Ahmad al-Maqqari
Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1577 |
| Died | 1632 |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | Muhammad al-Bukhari, |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests |
|
| Notable works | Rawdat al-AsandNafḥ al-ṭīb |
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Maqqarī al-Tilmisānī(oral-Maḳḳarī) (أحمد المقري التلمساني), (1577-1632)[1]was an Algerian scholar, biographer and historian who is best known for hisNafh at-Tib ,Sa compendium of the history ofAl-Andaluswhich provided a basis for the scholarly research on the subject until the twentieth century.
Life
[edit]A native ofTlemcenand from a prominent intellectual family originally from the village ofMaqqara,nearM'silain Algeria.[1]After his early education in Tlemcen, al-Maqqari travelled toFesin Morocco and then toMarrakesh,following the court ofAhmad al-Mansur.On al-Mansur's death in 1603, al-Maqqari established himself in Fes,[1]where he was the imam of theQarawiyyin Mosque.[1]
In 1617, he left for the East, possibly following a quarrel with the local ruler, and took up residence inCairo,where he composed his best known work,Nafḥ al-ṭīb.[1]
In 1620 he visitedJerusalemandDamascus,and made five pilgrimages over six years. AtMeccaandMedinahe gave popular lectures on ḥadīth. In 1628 he was again in Damascus, where he continued his lectures onMuhammad al-Bukhari's collection ofḤadīth('Traditions'), and spoke much of the glories ofMuslim Iberia,and received the impulse to write his work on this subject later. That year he returned to Cairo and spent a year in writing his history of Spain. Surviving manuscripts are now held in part atEl Escorial,nearMadrid.He died in 1632 during preparations to settle in Damascus.[2]
Works
[edit]- Rawdat al-As al-'Aatirat al-Anfaas fi Dhikar men Laqaituhu min Aa'alaam Marrakesh wa Fes(روضة الآس العاطرة الأنفاس في ذكر من لقيته من أعلام الحضرتين: مراكش وفاس) -The Garden of Myrtle of Aromatic Scents and the Memories of The Scholars (ulema) Whom I Met in the Two Metropolises: Marrakesh and Fes.Al-Maqqarī dedicated this to his patron Ahmad al-Mansur.
- Nafḥ aṭ-ṭīb min Ghusni il-Andalus ar-Raṭīb wa Dhikar Wazīriha Lisān Id-Dīn Ibn il-Khaṭīb (نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيب وذكر وزيرها لسان الدين بن الخطيب) -The Breath of Perfume from the Branch of Flourishing Al-Andalus and Memories of its VizierLisan ud-Din ibn ul-Khattib.His great work consists of two parts:
- i) a history of Muslim Iberia compiled from descriptions by many authors; published byWilliam Wright,Christoph Krehl,Reinhart DozyandGustave DugatasAnalectes sur l'histoire et la littérature des Arabes d'Espagne(1855–1861),[3]and in an abridged English translation byPascual de Gayangos,The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain,Volume 1 (1840)andVolume 2 (1843);[2]
- ii) a biography ofIbn al-Khatib.A complete Arabic edition was published atBulaq(1863), Cairo (1885) andBeirut(1968). A complete English translation is yet to be published.
- Azhar al-Riyad fi Akhbar al-Qadi 'Ayyad(أزهار الرياض في أخبار القاضي عياض)
Editions
[edit]- Al-Makkari, القسم الأول من كتاب نفح الطيب, من غصن الأندلس الرطيب, و ذكر وزيرها لسان الدين بن الخطيب لأبي العباس أحمد بن محمد المقري [al-Qism al-awwal min kitāb nafḥ al-ṭīb, min ghuṣn al-Andalus al-raṭīb, wa-dhikr wazīrihā Lisān al-Dīn ibn al-Khaṭīb li-Abī al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Maqarrī]/Analectes sur l'histoire et la littĕrature des Arabes d'Espagne,ed. by R. Dozy and G. Dugat, L. Krehl and W. Wright, 2 vols in four parts (Leiden: Brill, 1855–61),1.1,1.2,2.1,2.2(edition of thenafḥ al-ṭīb)
- al-Maqqarı̄,Nafḥ al-Ṭı̄b min Ghuṣn al-Andalus al-Raṭı̄b,ed. by I. ‘Abbās (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1968)
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- 1.^SNafḥ al-ṭīb min ghuṣn al-Andalus al-raṭīb wa-dhikr waziriha Lisān al-Dīn ibn al-Khaṭīb(نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيب وذكر وزيرها لسان الدين بن الخطيب)
References
[edit]- ^abcdeJosef W. Meri (31 October 2005).Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia.Taylor & Francis. p. 478.ISBN978-1-135-45603-0.
- ^abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911). "Maqqarī".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 664–665.
- ^Maqqarī (al-) 1855.
- Al-Maqqari's "Breath Of Perfumes", in: Charles F. Horne,Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish,ISBN0-7661-0001-4.
- Makkari (al-), Ahmed ibn Mohammed (2002).The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain.Royal Asiatic Society Books.
- Maqqarī (al-), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1855). "Introduction". In Wright, William (ed.).Analectes sur l'histoire et la littérature des Arabes d'Espagne(in French). Vol. 1.Leyden:E. J. Brill. p. 5.Online:(in Arabic)
