In search of the sources of the book “Fakihat al-Khulafa”: From Marzbannameh to Rawzat al-Oqul

Marzban-nama of Marzban-bin Rostam was translated into Persian prose by Mohammad bin Ghazi Malativi and Saad al-Din Varavini. These two translations are considered important works of the sixth and early seventh centuries. The translation of literary texts such as Marzbannameh was one of the most dynamic literary trends in ancient times, and numerous works in different genres were translated from Arabic to Farsi and into Arabic, which were influential in terms of literary style. The close relationship between the Persian and Arabic language and literature has led to numerous exchanges between these two languages, among which is the translation of the book "Marzbannameh" by Ibn Arabshah in the 9th century. This research is organized with the aim of comparing the translation of Ibn-Arabshah with the book of Rawzat al-Oqul and Marzbannameh Varavini and to determine which is the basis of the translator's translation. Considering the volume of the book, its first and second chapters were examined and with descriptive analytical method and confrontational approach. By comparing the titles of the chapters, comparing the cases of literal translation, the general content of the anecdotes, the style and thought governing the general form of the first and second chapters, and other such matters, It was found that the translator of the book " Fakihat al-Khulafa and Mufakeh-al-Zorafa" was based on the book " Marzbannameh" by Saad al-Din Varavini.
Keywords: Marzbannameh, Rawzat al-Oqul, Fakihat al-Khulafa and Mofakhah-al-Zorafa, translation.
Introduction
One of the most important translations of ancient Persian into Arabic is the book Marzbannameh, which is considered an irreplaceable masterpiece in Persian literature, which not only has not acquired the dust of oldness with the passage of time, but has been favored over time and attention and has played an important role in Persian educational literature. Since this book is stylistic and influential from a literary point of view; It is under the patronage of an Iranian-descended scribe at the court of Sultan Bayazid. Shahab al-Din Ahmad bin Abu Muhammad known as Ibn Arabshah in 852 lunar year, Marzban translated the letter into Arabic in an eloquent language and called it Fakihat al-Khulafa and Mfakhah-al-Zorafa. The translator has taken a free and adaptive approach in the process of translating this book. in his translation, he went along with the source text in terms of content and content and except for a few cases, he did not interfere. In fact, the translator is more than adhering to the original text; It has prioritized content and message transfer. The present study was written with the premise that Ibn Arabshah based his translation on the book of  Marzbannameh Waravini. Since some people may not accept the claim and claim that by examining the book of : Marzbannameh Waravini and comparing it with the book of Fakihat al-Khulafa, it is not possible to consider Marzbannama as the basis of Ibn Arabshah's translation, and hypotheses such as Ibn Arabshah's jurisprudence can be put forward. He translated the Fakihat al-Khulafa based on Ghazi Malativi's Ruza-ul-Oqool; Therefore, in order to resolve these doubts, this study tries to compare the translation of Fakiha Al-Khalifa and Mufakiha Al-Zarfa with the text of both books. The questions that this research seeks to answer are:
1- Considering that the translator has chosen the method of translation in his translation and made a lot of interferences, how can we determine his base text?
2- To what extent are the strategies mentioned in the two methods of direct translation and indirect translation useful and helpful in understanding the target text of the translator?
Materials & methods
The present study, using a descriptive method and relying on the translation model of Vinay and Darbelnet, compares the text of Fakihat al-Khulafa with Marzbannameh and Rawzat al-Oqul in order to determine the basis of Ibn Arabshah's text.
Discussion & result
Compared to the other two books, the place of the first chapter has been replaced by the second chapter in the book of Rawzat al-Oqul. The number of stories in this chapter of Rawzat al-Oqul is very less compared to Marzbannameh and Fakihat al-Khulafa, and many of the stories in Marzbannameh have been removed in the first chapter of the book but its stories share the same amount of content with Marzbannameh. The two books of Marzbannameh and Fakihat al-Khulafa are different in terms of chapter titles, story titles, story characters, and the number of stories, but they have a common theme and content.
The second chapter of Marzbannameh and Fakihat al-Khulafa are similar in terms of the number of stories, chapter title, characters, and the subject matter. However, the number of stories and the titles of the stories in this chapter of the book Rawzat al-Oqul are different from the other two books, and some of the stories of Rawzat al-Oqul are not found in the other two books but the general content of this chapter is about the good luck king who, when he dies, bequeaths his children to observe the rights of brotherhood, maintain trust, stay away from lies, greed, etc.
Conclusion:
Because this is the result of the following results:
In this research, two chapters, the first and second chapters, which are different in terms of style, structure and content, were selected and analyzed. By examining this chapter, it was shown that the differences between the Arabic text and the Persian text are due to the translator's adaptation approach, and it cannot be claimed that Ibn Arabshah based his work on Rawzat al-Oqul. Therefore, it can be concluded; The two books of Marzbannameh Varavini and Fakihat al-Khulafa have many similarities and similarities and these similarities can never be accidental. The second chapter was also chosen due to the same number of stories in the source and destination texts; What's more, there are fewer incremental and decreasing changes in it, and it was shown that the literal translations made by the translator are based on the Varavini text, not the Malativi.