Zhisheng Baoyu 至聖寶諭 [Sharḥ al-Khuṭab al-Arbaʿīn al-Kirām: Commentary on the Forty Noble Sermons]. Yunnan, 1894. 2 volumes.

124 leaves in total. 27 × 16.5 cm. Thread-bound in the original wrappers. Woodblock printed on Chinese bark paper. Title page in Chinese and Arabic; text in Arabic. The title page records that the edition was financed by the Yang family’s Xifa firm on Zhuyuan Street in Mile, Yunnan (彌勒竹園街喜發號楊記資刊).

A rare late-Qing Arabic adaptation of the Khutab by the Yunnan Muslim scholar Ma Lianyuan. The Khutab belongs to the textual tradition of Ibn Wadʿān al-Mawṣilī’s al-Arbaʿūn al-Wadʿāniyya, a medieval Arabic collection of forty homiletic discourses attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad. A Persian version with commentary circulated widely in Chinese mosque schools under the name Khutab or Khutabat. Known in China as Hutuobu 虎托布, it was counted among the “Thirteen Textbooks” (Shisan Ben jing 十三本經) used in the traditional mosque-school curriculum.

Ma Lianyuan prepared the present work for students of Arabic in China. In his preface, he explains that the forty sermons were particularly suitable for beginners to memorize and that he reproduced them with selected explanations to make them easier to learn. Throughout the text, difficult Arabic words and expressions are supplied with simpler synonyms, grammatical notes, and brief explanations. The final leaf identifies the work as Sharḥ al-Khuṭab al-Arbaʿīn al-Kirām and names Ma Lianyuan under his Arabic name, al-Ḥājj Muḥammad Nūr al-Ḥaqq ibn Luqmān.

The work is therefore Ma Lianyuan’s Arabic adaptation and commentary on the Khutab, prepared for teaching in late-Qing Yunnan. Original wrappers soiled and worn, with rubbing, creasing, and some losses to the edges and corners. The original title label survives only on the second volume and is partly defective, with portions missing. Extensively annotated in Arabic throughout. Overall in good condition.