Ḥamza ibn Aḥmad ibn Sibāṭ al-Faqīh al-ʿĀlayhī () (died 1520) was a

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

historian and a scribe of the

Buhturid The Buhturids, also known as the Banu Buhtur or the Tanukh, were a dynasty whose chiefs served as the emirs (commanders) of the Gharb area southeast of Beirut in Mount Lebanon in the 12th–15th centuries. A branch of the Tanukhid tribal confederat ...

emirs of

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon ( ar, جَبَل لُبْنَان, ''jabal lubnān'', ; syr, ܛܘܪ ܠܒ݂ܢܢ, ', , ''ṭūr lewnōn'' french: Mont Liban) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It averages above in elevation, with its peak at . Geography The Mount Le ...

Life and work

Hamza was based in

Aley Aley ( ar, عاليه) is a major city in Lebanon. It is the capital of the Aley District and fourth largest city in Lebanon. The city is located on Mount Lebanon, 15 km uphill from Beirut on the freeway to Damascus. Aley has the nickn ...

in the Gharb area southeast of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in Mount Lebanon. His father Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Salih (d. 1482) was a disciple of the reformist Druze religious leader al-Sayyid Abd Allah al-Tanukhi and the

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

of his mosque in

Abeih Aabey, also spelled Abey ( ar, عبيه), is a village located in Mount Lebanon, in Aley District of Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located from Beirut and has an altitude of 800 m (2,600 feet). It is bordered by Kfarmatta (South), Al ...

. Hamza was one of two sons of Shihab al-Din, the other being Zayn al-Din Abd al-Rahman (d. 1491). Like al-Sayyid al-Tanukhi and the

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

s of the Gharb, the Sibat family were descendants of the

Tanukh The Tanûkhids ( ar, التنوخيون, transl=al-Tanūḫiyyūn) or Tanukh ( ar, تنوخ, translit=Tanūḫ) or Banū Tanūkh (, romanized as: ) were a confederation of Arab tribes, sometimes characterized as Saracens. They first rose to prom ...

, an Arab tribe which was long established in the Gharb. Part of his work chronicled the Tanukh's history, before and after their acceptance and propagation of the Druze doctrine in the early 11th century. Hamza chronicled the medieval history of Mount Lebanon. His work was largely based on the chronicle of the Buhturid chronicler

Salih ibn Yahya Salih (; ar, صَالِحٌ, Ṣāliḥ, lit=Pious), also spelled Saleh (), is an Arab prophet mentioned in the Quran who prophesied to the tribe of Thamud in ancient Arabia, before the lifetime of Muhammad. The story of Salih is linked to the ...

(d. 1435). Ibn Sibat continued the history of Mount Lebanon for the rest of the 15th century through the first years of Ottoman rule, which began in 1516. For the history of his own time, he relied on his personal observations. He is a principal source for the history of the Druze

Ma'n dynasty The Ma'n dynasty ( ar, ٱلْأُسْرَةُ ٱلْمَعْنِيَّةُ, Banū Maʿn, alternatively spelled ''Ma'an''), also known as the Ma'nids; ( ar, ٱلْمَعْنِيُّونَ), were a family of Druze chiefs of Arab stock based in the ...

of the

Chouf Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf, in ''Jabal ash-Shouf''; french: La Montagne du Chouf) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate (muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east ...

in the closing years of

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

rule in the 1490s through 1516 and the first interactions of the Ma'ns and the Buhturids with the Ottoman conquerors. The 17th-century

Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...

historian and patriarch

Istifan al-Duwayhi Estephan El Douaihy ( ar, اسطفانوس الثاني بطرس الدويهي / ALA-LC: ''Isṭifānūs al-thānī Buṭrus al-Duwayhī''; french: Étienne Douaihi; la, Stephanus Dovaihi; it, Stefano El Douaihy; August 2, 1630 – May 3, 1704) ...

and the 19th-century Maronite historian

Tannus al-Shidyaq Tannus ibn Yusuf al-Shidyaq ( – 1861), also transliterated ''Tannous el-Chidiac'', was a Maronite clerk and emissary of the Shihab emirs, the feudal chiefs and tax farmers of Ottoman Mount Lebanon, and a chronicler best known for his work on th ...

depended mainly on Hamza's chronicle for their histories of non-Maronite Mount Lebanon.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book , last1=Salibi , first1=Kamal S. , title=The Druze: Realities & Perceptions , date=2005 , publisher=Druze Heritage Foundation , location=London , isbn=9781904850069 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4YWAQAAMAAJ 1520 deaths 16th-century people from the Mamluk Sultanate 16th-century historians 16th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Arabs from the Ottoman Empire Druze people from the Ottoman Empire History of the Druze Ottoman period in Lebanon People from Aley District Historians from the Mamluk Sultanate Tanukhids Arabs from the Mamluk Sultanate