al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyat li al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar

al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyyat (also known as al-Muwaffaqiyyat fi al-akhbar wa-al-ash'ar) is a classical compilation of historical reports, genealogical traditions, and poetry compiled by the genealogist, historian, and judge of Mecca, al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar (172–256 AH / 788–870 CE) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Composition and Purpose

The work was composed by al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar for the Abbasid prince al-Muwaffaq (Talha), the son of Caliph al-Mutawakkil, whom al-Zubayr tutored during his youth al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. In classical bibliographic records such as that of Ibn al-Nadim, it is noted under titles such as Kitab al-Lugha lil-Muwaffaq wa-huwa al-Muwaffaqiyyat fi al-akhbar and Kitab al-Muwaffaqiyyat al-Fihrist+1.

Transmission and Structure

The book originally comprised multiple parts (ajza'):

• In the bibliography (Fahrasa) of Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili, the work is documented as consisting of eighteen parts Fihrisat Ibn Khayr+1. Ibn Khayr recorded its transmission through Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi from Abu al-Husayn al-Mubarak ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Sayrafi (known as Ibn al-Tuyuri), who narrated parts one through ten from Amir Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Fadl al-Katib, and the remaining eight parts from Amir Abu Mansur Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Fadl al-Katib, both tracing the transmission back through Abu Abd Allah Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Khalid al-Katib, from Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas al-Jawhari, from Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Dimashqi, from al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar Fihrisat Ibn Khayr+1.
• Other sources record the work as originally consisting of nineteen parts Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi….

Contents

al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyyat gathers historical anecdotes (nawadir al-tarikh), narratives regarding early Islamic and pre-Islamic figures, and poetic verses al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. Much of its material is transmitted by al-Zubayr on the authority of his uncle Mus'ab ibn Abd Allah al-Zubayri and his grandfather Abd Allah ibn Mus'ab, as well as scholars like Ali ibn Salih and Ali ibn al-Mughira al-Ima ila Zawaid al-Amal…+1.

The surviving sections encompass accounts of:

• The family of al-Zubayr, including reports concerning al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and the death of Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sah…+1.
• Early Qurayshite notables, biographical reports of the Companions, and events during the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sah…+1.
• Prophetic reports and transmissions relating to the household of the Prophet and the Abbasid lineage al-Ima ila Zawaid al-Amal…+1.
• Poetic anecdotes and literary traditions surrounding figures of Medina and early Arab society Majallat Jamiat Umm al-Qu…+1.

Preservation and Modern Editions

Only four parts of the original text—specifically parts sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen—are known to have survived in manuscript form al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Parts sixteen to nineteen were first published in Gotha in 1878 by the orientalist Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, who attributed the text to the transmitter Abu Abd Allah al-Dimashqi (Ahmad ibn Sa'id) Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1. A full critical edition of the surviving text was prepared by Sami Makki al-Ani and published in Baghdad in 1972 by Matba'at al-Ani under the auspices of the Diwan al-Awqaf, with subsequent reprints appearing in Beirut Majallat Jamiat Umm al-Qu…+2.