Muhammad bin Hamad al-Bassam
- Died
- 1246 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad bin Hamad al-Bassam (d. 1246 AH / 1831 CE) was an Arabian historian and genealogist associated with Iraq, best known for his tribal history al-Durar al-Mafakhir fi Akhbar al-Arab al-Awakhir.
Life and Scholarship
Muhammad bin Hamad al-Bassam al-Tamimi belonged to the lineage of Banu Tamim. Though of Najdi origin, he resided in Iraq and was engaged in administrative governance, noting in his own writings that he held an official administrative assignment during the period he undertook his scholarship.
Al-Bassam composed his primary treatise, al-Durar al-Mafakhir fi Akhbar al-Arab al-Awakhir (Pearls of Glorious Deeds in the Reports of Latter-Day Arabs)—also referenced under the title Kitab 'Asha'ir al-Arab—to document the contemporary Arab tribes across Najd, the Hijaz, Yemen, Iraq, and the Jazira. He compiled the work at the request of Claudius James Rich, the British resident in Basra and Baghdad. Al-Bassam penned the manuscript in his own hand on Italian-made paper across 59 folios (118 pages), an autograph that was subsequently preserved in the British Museum in London under MS AU 7358.
In assessing the work, Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli observed that its linguistic style leans toward colloquial Arabic. The Iraqi historian Abbas al-Azzawi considered it a significant source for the tribes of Iraq, noting that while its entries are generally concise, al-Bassam recorded the tribal traits and lineages accurately according to the information available to him.
Death
Al-Bassam died in Mecca during an epidemic in 1246 AH (1831 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Durar al-Mafakhir fi Akhbar al-Arab al-Awakhir (Pearls of Glorious Deeds in the Reports of Latter-Day Arabs), also known as Kitab 'Asha'ir al-Arab, is a nineteenth-century genealogical and tribal treatise documenting the late Arab tribes of Najd, the Hijaz, Yemen, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula.