Akhbar Makka - al-Fakihi
- Author died
- 272 AH
- Editions
- T 4 · t 2
Akhbar Makka fi qadim al-dahr wa-hadithih (The History and Traditions of Mecca in Ancient and Modern Times) is a 3rd-century AH historical and topographical compendium by the Meccan hadith scholar and historian Abu Abd Allah al-Fakihi (d. after 272 AH / 885 CE) . Along with the work of al-Azraqi, it is one of the earliest comprehensive primary sources dedicated to the history, sacred topography, rituals, and lore of Mecca .
Title and Scope
The book is commonly titled Akhbar Makka, as well as Akhbar Makka fi qadim al-dahr wa-hadithih, and has also been cited as Tarikh Makka or Kitab Makka . Only the second half of the original work has survived to modern times, while the first half was lost . The extant half comprises 425 topics encompassing nearly 3,000 hadiths, traditions, and historical reports .
The surviving portion covers the rituals, monuments, and topography of Mecca across several broad themes:
- The Sanctuary and Rituals: The virtues, rulings, and physical descriptions of the Black Stone, al-Multazam, al-Masjid al-Haram, the Well of Zamzam, circumambulation (tawaf), running between al-Safa and al-Marwah, pilgrim consecration (ihram), and the rites at Arafat, Muzdalifah, and Mina, as well as hunting prohibitions and the demarcations of the sacred sanctuary .
- Topography and Demography: The urban layout of Mecca (khitat) dating back to its division by Qusayy ibn Kilab, its streets, mountains, wells, and subsidiary mosques, alongside surrounding sites like al-Tan'im and al-Hudaybiyya .
- Social and Political History: Biographies and notices of Meccan governors, judges, scholars, ascetics, wits, and singers; local social customs during celebrations and festivals; floods and dam constructions; historical "firsts" (awa'il) in Mecca; and political events such as the siege and death of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, accompanied by transcriptions of major historical speeches delivered in Mecca .
Method and Reception
Al-Fakihi compiled the work using the methodology of traditional hadith scholarship, recording transmitted reports with their chains of transmission (isnad), scrupulously naming sources, and rarely repeating reports .
Later scholars held the book in high regard. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani described it as a valuable work and utilized its material across several of his writings, citing it as "a precious book in five volumes" . The Meccan historian Taqi al-Din al-Fasi observed in Shifa al-gharam that al-Fakihi's text preserved an abundance of valuable material absent from al-Azraqi's compilation, remarking that al-Fakihi's book renders al-Azraqi's dispensable, whereas al-Azraqi's does not replace al-Fakihi's .
Transmission and Publication
The extant text is preserved in a unique manuscript at Leiden University Library (MS Or. 463) comprising 265 folios (ff. 276–541), transcribed in Mecca in Naskh script in Shawwal 877 AH, with a marginal annotation on folio 473 written by the historian Umar ibn Fahd al-Makki . The book was edited from this manuscript by Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah ibn Duhaysh and published in six parts .
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