al-Bayan al-Mughrib fi Akhbar al-Andalus wa al-Maghrib
- Author died
- 695 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Thaqafah
al-Bayan al-Mughrib fi Akhbar al-Andalus wa al-Maghrib (The Evident Chronicle of the History of al-Andalus and the Maghrib) is a major historical work by the Moroccan historian Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi (d. c. 695 AH / 1295 CE; recorded also as living after 712 AH / 1312 CE), chronicling the history of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula from the early Islamic conquests through the 7th century AH / 13th century CE.
Scope and Structure
The book is also titled al-Bayan al-Mughrib fi Ikhtisar Akhbar Muluk al-Andalus wa al-Maghrib. Ibn Idhari organized the work into three self-contained parts covering events up to 667 AH / 1268 CE:
- Part One covers Ifriqiyya and the Maghrib, beginning with the initial conquest under the caliph Uthman ibn Affan, followed by the Umayyad governors, the Sufrite and Ibadi uprisings, the Abbasid period, the Aghlabids, the Fatimids (Banu Ubayd), the Zenata and Sanhaja, the move of the Fatimids to Egypt, the Sanhaja secession, the arrival of the Arab tribes and the devastation of Kairouan, the Hammadids, and the Idrisids, down to the emergence of the Almohad Caliphate.
- Part Two is devoted to the history of al-Andalus from the Islamic conquest through the Umayyad dynasty and the Taifa period.
- Part Three covers the history of the Almoravid dynasty and the Almohads down to the fall of the Almohad state and the rise of the Marinid Sultanate.
In the introduction to the first part, the author makes reference to another work of his on the history of the Islamic East (Tarikh al-Mashriq), the fate of which is unknown.
Sources and Method
Ibn Idhari drew upon numerous earlier historical works, preserving vital texts whose originals are otherwise lost. Among these sources are the histories of al-Raqiq al-Qayrawani, Ibn Hayyan al-Qurtubi's al-Muqtabis, Arib ibn Sa'd al-Qurtubi, and the lost third volume of Ibn Sahib al-Salat's al-Mann bi-l-Imama.
His methodology combines thematic chapters with strictly annalistic chronicles. Historiographically, Ibn Idhari is distinguished by maintaining neutrality and restraint when recounting events and describing figures, abstaining from the excessive partisan praise or condemnation characteristic of contemporary court chroniclers. Although primarily political and administrative in focus, his narrative records unique details about Andalusian and Maghrebi court protocols, such as royal hunting excursions and shared tenures of the chamberlain (hajib) office under Hisham II.
Manuscript Discoveries and Modern Editions
Parts of the manuscript were published in Europe during the 19th century, notably by Reinhart Dozy in Leiden between 1848 and 1851, and were later translated into French by Edmond Fagnan (1901–1904).
Subsequent manuscript discoveries recovered missing portions of the chronicle. Évariste Lévi-Provençal uncovered folios at the al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez concerning the rise of the Almoravids and their Andalusian campaigns. A comprehensive manuscript of the third part was located in the Nasiriyya library at Tamagroute near Zagora, containing 463 pages that detail the Almoravid-Almohad conflicts from 533 AH to the reign of the final Almohad caliph, Idris al-Wathiq (d. 667 AH).
The work has been edited and published in modern scholarly editions across multiple volumes, prepared by editors including Georges Séraphin Colin, Évariste Lévi-Provençal, Ihsan Abbas, Ambrosio Huici Miranda, Muhammad Ibrahim al-Kattani, Muhammad ibn Tawit, Muhammad Zeniber, and Abd al-Qadir Zimama.
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