historians of north africa and spain

7/30/2019 Historians of North Africa and Spain

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The Science of History Medieval History

Historians in North Africaand Spain

Many historians flourished inMarrakech, most living in thesurrounding of Caliphs, such as AbuBakr al-Sanhadji, who wroteextensively on the Almohads, andwhose works were traced by LeviProvencal to the Spanish collection atthe Escurial. As observed from veryclose, the events he describes bearthe best of authenticity on theAlmohad movement in history.

Al-Marrakushi also flourished inNorth Africa at the end of thethirteenth century. Abd al-Wahid Al-Marrakushi was Born in Marrakech on

the eighth of July 1185. When nineyears of age, he left his native placefor Fez, a city renowned for its learnedmen, where he studied the Qur'an and

was the pupil of many eminent doctors, well skilled in grammar and thereading of the sacred Book. In 1199 he met the great physician Abu-Bekribn Zuhr (Avenzoar) (see entry on Seville at Muslimheritage.com) who atthat time was far advanced in years, but treated Abd al-Wahid, a youth offourteen, with great kindness, and in the year (1206-7) he met the son ofthe celebrated philosopher Ibn Tofail. In the beginning of this same year,he crossed over to Spain, where he studied under a great number oflearned men, well versed in every branch of science, and later studiedpolite literature at Cordova, under the direction of al-Himyari (died in H.

610), a Professor who he praises very much and with who he remainedfor two years. In 1217 Al-Marrakushi left Seville for Egypt, then like everyscholar of the era, he made his pilgrimage to Mecca in the year 1221. In1224 he completed a history of the Almohad dynasty, preceded by asummary of Spanish history from the Muslim conquest to 1087 (Kitab al-mujib fi talkhis akhbar ahl al-Maghrib). (There is a French translation byFagnan. Extracts can be found in Wustenfeld, and Levi Provencal. Thetext has been edited by R.P. A. Dozy). Al-Marrakushi was very keen onhistorical truthfulness:

"I have put down nothing but what I have found true, borrowing it frombooks [in the historical introduction], or having heard it from trust-worthy persons, or having seen it myself: with the firm purpose of tellingthe truth and of being just, as it has been my utmost care not to conceal

a single good quality, which the persons I haven spoken of possessed,nor to bestow upon them the slightest encomium they did not deserve."

Dozy insists that in his History of the Almohads, the readers will find thatthe information Al-Marrakushi gives is really invaluable, as everywhere,
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almost at every page, he quotes contemporary witnesses of the eventshe relates, and amongst these not only the names of the highest officersof the state but of Princes themselves. He himself tells us that he derivedthe greatest part of his narrative from a highly respectable authority,namely, from Yaqub the grandson of the founder of the dynasty, and ashe could consult no book on the history of the Almohads, his informationwas original.

Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi wrote in 1312 a history of Africa andSpain,Kitab al-bayan al-mughrib, which includes the most detailed

account of the Ummayads of Cordova. (Dozy translated the work intoFrench). His work, or more particularly the third volume, is a most usefulsource, because it offers the most detailed narrative of the events of thecivil wars. Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi did not see himself as a hahith(researcher) but as a jami' (compiler). He says in the introduction to hishistory that "I have collected in this book notices and anecdotes takenfrom the histories and accounts, which I have reunited and have chosenpoints of interest, uniting what is old with what is new." He also quotesthe sources he has used: among the twenty six books actually mentionedare included the Muqtabis, the Dhakhira of Ibn Bassam, and theAlkhbaral-Dawlat al-amiriya of Ibn Hayyan. There is no mention of the Matin butit is probable that he had access to information from the Ta'rikh al-kabir,even if second-hand. The Bayan, at least in its first three volumes whichdescribe the events from 2I AH to the arrival of the Almoravids, isa ta'rikh ala s-sinin majmu'a, a carefully selected collection of data fromearlier writers, and its importance lies in the nature of that data, much ofwhich would otherwise be unavailable today.

Muslim Spain produced a number of historians and chroniclers of the firstorder. The beginning of a long development of historical writing wasmade with the works of Ibn Habib (d. in Cordova 239/854),Yahya al-Ghazal (d. 864) who was the author of an urjuza, i.e. a poem in the rajazmetre, on the Muslim conquest of Spain, lbn Muzayn (d 872-3), Tamim b.Amir b. Alqama (d.896) author of an urjuza on Spanish Muslim historydown to time end of the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II (i.e 852) and mostimportant of all, Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Razi called at-Tarikhi (Thehistorian) (274/887-344/955) a member of a family of historians whose

works included an extensiveAkhbar Muluk al-Andalus wa-Khadamatihimwa-Ghazawatihim wa-Nakabatihim (Accounts of the Kings of Spain, theirServitors, their Wars and Misadventures) and aSifat Qurtuba wa-Khitatihawa-Manazil al-Uzam' biha (Description of Cordova and its Settlementsand the Houses of the Great therein).

(For further information about these early Spanish historical works, whichfor the most part are lost or if they survive do so only fragmentarily,ought to be consulted the Ensayo Bio-bibliografico sobre los Historiadoresy Gegrafos Arabigo-Espaoles of Francisco Pons Boigues).


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We still have al-Iqd al-Farid(The Precious Necklace) ofIbn AbdRabbihi (born in Cordova in 246/860, died 328/940), which includesamong a multiplicity of matters of its numerous books are (each namedafter a precious stone, and thought of as the jewels which form theNecklace') a history of the Umayyads of Spain, culminating witha rajazpoem on the military expeditions under Abd ar-Rabman III an-Nassir. Ibn Abd Rabbihi whose forte was adab and who wrote muchpoetry is not esteemed highly as a historian but this part of his workpossesses some interest, in view of its being contemporary with theevents it claims to portray. Two other remarkable works were produced

in the fourth/tenth century, theAkhbar Majma fi Fath al-Andalus (Collected Notices on the Conquest of al-Andalus), by an

unknown author who lived in thenotable reign of Abd ar-Rabman IIIan-Nasir, founder of the SpanishCaliphate (300/912350/961), andthe Ta'rikh Iftitah al-Andalus (Historyof the Conquest of al-Andalus) of Ibnal-Qutiya (d. 367/977). Both thesebooks have been known in the West atleast since the nineteenth century.

The author of the Tarikh Iftitah al-Andalus is specially interesting as adescendant of the former rulingdynasty in Visigothic Spain before thecoming of the Muslims, and the nameIbn al-Qutiyya, son of the Gothicwoman', no doubt refers to Sarah theGoth, a descendant of Witiza, the lastmember of the dynasty who actuallyreigned (701-710). Ibn al-Qutiyyahimself was a typical Muslim scholar,and highly regarded for his historical

knowledge. He wrote about the early Umayyad Caliphs of Spain, andmany subsequent and even modern writers have used his work. Amongstthese is Reinaud who composed his `Invasion des sarrazins,' and above

all Dozy who wrote his `Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne (History ofMuslim Spain). (The work of Ibn Quttiyya is available only in onemanuscript, No 1867 at the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris. Another copywas kept in Constantine, Algeria, in the rich collection of Si Hamouda, butthe vagaries of history (and the violent history of French Algeria) havedestroyed this collection. Cherbonneau has used the Ms 1867 to publishtranslations of two extracts the first and the shortest relating to the ruleof al-Hakam ben Hisham (i.e Hakam I). The second, longer versionrelates to the Muslim conquest of Spain).

Said Al-Andalusi (d.1034) a judge at Toledo, was the author ofTabaqatal-Umam. In it he gives a wide spectrum on civilisation up to his time. Hestudies the people and nations that cultivate science and ranks amongst

them the Arabs, Hindus, Iranians, Greeks, and Jews, showing theircontribution to scientific progress.

Al-Humaydi (d.1095) who came from the city of Majorqa was a studentof Ibn Haitham. He emigrated to the Orient because of troubles in Spain,and established himself in Baghdad. He wroteJadh'watu-i-muktabis (TheSparkle of Fire) from the Muktabis or an abridgment of the above work,which is in the Bodl. Lib., Hunt. Its contents are the lives of eminentSpanish Muslems, divided into ten parts, and preceded by a valuablehistorical introduction. It gives in alphabetical order the biographies ofthe main traditionalists, jurists, political figures, army generals etc.nearly a thousand entries in total.

Ibn Hayyan (d.1076) of Cordova is without doubt the greatest historianof the whole Middle Ages. His father was secretary to the great last rulerof Muslim Spain before the Reyes of the taifas, Ibn Abi Amir al-Mansur(d. 1003). This certainly had a great influence on Ibn Hayyan's educationand knowledge of history. He also had renowned teachers including thetraditionist Abu Hafs Umar B. Husayn. B. Nabil. Those writers who used


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Ibn Hayyan's works are Ibn Haitham, Al-Humaydi, al-Dabbi, IbnBashkuwal, Ibn al-Abbar, Ibn Bassam, Abd Al-Wahid al-Marrakushi, IbnSaid, Ibn idhari, Ibn al-Khatib, and al-Maqqari. They ascribe seven titlesto Ibn Hayyan:

1. Tarikh fuqaha Cordova.

2. Al-Kitab al ladi jama'a fihi bayna kitbay al-Qubbashi wa Ibn Afif.

3. Intijab al-Jamil li Ma'athir Banu Khatab.

4. Al-Akhbar fi'l dawla al-Amiriya (in 100 volumes).

5. al-Batsha al-Kubra (in ten volumes).

6. al-Muqtabis fi Tarikh al-Andalus (in ten volumes).

7. Kitab al-matin.

Ibn Hayyan was virulent in his writings of numerous personalities of histime. His bitterness towards the divisions and anarchy in the kingdoms ofthe tawaif and also at the scantiness of the sources at his disposal whenhe was writing the history of the fitna are also evident. Among the worksattributed with greater or less certainty to Ibn Hayyan, two titles standout: Kitab al-Muqtabis fi tarikh al-Andalus(Book of Him Who SeeksKnowledge about the History of al-Andalus) in ten volumes, and Kitab almatin (the Solid Book), describing the main events around him. IbnHayyan is mentioned as one of the glories of his country in thefamous Risala in praise of Spanish Islam by ash-Shaqundi whosesurviving work shows breadth of treatment and conscientious accuracy asto the facts. He sought to remain objective in his writing throughoutdespite the upheavals affecting Muslim Spain, not disregarding eventhose events that pained him. On the Muktabis, Levi Provencal says:

"Whenever one considers any particular aspect of Hispano-Umayyadhistory, one is nearly always obliged to revert to Ibn Hayyan. Withouthis Muktabis, we should have no quotations from the two Razis, nor from

two other chroniclers of the 10th century. Without Ibn Hayyan, Dozy'shistory would have been impossible."

Ibn Hayyan's original work, the most important in the whole Muslimhistoriography of the Peninsula is the Matin, which covers the history ofhis own times, namely, nearly the whole of the 5th/11th century, with anadmirable attention to detail and an exactitude which are highlighted by arare political understanding of events. Kitab al-matin, according to IbnSa'id contained nearly sixty volumes, and was believed at one time to beheld at the Zaytuna in Tunisia.

Although all the volumes of the Matin are lost, Ibn Hayyan's greatadmirer, the Spanish scholar, The Kitab al-Dhakhira fi mahasin ahl al-

aziiraof Ibn Bassam, now edited in eight volumes by Ihsan Abbas is amammoth work, written in rhymed prose and dedicated to the literati ofthe peninsula the kutab (scribes), mu'arrikh (historians) andtheshu'ara (poets). Written in the 12th century, many of its biographiesare recent or contemporary and are filled out with details taken fromthe Matin of Ibn Hayyan. Fortunately for us, the extracts taken fromthe Ta'rikh al-kabirare easily distinguishable, because Ibn Bassam iscareful to give notice when he is quoting from the Cordoban historian: heprefixes the words qala Ibn Hayyan ("Ibn Hayyan says") and concludesthe extract with intaha kalam Ibn Hayyan ("here ends lbn Hayyan'swords"). Most of the information relevant to the fitna is contained in thefirst volume and includes material not to be found elsewhere.

FIGURE SOURCES

Figure (top). Map showing the extent of the Almoravid Empire.

Figure (bottom). A portrait of Ibn Hayyan (Image fromwww.wikipedia.org).


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by: FSTC Limited, Mon 15 January, 2007

historians of north africa and spain

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