Search

Dhayl are a genre in Arabic historical literature. The word means "supplement/continuation". Supplements in the sense of continuing a specific work in time, not in the sense of adding supplementary material to the period covered by the original work, were authored in all historiographical genres that existed in Islamic societies. They started to appear in stronger numbers from the early fourth century ah (tenth century ad) onwards. Authors and audiences generally understood the supplement to be an independent work. However, supplements followed the main work …

[Shihāb al-Dīn ʾAbū Shāma ʾAbū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn ʾIsmāʿīl al-Maqdisī] 599-665 ah (1203-68 ad). Syria. A Shafi'i scholar of law, tradition and Koran recitation, who held appointments at various institutions in Damascus; author of the Arabic Kitāb al-rawdatayn fī akhbar al-dawlatayn al-Nuriya wa-al-Salahiya (The Book of the Two Gardens on the Reports of the Two Reigns), al-Dhayl 'ala al-Rawdatayn (The Supplement to the Two Gardens) and other historical works.Abu Shama composed his most renowned work, the Rawdatayn, in the late 640s (1240s). It covers the reigns o…

[Thiqat al-Dīn ʾAbū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Hibat Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-ʿAsākir al-Dimashqī al-Shāfiʿī al-Ḥāfiz] 499-571 ah (1106-75 ad). Syria. The most famous member of the notable ʿAsakir family of Damascus, hadith-scholar and author of the Arabic biographical dictionary Tarikh madinat Dimashq (History of Damascus).This work is centred on Syria and especially Damascus, containing some 10,000 biographies of individuals (among them 200 women) who lived in the town or passed through it. Some thirty biographi…

604-97 ah (1208-98 ad). Syria and Egypt. A Shafiʾi Syrian scholar, who held teaching posts and judgeships in Egypt and his hometown Hama, his most famous chronicle is the Arabic Mufarrij al-kurub fi akhbar bani Ayyub (The Dissipater of Anxieties on the Reports of the Ayyubids).The Mufarrij covers the late Zengid, the Ayyubid and the early Mamluk periods in Syria and Egypt. For the earlier parts of his chronicle Ibn Wasil relied heavily on ʾAbu Shama, but the work gains a more independent profile for the passages covering the 7th (13th) century. Of the four extant manuscripts none is …

[ʾAbū al-Farash ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jawzī] 510-97 ah (1126-1200 ad). Mesopotamia. Hanbali preacher and scholar of history, law and hadith, native of Baghdad, and author of the Arabic al-Muntazam fī taʿrīkh al-muluk wa-al-umam (The Well-Organised [Book] Concerning the History of Kings and Peoples).Throughout his life, Ibn al-Jawzī played an active role in the political and religious life of Baghdad, maintaining close relationships with the Caliphs, viziers and the leading scholars. Until he fell into disgrace towards …

[Kamāl al-Dīn ʿAbū al-Qāsim ʿUmar ibn ʾAhmad ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-ʿAdīm] 588-660 ah (1192/93-1262 ad). Syria, Egypt. A hanafi scholar of law, official and envoy, he held appointments at various institutions and in various functions in his native Aleppo, and was later active in Cairo, where he died. He was the author of the Arabic Bughyat al-talab fī ta’ rīkh Halab (Everything Desirable about the History of Aleppo) and Zubdat al-h alab fī ta’rīkh H alab (The cream of the history of Aleppo).Ibn al-Adīm's magnum opus, the Bughyat is a biographical dictionary of the notables linked t…