Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد ابن عذاري المراكشي) was a
Moroccan historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous ''
Al-Bayan al-Mughrib
''Kitāb al-bayān al-mughrib fī ākhbār mulūk al-andalus wa'l-maghrib'' (''Book of the Amazing Story of the History of the Kings of al-Andalus and Maghreb'') by Ibn Idhāri (var. Ibn Athari) of Marrakech in the Maghreb (now Morocco) ...
'', an important medieval history of the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
(
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
,
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
) and
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
(now the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
) written in 1312.
Ibn Idhāri was born and lived in
Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, and was a ''
qāʾid'' ('commander') of
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
. Little is known of his life. His only surviving work, ''Al-Bayan al-Mughrib'', is a history of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
from the conquest of
Miṣr in 640/1 AD to the
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...
conquests in 1205/6 AD. Its value to modern scholarship lies in its extracts from older works, now lost, and in its material not found elsewhere, including reports of the first
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
raids on
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
in the ninth century.
He mentions another biographic work on the
caliphs
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
,
imāms
Imāmah ( ar, إِمَامَة) means "leadership" and is a concept in Twelver theology. The Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam. According to Twelver ...
and
amīrs from across the Islamic world, which has not survived. He died after 1312 / 712 AH.
Notes
References
*Ahmed Siraj: ''L'Image de la Tingitane. L'historiographie arabe médiévale et l'Antiquité nord-africaine''. École Française de Rome, 1995. . Short biographical note.
*
N. Levtzion & J.F.P. Hopkins, ''Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history'', Cambridge University Press, 1981, (reprint: Markus Wiener, Princeton, 2000, ). Short biographical note and English translation of extracts from ''
Al-Bayan al-Mughrib
''Kitāb al-bayān al-mughrib fī ākhbār mulūk al-andalus wa'l-maghrib'' (''Book of the Amazing Story of the History of the Kings of al-Andalus and Maghreb'') by Ibn Idhāri (var. Ibn Athari) of Marrakech in the Maghreb (now Morocco) ...
''.
13th-century Moroccan historians
14th-century Arabic writers
14th-century Moroccan historians
People from Marrakesh
Historians from the Marinid Sultanate
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