Distinguishing the Ijaza from additions by copyists

After carefully editing the Fihrist and Ijaza, as we shall explain in chapters one and four respectively, we shall find that the total derived by Osman Yahya contains many additions. This resulted from his reliance on Abd al-Rahman Badawi’s edition of the Ijaza, which did not distinguish titles named by the Master in his authorization for al-Malik al-Muzaffar from titles subsequently added by copyists. These number approximately forty-four and differ from one copy to another. Most of the additional titles are lost works, while some surviving ones are already named in other sources, such as the Fihrist and the Master’s known books. We shall therefore not accept these titles or count them among his confirmed works so long as they do not belong to the critically established original text of the authorization for al-Malik al-Muzaffar, and so long as original manuscripts of that authorization are unavailable. Indeed, we shall find that this authorization was originally copied from the Fihrist and that its additions or differences amount only to copying errors or additions by scribes!