al-Inba fi Tarikh al-Khulafa
- Author died
- 580 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Āfāq al-‘Arabiyyah
al-Inba fi Tarikh al-Khulafa (The Report on the History of the Caliphs) is a historical work by the Iraqi jurist and historian Ibn al-Imrani (d. 580 AH / 1184 CE) detailing the history of the Islamic caliphate from the prophetic era through the early Abbasid period up to the mid-sixth century AH.
Composition and Scope
Ibn al-Imrani outlined his historical objective in the preface, stating that he intended to chronicle select accounts of the Abbasid state, opening with the Prophet ﷺ, followed by the four Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Umayyads, until authority returned to its rightful heirs under the Abbasids. The work appears to have been compiled between 555 AH (the accession of Caliph al-Mustanjid) and 560 AH (the death of the Hanbali vizier Ibn Hubayra). The historical narrative extends up to the beginning of al-Mustanjid's reign in 560 AH, at which point the author excused himself from covering subsequent events due to his distance from Iraq and his inability to independently verify subsequent reports.
Structure and Method
The book opens with the lineage, birth, biography, children, wives, and death of the Prophet ﷺ, followed by mentions of his freedmen and paternal uncles and aunts due to their connection to the Abbasids. It then covers the four Rightly Guided Caliphs before moving to the Umayyad rulers. Ibn al-Imrani treated the Umayyads as "kings" rather than legitimate caliphs, severely condensing their biographies into only a few lines each, with the exception of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, who received nineteen lines. He expanded slightly on the revolt of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr and the uprising and martyrdom of al-Husayn ibn Ali. The bulk of the text is dedicated to the Abbasid caliphs and the significant political and court events of their reigns.
A notable feature of the work is that Ibn al-Imrani appears to have composed substantial portions of it from memory rather than transcribing directly from written manuscripts, as evidenced by his explicit note in one passage stating that further text had escaped his recollection at the moment of writing, as well as several chronological lapses in his accounts. He also incorporated popular narratives and rumors circulating among commoners, presenting historical events in an accessible literary style. His material shares close textual parallels with earlier historical and literary authorities, including al-Tabari, al-Suli, al-Tanukhi, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi.
Reception and Continuations
The work served as an important source for later medieval historians. Zahir al-Din al-Kazaruni (d. 697 AH) quoted extensively from it in his Mukhtasar al-Tarikh (Abridgment of History) and composed a formal continuation (Dhayl) covering the period from the beginning of al-Mustanjid's reign to the fall of al-Musta'sim and the end of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH) noted the work and its continuation in al-I'lan bi-al-Tawbikh لمن ذم التاريخ.
The text was also cited by Ibn al-Tiqtaqa in al-Fakhri, Salah al-Din al-Safadi in al-Wafi bi-al-Wafayat, and Ibn Shakir al-Katbi in Fawat al-Wafayat, while Imad al-Din al-Isfahani transmitted extended passages from it in Nusrat al-Fatra without explicitly naming Ibn al-Imrani.
Manuscripts and Editions
Five manuscript copies of the text are preserved:
- Leiden University Library (MS Or. 595), transcribed in Mamluk script by Abu Bakr ibn Abd Allah in Shawwal 682 AH.
- The Fatih collection at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 4189).
- The Veliuddin collection at the Bayezid Public Library in Istanbul (MS 2360).
- The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (MS 4842).
- The manuscript formerly held by Abbas al-Azzawi, later transferred to the Iraq Museum library.
The text was edited and published by Qasim al-Samarrai, first in Leiden (1973) and subsequently in Riyadh (1982).
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