The Identity of Two Yemenite Historical Manuscripts Author(s): Wilferd Madelung Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol.

32, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Apr., 1973), pp. 175-180 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/543482 . Accessed: 29/09/2013 12:50
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THE IDENTITY OF TWO YEMENITE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS

WILFERD MADELUNG, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

CODEX arab. G 6 of the Ambrosiana Library in Milan contains a history of several Muslim dynasties. The beginning and the end of the original manuscript are missing. Perhaps in order to hide this fact the manuscript was wrongly rebound so that it now begins on fol. lb with the heading of the chapter on the Ziydrid dynasty and ends with the ending of the chapter on the Bfiyids. The beginning of what remains of the original manuscript is actually on fol. 51a, where the text starts abruptly in the middle of a passage expounding the general value of the science of history. The author then explains that he had earlier set out to write a larger work of which the present one is an abridgment. He expresses the hope that he may be able to complete the longer version later on. Then he gives a list of the dynasties to be mentioned in the book. As the lower part of the folio is missing, the list, which is continued on its reverse, has a gap. On fol. 52a the text again begins abruptly in the introduction to the chapter on the Umayyads. Since only little of this introduction seems to be missing, it is reasonable to assume that the heading and beginning of the chapter were on the missing bottom of fol. 51b. The text then continues without interruption through the following chapters: fol. 73a the Umayyad reign in al-Andalus; fol. 90b the Aghlabid dynasty in Ifriqiya; fol. 99a the SaffArid dynasty in Khurasan; fol. 105b the Dulafid dynasty in al-Jibil; fol. 109a the CAlid dynasty in Tabarist5n; fol. 133a-178a the Bfiyid dynasty. The chapter on the Ziydrids, which now begins on fol. ib, probably followed the chapter on the Bilyids. If this assumption is correct, the scribe must either have left a double page empty, or he began a new volume of the work.' The chapter on the Ziydrids is followed on fol. 8b by the chapter on the Saljiiq dynasty. This chapter continues through fol. 50, which must be reversed since the text of fol. 49b continues on fol. 50b. The chapter is incomplete, ending on fol. 50a with the siege of Baghdad by Sultan Muhammad b. Mahmild in the year 552/1157. The passage on the usefulness of history in the introduction of the work is quoted by al-Sakhawi in his K. al-icldn and attributed to a work which he names Akhbdr al-duwal al-Isldmiyya by Jamil al-din CAll b. Zafir al-Azdi (d. 613/1216).2 This attribution poses a problem. For in the list of the works of CAll b. Zafir given elsewhere in the same work, al-Sakhawi does not mention a work of this title, but names it afterwards as a work of cAlI's father, Zafir b. al-Hasan.3 That the manuscript history can only be a work of
1 The microfilm at my disposal does not show fol. la and fol. 178b of the manuscript. I assume that these do not contain pages anything relevant to the text of the work. The sequence of chapters in the manunot be the same as in the original work, script may for in the section on the Ziydrids the author refers to the biography of the Bfiyid Mucizz al-dawla to be presented further on. In the manuscript, however, the chapter on the Ziydrids cannot have preceded that on the Bfiyids. In the fragmentary list of dynasties in the introduction, the Ziydrids and the Bfiyids are missing. The sequence of dynasties in what is left of this list does not fully agree with that of the chapters of the manuscript. 2 Al-Sakhdwi, al-icldn bi 1-tawbikh li-man dhamma ahl al-tawrikh, ed. F. Rosenthal (Baghdad, 1963), p. 46. Translated in F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, p. 229. 3 Al-Sakhdwi, al-icldn, A p. 182; Rosenthal, History of Muslim Historiography, p. 338.

175

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CAlib. Zdfir, not of his father, is evident from the mention of the name of the former in two passages introduced by qala. One of the two passages suggests strongly that the author is indeed referring to himself rather than quoting a work by Ibn F. Rosenthal in his translation of al-Sakh~wi's al-iClfn suggested that the Akhbar .Zfir. al-duwal al-Islamiyya mentioned by al-SakhdwI is in fact identical with CAli b. Zdfir's K. (akhbdr) al-duwal al-munqa.tia,4 presumably since Ibn is nowhere else mentioned as the author of a book with the former title. This assumption tallies well with the .Zfir contents in the between and work a work agreement manuscript by Abfi 1-Fidd' in which the latter, according to his own statements, mostly epitomized the K. al-duwal almunqa.tica.5 Yet the manuscript also raises a difficulty for this identification. The author concludes his list of dynasties to be mentioned with the contemporary ones: the cAbbasids, the Saljiiqs, the Atabakiyya (Zangids), the Artuqids, the Banii CAbdal-Mu'min (Almohads), and the Ndsiriyya, i.e., the Ayyiibids, under whose reign he was writing. He states that this last dynasty indeed deserved to be presented first, but that he put it off to the end of his work in the hope that it would remain and not be discontinued (1l tanqactic)through the rise of another dynasty. It is obvious that only the title Akhbdr al-duwal al-Isldmiyya, not al-duwal al-munqatiCa "the discontinued dynasties," would be appropriate for a work which included these contemporary dynasties. Are then the Akhbdr al-duwal al-Islamiyya and the Akhbdr al-duwal al-munqa.tica two different works ? This is rather improbable in view of the facts already presented. It seems more wrote only one dynastic history, for which he intended the name likely that Ibn Akhbdr al-duwal.Zfir al-Isldmiyya and that only those parts of the work dealing with the "discontinued" dynasties were originally called al-duwal al-munqatiCa.GThis latter title then was commonly extended to refer to the whole work. Of Ibn Akhbar al-duwal al-munqatica only two manuscripts have so far been known to exist. .Zfir's Both contain the chapters on the HIamdanid, S~jid, Tilfinid, Ikhshidid, and cAbbasid dynasties apparently constituting the second part of the work.7 The Milan manuscript, containing probably the first part and most of the chapter on F.timid, the Saljiiqs, which originally may have belonged to a later part,8 adds a significant portion to the extant remains of the work which, according to Khalifa, comprised "about four parts."9 H.jji In the chapters of the Milan manuscript, as in the sections previously known, Ibn Zdfir relied to a large extent on literary sources which are no longer extant. Though
4 Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, p. 229, n. 2 and p. 338, n. 8. 5 On this work see JNES 26 (1967): 22. 6 It is to be noted that the title of the work is given in the Gotha manuscript, which contains the second part, only as akhbdr al-duwal and that al-munqatica was added later in a different handwriting. See W. Pertsch, Die arabischen Handschriften der herzoglichen Bibliothek zu Gotha, vol. 3, p. 186. In the incomplete manuscript of the second part in the British Museum, the only other one known, the name is missing. See C. Rieu, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 274. 7 In the Gotha manuscript the chapter on the Hamdfnids is marked as opening the second part of the work. See Pertsch, Die arabischen Handschriften, vol. 3, p. 186. In that manuscript the chapter on the cAbbAsids precedes the chapter on the HamdAnids, while in the manuscript of the British Museum it is placed at the end. The latter sequence agrees with the cross references in the chapters. See ibid., p. 186. 8 Cf. Rieu, Supplement, p. 274. The chapter on the Saljiiqs is referred to in the chapter on the Fatimids to be presented subsequently. Among the works of Ibn a history on the Saljfiqs is mentioned under the title Akhbdr (Talrikh) al-mulik al-Saljfqiyya. Z.fir, Cf. al-Sakhdwi, al-icldn, p. 182, Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, p. 338. K. Sii3heim may well be right in his assumption that this history was identical with the chapter in the general dynastic history. See K. SiiBheim, Prolegomena zu einer Ausgabe der im Britischen Museum zu London verwahrten Chronik des Seldschuqischen Reiches, p. 22. Khalifa, Kashf al-gunfn, s.v. al-duwal Hajji a al-munqatica.

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MANUSCRIPTS THE IDENTITYOF Two YEMENITEHISTORICAL

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much of his material is available from other sources, there are many passages throughout his work where he preserves unique information. His coverage of the dynastic history is unfortunately quite irregular. He may not report any events during most of the reign of a ruler and then describe an event in considerable detail. It is regrettable that he did not complete the more comprehensive version mentioned in the introduction. With the sources at his disposal, it might well have rivaled a work such as Ibn al-Athir's Kdmil in importance in Islamic historiography and would have had a good chance of survival. But even the extant parts of the shorter version deserve publication. Here only some tentative notes on the contents and the sources used in the chapters of the Milan manuscript can be given. The chapter on the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria is of little interest. Ibn Zifir states at the beginning that since Umayyad history has been treated broadly in many works, he intends to deal with it but summarily. Twice he expressly quotes al-Quddci (Muhammad b. Saldma, d. 454/1062). Whether al-Qud~ci's unpublished general history was his chief source remains to be determined. The chapter on the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus largely duplicates accounts in Ibn al-Athir and al-Nuwayri. The latter, in his history of the Andalusian Umayyads, as he did in other chapters of the historical may indeed occasionally have quoted Ibn .Zfir, The chapter does offer, however, some bits section of his encyclopedic Nihdyat al-arab. of information not available elsewhere. Thus Ibn reports, without giving an exact .Zfir Zamora (Sammiira) was besieged date, two campaigns of al-HIakam I to Galicia in which and conquered. These campaigns are apparently mentioned nowhere else. In the course of the account he expressly quotes al-Rdzi, probably Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Miisd (d. 344/955), whose history of al-Andalus presumably is the source of the whole report. The chapter on the Aghlabids is brief, the account of the reigns of some of them being practically reduced to the dates of their accession and death. Generally little historical information is presented. There are, however, some anecdotes, for instance concerning Ibrdhim b. al-Aghlab, which are otherwise unknown. At the end of the chapter Ibn al-Jazzdr (d. 395/1004-5) is quoted. Whether any of his historical works were available to Ibn Zifir remains to be determined. The chapter on the Saff~rids, which ends with the capture of Muhammad b. CAll b. al-Layth by the Sammnid army and his arrival in Baghdad as a prisoner in 298/911, is based at least partially on an unidentified source which offers valuable new material. The account of the last Saff~rids differs from that of Ibn al-Athir, which appears to be based on al-Sallami, as well as that of the anonymous Ta'rikh-i Sistan, though its account is generally more compatible with the former. The section on the Dulafids contains, despite its brevity, some new information on this dynasty on which otherwise very little material, provided chiefly by al-Tabarl and al-Masciidi, is available. Ibn does not mention his source. The chapter on the cAlids of Tabaristan ends with the reign .Zfir of Abil Jacfar al-Thi'ir (d. 350/961) and is based on Abil IsIhq al-$dbi's K. al-tdji. Since this particular section of the K. al-tdji has recently been recovered in the original, Ibn Z~fir's chapter has lost its interest. The chapter on the Sminids contains significant new information. Thus Ibn .Vifir and describes under the year 297/909-10 a major invasion of the Turks in Transoxania Khwarizm, accompanied by the massacre and enslavement of Muslim merchants in the territory of the Turks. He reports that "Ibn QArin," ruler of Dunbiwand, sought

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refuge with the Sammnid Ahmad b. IsmdCil in BukharA. This Ibn Qdrin is probably to be identified with Shahriydr b. BAdiispin, Ispahbad of Lapiir, mentioned by Ibn Isfandiydr as opposing the CAlid al-Ndsir al-Utriish on his conquest of Tabaristdn.o1 His designation as Ibn Qdrin proves that the Qdrinwand dynasty, which had been ruling the central and western mountains of TabaristAn in early Islamic times, had not disappeared with the capture and consequent execution of Mazydr in 224/839, as has usually been assumed. The survival of this dynasty is indeed also confirmed by Ibn IsfandiyAr, who refers to the amirs ruling Laffir toward the end of the fifth/eleventh century as QErinwand.11 Ibn ZAfir recounts the events leading to the succession of Nasr b. Ahmad in 301/913 in considerable detail, throwing interesting light on the internal forces and rivalries in the early Sammnid kingdom. His source is again independent of al-Salldmi, the common source of Ibn al-Athir and Gardizi. The chapter on the Bilyids up to the reign of CAdud al-dawla is based chiefly on the K. al-tdji of Abi who is named repeatedly by Ibn ZAfir as his source. It Isl.)q of 'Adud al-dawla, under whose supervision al-.Sabi, wrote his strongly reflects the views work. It emphasizes the supremacy of cImid al-dawla, whose coronation al-S.bi and assumption of the title Shahinshah in the year 325/936-37 are mentioned,12 and, after his death, of Rukn al-dawla within the Bilyid family; and it is sharply critical of Mucizz al-dawla, who is held responsible for the success of the Byzantine offensive against the Muslim border towns since his feuds with the Hamdinids had distracted him from supporting these towns. Even more critical is the account with respect to cAdud al-dawla's cousin and his opponent 'Izz al-dawla and his supporters. The machinations by which cAdud al-dawla forced 'Izz al-dawla to resign, and the rage of Rukn al-dawla against cAdud al-dawla caused by the latter's treatment of his cousin, are passed over in silence. Ibn Zifir describes the ceremony in which the Caliph al-TiVic crowned cAdud al-dawla and granted him the title TAj al-milla, quoting HilAl al-Sibi.13 Abti Ishiq probably did not describe the ceremony in which cAdud al-dawla prostrated himself before the caliph. Ibn then quotes the full text of the document granting the award which was read the .Zfir ceremony. The document was written by cAbd al-cAziz b. Yiisuf, but is during not contained in the collection of his letters preserved in manuscript.14 The apparently latter part of the chapter contains some otherwise unknown information, but also some glaring errors. It seems to rest chiefly on the Baghdadian historiography. In one passage al-Hamadhdni (Muhammad b. CAbdal-Malik, d. 512/1121), author of a continuation of al-Tabari to his own time, is mentioned as the source. The chapter on the Ziydrids is probably based solely on the K. al-taji. This is indicated by the fact, besides other evidence, that it abruptly breaks off during the reign of QAbiis b. Wushmgir in 369/979-80, the year with which the K. al-tdji ended. It provides significant new details, for instance on the reign of Behistin. The discovery of the chapter on the Saljiiqs definitely settles the question first raised by K. Sii3heim whether the history of the Saljiiq dynasty contained in a manuscript of
10 Ibn Isfandiydr, Ta'rikh-i Tabaristdn, ed. A. Eghbal, vol. 1, p. 270. 11 See my forthcoming chapter on the minor dynasties of northern Iran in The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 4. 12 Cf. JNES 28 (1969): 89. 13 Ibn Zdfir erroneously calls him Ghars al-nicma. Ghars al-nicma is the name of Hildl's son, who continued his history. The account of the ceremony is presented by the author on the authority of cAli

b. cAbd al-cAziz b. H&jib al-Nucman, who is also named by Hild1 in his Rusim ddr al-khildfa (ed. MikhAil cAwwwd, p. 80) as his authority. The account differs in some details from that quoted by Ibn of the Rusfim. .Zfir It is presumably taken from Hill's history. 14 On the contents of the manuscript collection of letters of cAbd al-cAziz b. Yfisuf, cf. C. Cahen, "Une correspondance bfiyide inedite," in Studi Orientalistici in onore di Giorgio Levi della Vida, vol. 1.

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THE IDENTITY OF Two YEMENITE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS

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the British Museum under the title Akhbir al-dawla al-Saljiiqiyya15 is in fact the This is not the case. The author chapter of Ibn Zifir's Akhbar al-duwal al-munqa.tiCa.16 of the Akhbir al-dawla al-Saljftqiyya thus remains anonymous. There are, however, many similarities between the Akhbar and Ibn chapter evidently resulting from the use of common sources. Ibn Zdfir a few times .Zfir's names cImid al-din al-Isfahani's Nusrat al-fatra as his source, which is also frequently quoted by the author of the Akhbar. His account agrees often, however, with the Akhbar, even in sections missing in cImid al-din's work. It is thus very likely that Ibn Zifir used the main source of the earlier portions of the Akhbir, the Zubdat al-tawarikh by CAli b. NAsir al-Husayni,17 although he does not mention it anywhere. He quotes it at times more briefly, at other times in greater detail than the author of the Akhbar. Ibn iZfir on the other hand expressly states that he was acquainted with the K. sudiir zaman al-futiir wa-futir zaman al-sudiir of the vizier Aniishirwdn b. Khalid. These memoirs were, it is known, written in Persian and translated into Arabic by cImdd al-din al-IsfahAni who incorporated parts of them into his Nusrat al-fatra.18 It is not clear whether the full translation of the work or only the parts incorporated into al-Isfahani's history was available to him. He accuses Aniishirwin of extreme bias and relies on him much less than did cImid al-din. Cod. arab. 5982 of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris contains a general chronological history of Islam down to the early seventh/thirteenth century. The beginning and the end of the manuscript are missing. There are apparently major lacunas after fol. 251 and fol. 252. The text now begins abruptly on fol. 2a in the caliphate of Mu'cwiya. On fol. la the work is described in a handwriting differing from that of the copyist as "the fourth part of the history of Muslim al-Lahji." At the top of fol. 2a the work is also stated to be "the history of Muslim al-Lahji from which the amount of one folio is missing at the beginning. May it be known. It is a precious, rare history." Again the handwriting is obviously later than that of the copyist. The reliability of the attribution of the work to Muslim al-Lahji, accepted by E. Blochet 19 and C. Brockelmann,20 has been contested by C. van Arendonk on the grounds that the author of the book states twice to be writing in the year 627/1230, while Muslim al-Lahji, according to Yaqiut,21 lived about the year 530/1136.22 In the fragment of one of his works contained in Ms. Berlin 9664, al-Lahji indeed states that he is writing in the year 544/1149.23 That he lived in the first half of the sixth/twelfth century is furthermore confirmed by Yemenite sources. He is mentioned as a leader of the Mutar15 Edited by Muhammad IqbBl as Akhbdr udDawlat is-Saljfiqiyya by Sadr'uddin Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Nasir Ibn Ali al-Husaini. 16 Cf. K. SiiBheim, Prolegomena, p. 22; introd. of Muhammad Iqbdl to his edition; cf. Cahen, "The of the Historiography Seljfiqid Period," in Historians of the Middle East, B. Lewis and P. M. Holt, eds., 69 ff. pp. 17 Cf. Cahen, "The Historiography of the Seljfiqid Period," pp. 69 ff.
18

Ibid.,

19 E. Blochet, Catalogue de la Collection de Manuscrits Orientaux de 1M. Ch. Schefer (Paris, 1890), p. 37. In his later Catalogue des manuscripts arabes des nouvelles acquisitions (1884-1924) (Paris, 1925), pp. 154 f., Blochet expressed doubts concerning the reliability of the statement that the manuscript constituted the fourth part of the history of al-Lahji since it contained in fact the history of Islam from the beginnings to the age of the author. That the

p. 67.

manuscript contains the fourth (or higher) part of a work is confirmed, however, by a reference of the author (fol. 56a) to his previous account "in the second and third part." 20 Brockelmann, GAL Suppl. 1 p. 587. 21 Y~qfit, Mu-jam al-bulddn, ed. F. Wiistenfeld, vol. 4, p. 352. 22 C. van Arendonk, De Opkomst van het Zaidietische Imamaat in Yemen, p. 11. 23 Shay? min akhbdr al-Zaydiyya fit 1-Yaman, cf. W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichnis der arabischen Handschriften der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, vol. 9, p. 209. Brockelmann (GAL Suppl. 1 p. 587) suggested that the text of the Berlin manuscript was taken from the history contained in the Paris manuscript. Van Arendonk has pointed out, however, that the parallel passages in the Paris manuscript give a greatly abridged version of the text of the Berlin manuscript (Opkomst, p. 11).

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OF NEAR

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rifiyya sect by the Zaydi Imam al-Mutawakkil Ahmad b. Sulayman, who died in 566/ 1170.24 Elsewhere he is quoted as stating that he was studying in Waqash, a center of the Mutarrifiyya, in the year 510/1116-17.25 He thus cannot be the author of the book. The manuscript is to be identified as the fourth part of the K. rawdat al-akhbar wa-kunizz al-asrar wa-nukat al-athdr wa-mawaciz al-akhbar of Abi Muhammad Yiisuf b. Muhammad al-Hajfiri. At the beginning of the first part of this encyclopedia, which is extant in a manuscript of the Sacidiyya Library in Hayderabad, Deccan,26 al-Hajiri describes the contents of the fourth part as follows: "In the fourth part, there is the story of the Umayyad Caliphs, their genealogies, their qualities, the length of their reign, of the Khdrijites (shurFt) and the CAlids who revolted against them, of their secretaries, judges, chamberlains (hujjfb), the inscription of their seals, of the disputes which arose among them, of their children and their clients, of the end of their reign and their ranks. Then follows the story of the cAbbisid Caliphs, their genealogies, their qualities, the length of their reign, of the Khdrijites, cAlids, and deluded Qarmatians who revolted against them, of the conflicts which arose among them, of their secretaries, judges, chamberlains, the inscription of their seals; and of those others who ruled in the remote regions like the Yahyawiyya, Qdsimiyya, Sulaymaniyya, and Hamziyya (cAlids) who ruled in the Yemen, and the Arabs who rose to rule of the Hawwilid and the Sulayhid dynasties, of the Banfi Zurayc, the Banfi HItim, the Banii Mahdi ... (?) and the Banfi al-DuCam; and of the Ghuzz who have ruled until this year; and of the Umayyads and CAlids who ruled in the Maghrib and in Daylam; and the mention of the conditions of the Hour (of the Resurrection), death, and the torture of the grave, the description of Paradise, the Fire and ... (?)." 27 This description fits the contents of the Paris manuscript so closely as to leave no room for doubt concerning this identity. Al-Hajilri, about whose life no other information is available, has been known from the extant parts of his work to belong to the first half of the seventh/thirteenth century.28 With the discovery of the first and the fourth parts of the K. rawdat al-akhbdr, the work of al-Hajilri has become available in its entirety except for some missing pages and lacunas in the manuscripts. The second part, it is known, is contained in a Berlin manuscript29 and the third part in a manuscript of the Ambrosiana in Milan.30 The contents of these parts also agree with their description by al-Hajilri in the introduction to the first part. Some of the lacunas in the fourth part occur unfortunately in the section dealing with the history of the Yemen in the time of the author, where his account is particularly valuable as a primary source. No other manuscripts of the fourth volume are known, though it is not unlikely that others may still be found in the Yemen.
24 Cf. W. Madelung, Der Imam al-Qdsim ibn Ibrdhim und die Glaubenslehre der Zaiditen, p. 203. 25 Sdrim al-din IbrAhim b. al-QAsim b. al-Muoayyad bi lldh, Nasamcdt al-ashdr fi tabaqdt ruwdt kutub al-fiqh wa i-dthdr al-macrftfa bi-tabaqdt culam&dal-Zaydiyya, photocopy no. 296 (Cairo, Ddr al-Kutub), p. 435. 26 A microfilm of the manuscript is available at the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts of the Arab League in Cairo. My thanks are due to the authorities of the Institute for putting a copy of the film at my disposal. On the title page of the manuscript the work is identified as the first quarter (al-rubc al-awwal) of the Kitdb rawdat al-akhbdr wa-kuni~z al-asrdr wa-nukat al-dthdr wa-nmawdciz al-akhbdr. In the introduction the author gives the same lengthy title with the addition wa-mulah al-ashcdr wa-cajdPib alasmdr (fol. 2a). The name of the author is not men-

tioned on the title page. In its place the first owner of the copy, CAmr b. Sulaymdn b. Haytham b. cAmir b. Abi l-cAshira al-Matari (?) al-Khawlini, is named. The manuscript is incomplete at the end. In the text the author refers to himself anonymously as the "author of the book al-kitdb)." On fol. 75a a comment is introduced (mu.annif by the statement This Yathya may qala Yahyd b. Yiisuf author who added a personal perhaps be a son of the al-.Hajciri. comment to a copy he wrote of his father's work. 27 Fol. 4 f. 28 Cf. E. Griffini, "Lista di manoscritti arabi nuovo fondo della Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano." RSO 6 (1915): 1285; Brockelmann, GAL Suppl. 1 587. 29 Ahlwardt, Verzeichnis, no. 9701. 30 Cod. arab. N. F. C 2; cf. Griffini, "Lista di manoscritti," p. 1285.

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