Commonplace book of Benjamin Penhallow, 1721-1724

This leather-bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Penhallow from books he read while he was a student at Harvard in the 1720s. The volume contains extracts from two texts: Johanis Henrici Alstedii's (John Henry Alsted / Johann Heinrich Alsted) Geometria Domini, and the anonymous text "The Legacy of a dying Father; bequeath'd to his Beloved Children, or Sundry Directions in Order unto a well Regulated Conversation," from 1724 (originally published in 1693-4). The last page of text in the volume contains the hymn "The Sacred Content of Praise" first published in 1734, and added after Penhallow's death.

Hādhā al-kitāb fī ṣifat al-ṣalāh ʻalá al-Nabī ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallam, sammaytuhu Afḍal al-zād li-yawm al-maʻād fī al-ṣalāh wa-al-salām ʻalá khayr al-ʻibād / jamʻ kātibihi Muḥammad al-ʻAjlūnī : manuscript, 1837

1- al-Durrah al-zāhirah bi-taḍmīn al-Burʼah al-fājirah / lil-Shaykh Qāsim (printed text, paginated 1-15; ff. 1r-8r) -- 2. Afḍal al-zād li-yawm al-maʻād fī al-ṣalāh wa-al-salām ʻalá khayr al-ʻibād (ff. 9r-28v) -- 3. On miracles of the Prophet (ff. 29r-32r) -- 4. Commentary on a verse from the Qurʼān (ff. 32v-34v) -- 5. Hādhihi Qaṣīdat Sayyidinā Muḥammad [A poem in praise of the Prophet] (f. 35r) -- 6. Hādhā Mawlid Sayyid al-awwalīn wa-al-ākhirīn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAbd al-Muṭṭalib, 25 Rabīʻ al-Awwal 1274 AH [November 12, 1857 AD] (ff. 36r-40v).

Hādhihi qaṣīdah jāmiʻah li-ghālib aḥwāl yawm al-qiyāmah wa-ismuhā Qilādat al-durr al-manthūr fī dhikr al-baʻth wa-al-nushūr : manuscript, undated

Paginated 1-5 in pencil in Arabic numerals.

al- Nahj al-qawīm hadīyah li-man talaqqāhā bi-qalb salīm : manuscript, [ca. 1900]

The text starts with a praise of the Sultan Abdülhamid and his governor Osman Nuri Paşa. Then it discusses the necessity of obedience to the Sultan and the authorities from a religious point of view. It then touches briefly on several ethical issues. The text may or may not be complete at the end.