al-Maarif

Al-Ma‘arif (The Book of Knowledge) is a concise encyclopedic work on history, genealogy, and biography by the Abbasid scholar and judge Ibn Qutaybah (213–276 AH / 828–889 CE; other reports give 270 or 271 AH) Mujam al-Muallifin+1. Designed as a compendium of essential historical and cultural information, it became one of the earliest Arabic works intended to provide broad reference material for educated elites, courtiers, and scholars al-Maarif+1.

Purpose and Scope

In his introduction, Ibn Qutaybah states that he compiled the book to gather the fundamental lore needed by cultivated persons to distinguish themselves from the common public and to participate knowledgeably in gatherings with rulers, notables, and scholars al-Maarif. He noted that learned assemblies regularly touched upon prophets, ancient kings, lineages, past eras, and pre-Islamic Arab battle days (ayyam al-‘Arab), making it essential for attendees to recognize the origins of accounts, tribal lineages, royal chronologies, and famous proverbs al-Maarif. Scholars have characterized the work as a project for a concise universal history and reference handbook covering baseline knowledge for administrative secretaries and educated readers al-Maarif+1.

Structure and Contents

The book follows a chronological and thematic arrangement Uyun al-Akhbar:

• Creation and Prophetic History: Covers the beginning of creation, the story of the Flood, and the histories of the biblical and Quranic prophets and messengers, citing scriptural and Old Testament material Uyun al-Akhbar.
• The Prophet Muhammad and Early Islam: Details the life, campaigns, and lineage of the Prophet Muhammad, followed by biographical notices on his family and the Companions Uyun al-Akhbar.
• Genealogy and Dynasties: Treats pre-Islamic Arab tribes, Arab genealogical branches, and the successive caliphs and governors up to the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tamid 'ala Allah (r. 256 AH onwards) Uyun al-Akhbar+1.
• Scholarly and Cultural Classes: Provides notices on the Successors, legal theorists (ashab al-ra'y), jurists, hadith scholars, Quranic reciters, genealogists, historical transmitters (ashab al-akhbar), poetry transmitters, and grammarians Uyun al-Akhbar+1.
• Anomalies and Non-Arab Dynasties: Concludes with singular occurrences and historical curiosities, the royal dynasties of northern and southern Arabia, and the pre-Islamic Persian kings Uyun al-Akhbar.

Sources and Composition

Ibn Qutaybah relied on both written texts and oral transmissions, drawing from earlier authorities such as Ibn Ishaq, al-Waqidi, and Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, as well as Jewish and Christian scriptures Uyun al-Akhbar+1. Later scholars debated the extent of his dependence on Muhammad ibn Habib's (d. 245 AH) earlier biographical compendium al-Muhabbar al-Maarif.

The text was brought to a close during the reign of al-Mu‘tamid al-Maarif. In 266 AH, the Abbasid regent al-Muwaffaq summoned Ibn Qutaybah to Baghdad, where Ibn Qutaybah read al-Ma‘arif to him and received an imperial reward of 10,000 dinars al-Maarif.

Transmission and Reception

The book was widely transmitted by Ibn Qutaybah's son, Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah, who had memorized his father's works and transmitted them in Iraq and Egypt Tartib al-Madarik wa Taqr…+1. It was also transmitted through Andalusian scholars such as Qasim ibn Asbagh Fihrisat Ibn Khayr. According to Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili, some Andalusian teachers avoided reading the book directly due to certain problematic historical reports, transmitting it instead via general authorization (ijazah), and Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Awn Allah referred to it critically as Kitab al-Manakir ("The Book of Disclaimed Reports") Fihrisat Ibn Khayr.

Nevertheless, al-Ma‘arif remained a primary source for classical biographical and historical writers, most notably Ibn Khallikan, who cited it extensively throughout his biographical dictionary Wafayat al-A‘yan Uyun al-Akhbar.

Print Editions

The work was first edited in Europe by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld and published in Göttingen in 1850, followed by a lithograph edition in Cairo in 1300 AH Iktifa al-Qanu bima huwa …. A widely referenced modern critical edition was prepared by Tharwat Ukashah, published in Cairo in 1960 and reissued in 1969 al-Fihrist.