society Library
This short note by Russell Jones examines the colophon date of a copy of Nur ad-Din ar-Raniri’s Hujjat as-siddik li-daf’ az-zindik in MS Maxwell 93, Royal Asiatic Society Library, arguing that the scribe’s stated date of 12 Sha’ban 1186 AH (8 November 1772 AD) should be accepted.
Jones addresses Dr. Syed Muhammad Naguib al-Attas’s unexplained rejection of the colophon date in his 1966 facsimile edition. He demonstrates that the date is internally consistent: 12 Sha’ban 1186 AH falls on a Sunday, matching the day given by the copyist, and a parallel date in the preceding text (Bidayat al-mubtadi) also corresponds correctly to its stated weekday (p. 116). The only discrepancy is the windu year designation (waw), which Jones notes is of limited significance given known inconsistencies in such tables (p. 117). Watermark analysis of the PRO PATRIA paper, with closest matches dated ca. 1769–1770, virtually precludes a 17th-century date and is entirely consistent with 1772 AD (p. 117). Jones concludes that there is no reason to doubt the scribe Enchek ‘Abdul Aziz’s statement, and cautions against editors too casually rejecting scribe-given dates in Malay manuscripts (p. 117).