Holograph rough draft ( مسودة , see note f. 1v) of the Arabic translation of Gnomonices libri octo (Rome: Apud F. Zanettum, 1581) by Christophorus Clavius Bambergensis (Christoph Klau of Bamberg, كلاويوس بامبرجنسيس الفرنجي , d. 1537 or 38; see f. 82r, line 16). This treatise on gnomonics, the study of sundials,was translatedinto Arabic by Mu‘tamad Khān ( معتمد خان ) Rustam Beg al-Ḥārithī al-Badakhshī ibn Qubād Beg, titled Dīyānat Khān رستم بيك الحارثي البدخشي بن قباد بيك المخاطب بديانت خان) , d. 1705), a courtier to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (reg. 1658-1707). A note by the translator's son, Mīrzā Muḥammad ( ميرزا محمد , f. 1v), confirms the name and genealogy of the translator and the title and author of the text translated. A note offering benedictions for the beginning of Al Kitab (f. 372v), partially mutilated by page trimming and perhaps not written by Mu‘tamad Khān's hand, bears the date 41 (?) Shawwāl. If this reading of the numeral is correct and is understood as the regnal year of Aurangzeb, it corresponds to 1109/April-May 1698, which may be taken as the terminus ad quem for the translation and fits well with the date of the translator's death in 1705. The translation omits the author's preface (pp. 1-10 of the Latin text). Book 1, Proposition 8 has also been omitted from this translation, but was prepared separately by the same translator and is preserved in Add. MS 14332, ff 2v-22r. Latin words can be seen in the margins of ff. 89v and 303r, but have been mutilated by page trimming. A note on the flyleaf, perhaps by Richard Johnson (1753-1807), reads 'Upon Dialling. A work of Clavius in Latin translated into Arabic by Maatemed Khan who went to Portugal in the time of Aurungzebe. This is the original foul copy of the translation in the hand of the translator'.
The text is divided into eight books ( مقالات ) containing numerous diagrams and tables:
Book One ( المقالة الأولى , ff. 2r-82r);
Boo Two ( المقالة الثانية , ff. 82r-186v);
Book Three ( المقالة الثالثة , ff. 187r-269v);
Book Four ( المقالة الرابعة , ff. 270r-292r);
Book Five ( المقالة الخامسة , ff. 292r-339v);
Book Six ( المقالة السادسة , ff. 339v-372r);
Book Seven ( المقالة السابعة , ff. 372v-412r);
Book Eight ( المقالة الثامنة , ff. 412v-427r).