al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharnata
- Author died
- 776 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah
al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharnata (The Comprehensive History of Granada) is a biographical, historical, and geographical encyclopedia composed by the Andalusian vizier, historian, and scholar Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib (713–776 AH / 1313–1374 CE) . Focusing primarily on the city of Granada from the Muslim conquest of al-Andalus through the Nasrid dynasty, it is considered the author's most famous and extensive work .
Background and Composition
In his rhymed prose introduction, Ibn al-Khatib explains that he was inspired by earlier scholars who had dedicated monographs to their own homelands—such as Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Fakhkhar's history of Bukhara, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's history of Baghdad, Ibn 'Asakir's history of Damascus, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Nawwas's history of Egypt, and Abu 'Abd Allah ibn 'Askar's history of Malaga—prompting a sense of civic patriotism to record the history of Granada .
His initiative was also spurred during a diplomatic mission to Morocco in 755 AH, where in Fez he examined an unfinished general history of Granada compiled by Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Juzayy al-Gharnati (d. 757 AH) . Ibn al-Khatib adopted Ibn Juzayy's general plan, incorporating documentary records, information from prominent contemporaries, and his own firsthand experiences .
The book was not written in a single stage. Ibn al-Khatib began assembling material shortly before 760 AH (prior to his exile to Morocco with Sultan Muhammad V al-Ghani Billah in 761 AH) and resumed work after his return in 763 AH, expanding it to six volumes . In the autobiographical entry concluding the work, he notes concluding a major draft in mid-765 AH, though he continued revising and adding entries until at least 771 AH (and likely finished around 772 AH) .
The author cited the work under varying titles and structural lengths across his career, including al-Ihata fi Tarikh Gharnata (in seven volumes, or fifteen volumes according to Ibn al-Ahmar), al-Ihata bima Tayassara min Tarikh Gharnata (in nine volumes), and simply Tarikh Gharnata (in twelve volumes) . Another title mentioned in his al-Lamha al-Badriyya, al-Imata 'an Wajh al-Ihata, is regarded as either an alternative title or an abridgment .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into two main parts:
- Part One (Fi Huly al-Ma'ahid wa-l-Amakin wa-l-Manazil wa-l-Masakin): Covers the physical and human geography of Granada . It opens with an account of the city's name and topography, its meadows, mountains, rivers, and surrounding countryside comprising over three hundred villages, followed by a historical overview from the early Arab conquest to the Nasrid rulers . It includes chapters describing the morals, social conditions, lineages, military, and dress of the inhabitants of Granada, as well as those who governed the city .
- Part Two (Fi Huly al-Za'ir wa-l-Qatin wa-l-Mutaharrik wa-l-Sakin): Forms the biographical core of the encyclopedia, arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically . It contains 493 biographical entries for individuals who ruled Granada, settled there, or visited from the Maghreb and the Islamic East, including kings, princes, viziers, generals, judges, scholars, ascetics, and Sufis . It concludes with a concise autobiography of Ibn al-Khatib covering his lineage, birth, official posts under Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf and al-Ghani Billah, exile, return, teachers, writings, and selected poetry .
Poetry accounts for over a fifth of the total text . The book also preserves unique cultural accounts, such as detailed descriptions of bullfighting traditions witnessed by Ibn al-Khatib in Granada as well as at the Marinid court of Sultan Abu 'Inan Faris in Morocco in 755 AH . Modern commentators have noted frequent duplication between the texts of letters, treatises (such as Risalat al-Siyasa), and official dispatches recorded in al-Ihata and those in Ibn al-Khatib's epistolary collection Rayhanat al-Kuttab .
Reception, Abridgments, and Editions
al-Ihata gained widespread renown across both the Maghreb and the Mashriq . Al-Maqqari observed that scholars in the Islamic East held an especially high regard for it despite the scarcity of physical copies there . During his lifetime, Ibn al-Khatib sent an eight-volume copy of the book to Cairo as an endowment (waqf) for scholars at the Khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada' . Another twelve-volume copy was endowed by the Nasrid sultan for madrasas in Granada .
The Egyptian scholar Badr al-Din al-Bashtaki (d. 830 AH) produced an abridgment titled Markaz al-Ihata fi Udaba' Gharnata (The Center of al-Ihata on the Men of Letters of Granada) in two volumes .
The work was first printed incompletely in two parts in Cairo in 1319 AH (1901 CE) . A critical edition of the first volume was published by Muhammad 'Abd Allah 'Inan in 1955, followed by his complete four-volume edition published in Cairo between 1973 and 1977 .
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