‘Abd al-Wahhāb ibn Ja‘far ibn al-Maydānī (Died 418 AH / 1027 AD) And His Book on History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54134/16.2.3Keywords:
Ibn al-Maydani, Damascus, local dates, the Fatimid state.Abstract
This study examines the Damascene historian ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ja‘far, known as Ibn al-Maydani (d. 418 AH / 1027 AD), and his book on the history of Damascus, by covering his life, and demonstrating the importance of his work as one of the few Damascene historians who were contemporary to the beginnings of the rule of the Fatimid state in the Levant. The study sheds light on his life and culture and studies the surviving portions of his book, his method of organization, the sources he relied on, his methodology, the temporal scope of the book and its importance for the history of Damascus and Fatimid studies in general. The book can be classified as a history of Damascus. Ibn al-Maydani’s methodology was based on accurately presenting the history of each year and its events by day, time, month and year. He organizes his information in terms of accession and removal of the rulers. His book became an essential source for everyone who came after him.
References
Cahen, Claude (1940); La Syrien Du Nord, Paris: Institut Française de Damas.
al-Daʻjānī, Ṭalāl ibn Mas‘ūd (2004); Mawārid Ibn ʻAsākir fī Tārīkh Dimashq, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah: Islamic University.
al-Dhahabī, al-Ḥāfiẓ Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (d. 748/1348)(1995); Mīzān al-Iʻtidāl fī Naqd al-Rijāl, ʻAlī Muʻawwaḍ, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah.
al-Dhahabī, al-Ḥāfiẓ Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (d. 748/1348) (1996); Siyar Aʻlām al-Nubalā’,Shuʻayb al-Arnā’ūṭ ed., Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah.
al-Dhahabī, al-Ḥāfiẓ Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (d. 748/1348)(2003(; Tārīkh al-Islām wa-Wafayāt al-Mashāhīr wa-al-Aʻlām, Bashshār ʻAwwād Maʻrūf ed., Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī.
Ibn al-ʻAdīm, Kamāl al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn abī Jarādah (660/1262)(2016); Bughyat al-Ṭalab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab, al-Mahdī al-Rawāḍiyah, ed., London: Muʼassasat al-Furqān lil-Turāth al-Islāmī.
Ibn ʻAsākir, Abū al-Qāsim ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥasan (d. 571/1175)(1995); Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq, ‘Umar ibn Gharāmrah al-‘Amrawī, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Ibn al-Muʻallā, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Muʻallā al-Asadī al-Dimashqī (d. 286/899)(2018), Juz’ fīhi Khabar al-Masjid al-Jāmiʻ bi-Dimashq wa-binā’ih, Muḥammad Khālid Kallāb, ed., Silsilat Liqā’ al-‘Ushr al-Awākhīr bi-al-Masjid al-Ḥarām 225, Beirut: Dār al-Bashāʼir al-Islāmīyah.
Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Mujāhid al-Qaysī al-Dimashqī al-Shaf‘ī (d. 842/1439)(1993); Tawḍīḥ al-Mushtabih fī Ḍabṭ Asma’ al-Ruwāh wa-Ansābihim wa-Alqabihim wa-Kunāhim, Muḥammad Naʻīm al-‘Urqsūsī ed., Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Risālah.
Ibn Nuqṭah, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Ghanī (d. 629/1232)(1987), Takmilat al-Ikmāl, ʻAbd al-Qayyūm ʻAbd Radd al-Nabī ed., Makkah al-Mukarramah: Umm Al Qura University.
al-Kattānī, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz ibn Aḥmad (d 466/1074)(1987); Dhayl Tārīkh mawlid al-ʻulamāʼ wa-wafiyātihim, ʻAbd Allāh al-Ḥamad, ed., Riyadh: Dār al-ʻĀṣimah.
al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī ibn Thābit (d. 463 /1070)(2001); Tārīkh Baghdād, Bashshār ʻAwwād Maʻrūf, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī.
al-Munajjid, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, (2006); Muʻjam al-Muʼarrikhīn al-Dimashqīyīn, Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadīd.
Muṣṭafā, Shākir, (1987); al-Tārīkh al-ʻArabī wa-al-Muʼarrikhūn, Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm lil-Malāyīn.
Okleh, Issam Mustafa and Fawzi Kh. Al-Tawyheh (2014); Abu Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, known as Ibn al-Nahwi (died after 416 AH/ 1025 CE) and his Book of History (A Study of Damascene Primary Sources for the Fatimids), Jordan Journal for History and Archaeology, University of Jordan, vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 1-27.
Okleh, Issam Mustafa (2021); “The Damascene Historian, Hebat Ullah ibn Al-Akfanī (d. 524/1129) and his book “Tasmeyat Umara Dimashq”, Al-Adab Journal, University of Baghdad, College of Arts, Vol. 2021, No. 138, pp. 119-144.
