Muḥammad Barakat's commentary on \textit{Elements} I: an unintended mathematics textbook (Q2928879)

Muḥammad Barakat flourished in Lahore 1782 A.D. and was well known for his \textit{Sharah Tahrir-u usuli'l. Handasat-i Wal Hisab}, a commentary in Arabic of the first book of Euclid's \textit{Elements}. This is the second geometrical treatise to be printed in Arabic in India during the nineteenth century. In this paper, the author introduces Barakat's commentary and its core mathematical features and situates the text historically in relation to mathematical sources on which it relied. The paper is divided into ten sections, viz:NEWLINENEWLINE1) Introduction,NEWLINENEWLINE 2) Al-Tusi's text,NEWLINENEWLINE 3) Barakat's commentary,NEWLINENEWLINE 4) The general architecture of the printed editions,NEWLINENEWLINE 5) Overview of traditional Madrasa Curricula,NEWLINENEWLINE 6) The context of 18th century debates about education,NEWLINENEWLINE 7) Eighteenth century proposals for reforming Islamic education,NEWLINENEWLINE 8) Farangi Mahal,NEWLINENEWLINE 9) The text book in the history of geometry teaching in India,NEWLINENEWLINE 10) Postscript.NEWLINENEWLINEEach section is well written and well informative. The paper will be helpful to those who are going to study Indo-Persian/Arabic literature on mathematics in the Medieval period.