Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn Shākir al-Dārānī al-Dimashqī al-Kutubī (1287–1363) was a Syrian merchant and historian. Born into a poor family in

Dārayyā Darayya () is a suburb of Damascus in Syria, the centre of Darayya lying south-west of the centre of Damascus. Administratively it belongs to Rif Dimashq. History and population Darayya is one of the oldest cities in Syria, reportedly the pla ...

in 1287, al-Kutubī later moved to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and entered the book trade, where he made a fortune. His nickname, ''al-Kutubī'', means "the bookseller". He spent his most of his life in Damascus and never held an official position either civic or religious. For these reasons, little is known about his life. He was a friend of

al-Dhahabī Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Athari theologia ...

and

Ibn Kathīr Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a leading autho ...

. His funeral was held on 24 June 1363. Al-Kutubī is known for two surviving works in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. The ''ʿUyūn al-tawārīkh'' (The Historical Springs) is a general history of the Islamic world from the first year of the Hegira (AD 622–623) until 1359. It contains many bibliographies of scholars. It is a derivative but not completely unoriginal work, especially for the author's own time. The

autograph manuscript An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of "autograph" as a document penned entirely by the author of its content (as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyi ...

of the last volume is preserved in

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

, Ahmet III 2922. Another copy is in

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries Libraries of the University of Cambridge, within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for me ...

, 699 (Add. 2923). It is unpublished. The ''Fawāt al-wafayāt'' (Beyond the Obituaries) is a supplement to the biographical dictionary of

Ibn Khallikān Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān (; 22 September 1211 – 30 October 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a renowned Islamic historian of Kurdish origin who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedi ...

. It contains 600 biographies of Syrian writers arranged alphabetically. It is preserved in Topkapı Palace, Ahmet III 2921, an autograph manuscript from 1352. By its nature, it contains much unique material. It has received several modern editions.

Notes

Bibliography

* * *{{EI2 , pages=570–571 , first=Franz , last=Rosenthal , author-link=Franz Rosenthal , title=al-Kutubī , volume=5

External links

Chester Beatty, MS Ar 4257, containing ''ʿUyūn al-tawārīkh''''Omissions of the "Wafayāt" Obituaries'' (Cairo: Bulaq Press, 1866)
1287 births 1363 deaths 14th-century merchants 14th-century Syrian historians Writers from Damascus