Ali ibn Muhammad al-Khuzai

Ali ibn Muhammad al-Khuzai (710–789 AH / 1310–1387 CE) was an Andalusian-descended North African historian, scribe, and scholar of early Islamic administration, best known for his institutional treatise Takhrij al-dalalat al-sam'iyya al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Lineage and Early Life

His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Mas'ud al-Khuzai, though his contemporary Ibn Khaldun gave his ancestor's name as Su'ud rather than Mas'ud Takhrij al-Dalalat al-Sam…+1. He was also known by the honorific title Ibn Dhi al-Wizaratayn, and was occasionally referred to after his ancestor as Ali ibn Mas'ud Mawsuat al-Qabail al-Arab…+1. Al-Khuzai was of Andalusian ancestry, but he was born and received his education in Tlemcen al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Administrative Career

Al-Khuzai pursued a prominent career in the royal chanceries of the central Maghreb. He was first employed as a scribe by the Marinid ruler Sultan Ibrahim ibn Ali al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. He then entered the service of the Zayyanid dynasty in Tlemcen, where Sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman appointed him to oversee sultanic public works (khittat al-ashghal al-sultaniyya) Mujam Alam al-Jazair. He ultimately returned to the Marinid court in Fez, serving as a scribe of state works and subsequently rising to become the head of the state chancery (ra'is qalam al-dawla) Mujam Alam al-Jazair.

Around 776 AH, when he reached approximately sixty-six years of age, he retired from government burdens, which afforded him the opportunity to organize and complete his scholarly materials Takhrij al-Dalalat al-Sam….

Scholarly Standing and Reception

Al-Khuzai gained recognition among Maghrebi scholars for his polymathic learning in calculation, literature, genealogy, Arabic grammar, linguistics, legal theory (usul), and substantive jurisprudence (furu'), as well as his skill in poetry and calligraphy, which was compared to that of Ibn Muqla Mujam Alam al-Jazair. The historian Ibn al-Ahmar recorded meeting him and praised his command across these disciplines, while the scholar al-Siraj studied under him and recorded transmissions from him in his catalogue Takhrij al-Dalalat al-Sam…+1.

In 786 AH, al-Khuzai concluded his primary historical composition, Takhrij al-dalalat al-sam'iyya 'ala ma kana fi 'ahd Rasul Allah min al-hiraf wa-l-sana'i' wa-l-'imalat al-shar'iyya ("The Extraction of Auditory Indications on the Crafts, Trades, and Legal Offices in the Era of the Messenger of Allah"), presenting it as a gift to the Marinid Sultan Abu Faris Musa upon his accession Takhrij al-Dalalat al-Sam…+1. The text documented the administrative and socioeconomic offices of the early prophetic era, serving as the core foundation that the 20th-century Moroccan scholar Abd al-Hayy al-Kattani later expanded into his work al-Taratib al-idariyya al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Death

Al-Khuzai died in Fez in 789 AH (1387 CE) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. A printed edition of Ibn al-Qadi's biographical work Durrat al-hijal misrecorded his death date as 689 AH, whereas manuscript copies preserve the correct date in words as 789 AH al-Alam lil-Zirikli.