The Murshidis of Syria: A Short Overview of their History and Beliefs in The Muslim World. Vol 103, Issue 1 (January 2013), p. 80-93 (original) (raw)

Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir

Arabic Textual Sources for the Crusades, 2024

Gowaart Van Den Bossche Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbdallāh b. Rashīd al-Dīn b. ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir (d. 692/1293) was a chancery scribe (kātib), poet, prose stylist, and historian of the early Mamlūk period. During his lifetime and in later centuries he was regarded as one of the most gifted chancery writers of his time, but he is now mostly remembered for having composed biographies (sīra, pl. siyar) of three early Mamlūk sultans: al-Ẓāhir Baybars (r. 658-76/1260-77), al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn (r. 678-89/1279-90), and al-Ashraf Khalīl (r. 689-92/1290-3). Due to the author's close links with the authorities in Egypt and Syria in the second half of the seventh/thirteenth century, these texts have traditionally been viewed as important contemporary sources for the early period of the Mamlūk sultanate. In this contribution, I evaluate the perspectives these three biographies provide for the study of the waning Frankish presence in the Levant over the course of the second half of the seventh/thirteenth century and reconsider their general textual Sitz im Leben as products of chancery practices rather than of sultanic legitimisation policies. Biographical sketch 2 1 The author wishes to thank Alexander Mallett for his invitation to contribute this chapter to the present volume, and one of the anonymous peer reviewers for providing many helpful suggestions and comments to improve the text. 2 Several modern scholars have provided fairly extensive biographies of the author. Of these, the most up to date is F. Bauden, 'Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir', EI3. The most detailed account of the author's activities as attested in various chronicles and prescriptive works is given by E. Strauß (Ashtor), 'Muḥyî'ddîn b. ʿAbdaẓẓâhir',

The Works of Abu Mansur Al-Tha'Alibi (350-429/961-1039)

Journal of Arabic Literature, 2009

This article deals with the oeuvre of Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī, a prominent literary figure of the eastern part of the Islamic world in the 4th/10th century. It deals with some of the literary and social issues that led to the numerous problems of false attribution and duplication in his bibliography, such as patronage and the periodical reworking of his books. This is followed by an up-to-date bibliography for al-Thaʿālibī, based on archives, primary sources and secondary literature. Works in print and manuscript form are assessed as to their authenticity and content, including bibliographical information on published works and locations of manuscripts. A further list reunites lost works and those surviving in quotations with references to the extant passages.

"'Abdallah b. 'Umar b. al-Khattab", in: The Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, 2-2009, 20-22.

or for his shifting allegiances later on. He appears to have been an opportunist rather than an ideologue. Bibliography al-abarī, Ta rīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk , ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden 1879-1901) 2:1854ff. ; Ibn Asākir, Ta rīkh madīnat Dimashq , ed. Umar b. Gharama al-Amrawī (Beirut 1995), 31:216-23 ; Anonymous, Kitāb al-uyūn wa l-adā iq fī akhbār al-aqā iq, in M. J. de Goeje and Pieter de Jong (eds.), Fragmenta Historicum Arabicorum (Leiden 1869), 152ff. ; Khalīfa b. Khayyā , Kitāb al-ta rīkh , ed. Akram iyā al-Umarī (Najaf 1967), index ; al-Balādhurī, Ansāb al-Ashrāf , ed. Ma mūd al-Firdaws al-A m (Damascus 1997-2004) 7:165ff. ; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī l-ta rīkh , ed. C. J. Tornberg (Leiden 1851-76), 5:228ff. ; Julius Wellhausen, The Arab kingdom and its fall , trans. Margaret Graham Weir (Beirut 1963), 383ff. ; Gerald R. Hawting, The fi rst dynasty of Islam. The Umayyad caliphate A.D. 661-750 (London 1987), 99ff. ; Josef van Ess, TG , 2:240-5.

Ibn al-Mundhir and his Political View,

Ibn al-Mundhir, Muh}ammad b. Ibrahimb. Jarud Abu Bakr al-Naysaburi (242/856-319/931), Imam al-H}aram, a jurist of Mecca, a mujtahid, amuh}}addith and a mufassir, was one of the leading scholars in ikhtila>f [disagreement]during the third century A.H. However, in modern scholars-hip he has notgained much attention or recognition, despite the fact that he was highly regarded by his contemporaries and biographers. Although we know he wrote abundantly, all that remains available to us are but a few treatises namely: al-Iqna', al-Ijma' al-Awsat}, and al-Ishra>f. This study focuses on these treatises and will attempt to shed light on Ibn al-Mundhir's jurisprudence as well as to assess his contribution to the shaping of Islamic law.