al-Ifada wal-I'tibar fi al-Umur al-Mushahada wal-Hawadith al-Mu'ayana bi-Ard Misr
- Author died
- 629 AH
- Editions
- Maṭbaʿat Wādī al-Nīl
al-Ifada wal-I'tibar fi al-Umur al-Mushahada wal-Hawadith al-Mu'ayana bi-Ard Misr (The Book of Benefit and Admonition Concerning Observed Affairs and Witnessed Events in the Land of Egypt) is a geographical, anatomical, and historical work by the Baghdadi physician and polymath Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (557–629 AH / 1162–1231 CE) .
Composition and Structure
Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi moved to Egypt in 589 AH / 1193 CE following the death of Sultan Saladin (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi), where he received stipends from the Ayyubid princes and taught various subjects, including medicine, at al-Azhar Mosque . He composed the work after witnessing the catastrophic famine and mortality that gripped Egypt between 597 and 598 AH (1200–1202 CE), finishing its writing on 10 Sha'ban 603 AH in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) . The book, which is also identified in biographical literature as Kitab Akhbar Misr al-Saghir, is structured into two comprehensive treatises (maqalatan) .
Contents and Observations
The first treatise covers the physical geography and nature of Egypt, its population, flora, fauna, ancient monuments, and urban architecture . Within his physical descriptions, al-Baghdadi records his direct anatomical examinations of large mounds of human skeletal remains at al-Maks—estimated at over twenty thousand bodies—where he examined the shapes, proportions, and connections of bones . Based on direct empirical observation, he found differences with textual anatomical descriptions, remarking that direct sensory perception (al-hiss) provides stronger proof than heard report or written transmission, and that sensory observation takes precedence even over Galen .
The second treatise focuses on the River Nile and provides a detailed historical narrative of the devastating drought, famine, and epidemic that struck Egypt during his stay, detailing shocking accounts of death and hardship that he personally witnessed or verified from direct eyewitnesses .
Editions and Translations
The book attracted European scholarly interest beginning in the eighteenth century :
- Latin translations and editions were published in Oxford by Thomas Hyde in 1702 and by Joseph White in 1800 .
- A printed edition appeared in Tübingen in 1789 .
- The French orientalist Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy published an Arabic edition accompanied by a French translation and extensive commentary in Paris in 1810 under the title Relation d'Égypte par Abd al-Latîf .
- An Arabic edition was printed in Cairo at the Wadi al-Nil Press in 1286 AH (1869 CE) .
- Later printings and critical editions include publications in Cairo edited by Salama Musa (1933), in London (1965), and in Damascus edited by Ahmad Ghassan Sabano (1403 AH / 1983 CE) .
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