Abu Shama, Muarrikh Dimashq fi Asr al-Ayyubiyyin
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Abu Shama, Muarrikh Dimashq fi Asr al-Ayyubiyyin (Abu Shama: The Historian of Damascus in the Ayyubid Era) is a scholarly biographical and historiographical study written by the Syrian researcher Ibrahim al-Zaybaq and completed in Damascus in 1428 AH (2007 CE). The work examines the life, historical methodology, intellectual contributions, and historical context of the Damascene scholar and chronicler Shihab al-Din Abu Shama al-Maqdisi (599–665 AH / 1203–1267 CE) during the Ayyubid period.
Background and Purpose
Al-Zaybaq undertook the project following his extensive critical editing of Abu Shama's major historical writings, including Kitab al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbar al-Dawlatayn (Kitab al-Rawdatayn) and its sequel al-Mudhayyal 'ala al-Rawdatayn (al-Mudhayyal ala al-Rawdatayn). Finding that classical biographical dictionaries provided fragmented sketches rather than a coherent portrait of the historian, al-Zaybaq sought to reconstruct Abu Shama's personality, intellectual development, and ideological commitments from his own writings, particularly the autobiographical reflections embedded within al-Mudhayyal.
Structure and Content
The study is organized into two primary divisions, supplemented by discussions of Abu Shama's wider scholarly output and students:
- Part One: Biography (سيرة حياته): Covers Abu Shama's ancestry tracing back to Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), his birth in Damascus in 599 AH (1203 CE), his family's history, and his upbringing. It traces his life through youth, career, political and religious stances, and the events surrounding the fatal assault against him at his Damascene home by two assailants from the mountain area—which al-Zaybaq identifies as Mount Qasyun.
- Part Two: Historical Works and Methodology (آثاره التاريخية): Analyzes Abu Shama's historical compilations, his critical source criticism, his recording of major political transitions—such as the Mongol entry into Damascus in 658 AH (1260 CE)—and the historiographical value of his texts.
The author supplements this framework with surveys of Abu Shama's compositions in other fields—such as Qur'anic recitation, legal theory, and religious reform—as well as accounts of his disciples and the reception of his works.
Methodology and Reception
Al-Zaybaq explicitly distances his approach from classical biographical conventions that compartmentalized a figure's life, culture, and era into isolated headings. Instead, he aims for an integrated developmental narrative presenting Abu Shama as an engaged scholar committed to social and religious causes rather than an isolated chronicler observing events from an ivory tower.
The author also critically engages with both classical and modern historiography. He evaluates reports by contemporary chroniclers such as Qutb al-Din al-Yunini and later historians such as al-Dhahabi and al-Sakhawi, addressing charges leveled against Abu Shama regarding his outspoken critique of contemporary religious figures and administrators of endowments. In addition, the book surveys the publication history of Abu Shama's corpus, discussing early Arabic prints such as the 1871 Cairo edition of Kitab al-Rawdatayn, European translations and selections by orientalists, and modern academic studies such as Muhammad Hilmi Muhammad Ahmad's 1951 London doctoral thesis.
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