Abu al-ʿAbbās al-Mandāʾī and His Book Tārikh al-Hukkām
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35516/jjha.v20i1.3342Keywords:
Al-Mandāʾī, Baghdad, History of Rulers, Witnesses, Judges, Qāḍi al-QuḍahAbstract
This study aims to uncover the remains of an important source of Islamic history in general, and the history of judges and their witnesses in particular, namely “Tārikh al-Hukkām wa-Wulāt al-Ahkām bi-Madīnat al-Salām” “The History of the Rulers and Governors of the City of Peace [Baghdad]” by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Bakhtiyar al-Manda’i (476–552 AH/ 1084–1157 CE), a book that is considered lost today. The study seeks to reveal the remnants of the book by researching the author’s personality, his birth, family, education, sciences, offices, and death, and also hopes to uncover his methodology, his manner of composition, his chronological and geographical scope, and its significance. The study concluded that Ibn al-Manda’i’s book is among the earliest works that recorded the category of witnesses for judges that had not previously been documented; its importance lies in the author’s contemporaneity with the information he recorded, making it as close as possible to the memoirs of an informed, upright witness familiar with the judicial records; it was written in a style that painted a clear picture of the nature of the judiciary and the perspective of the judicial institution in his time.
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