al-Dhahab al-Masbuk fi Waaz al-Muluk
- Author died
- 488 AH
- Editions
- عالم الكتب
al-Dhahab al-Masbuk fi Waaz al-Muluk (The Cast Gold on Admonishing Kings) is a work by the Andalusian scholar Abu Abd Allah al-Humaydi (d. 488 AH / 1095 CE) dedicated to ethical and spiritual admonitions directed at rulers and sovereigns.
Content and Method
The work is considered one of the early surviving Islamic compilations in the genre of counsel and admonition for rulers. Al-Humaydi does not present his own personal arguments or analytical commentary; instead, the book consists of transmitted traditions accompanied by chains of transmission (asānīd) drawn from a defined corpus of earlier written works. The material spans four primary subject areas: Quranic commentary (tafsīr), historical accounts (akhbār), mystical and ascetic lore (tasawwuf and zuhd), and dynastic history.
The author compiles narratives describing the encounters of scholars, ascetics, and sages with caliphs and kings, illustrating the vanity of worldly dominion and the imperative of justice and piety. Included among these are reports featuring figures such as Ibrahim ibn Adham, al-Awza'i, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, and Fudayl ibn Iyad, alongside accounts concerning the Abbasid caliphs al-Mahdi and al-Ma'mun, as well as ancient traditions regarding Dhu al-Qarnayn.
Sources
The work derives considerable value from preserving extracts from early texts, many of which are otherwise lost. The sources al-Humaydi drew upon include:
- Abu al-Faraj al-Mu'afa ibn Zakariyya al-Nahrawani's al-Jalis al-Salih (or his Quran commentary)
- Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Marwan al-Dinawari's al-Mujalasa wa-Jawahir al-Ilm
- Abu Ali al-Qali's al-Amali
- Ibn Abd Rabbih's al-Iqd al-Farid
- Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid al-Sulami al-Dimashqi
- Ibn al-Anbari
- Abu Ubayd Allah al-Marzubani
- Ibn Durayd
- Hanbal ibn Ishaq's Tarikh
- Muhammad ibn Salama al-Quda'i
- Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar
- Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Said al-Habbal's al-Muqimun min al-Sufiyya
- Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Khuldi
Reception and Manuscripts
The book was documented under this title by classical biographers and bibliographers, including Yaqut al-Hamawi in Mu'jam al-Udaba', Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' and Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, and Khalil ibn Aybak al-Safadi in al-Wafi bi-al-Wafayat.
The text has survived in a unique manuscript preserved at Dar al-Kutub in Cairo. This witness lacks certificates of audition (samāʿāt) or recorded ownership marks, and suffered from ink bleed across several leaves. The work was edited and published jointly by Abd al-Halim Uways and Abu Abd al-Rahman Ibn Aqil al-Zahiri.
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