al-Maghrib fi Hula al-Maghrib
- Author died
- 685 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Ma'arif
al-Maghrib fi Hula al-Maghrib (The Setting of the Sun on the Adornments of the West) is an extensive bio-geographical anthology and history of the scholars, rulers, and poets of al-Andalus, the Maghreb, and Egypt, brought to its final form by the Andalusian historian and man of letters Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi (610–685 AH / 1214–1286 CE) .
Composition and Authorship
The work was the product of a collaborative family enterprise spanning roughly 115 years and six scholars across several generations . The project originated when the poet and scholar Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim al-Hijjari composed al-Mushib fi Fada'il al-Maghrib (also titled al-Mushib fi Ghara'ib al-Maghrib) in six volumes, covering events and figures from the Islamic conquest of al-Andalus up to 530 AH, at the request of the vizier and lord of Qal'at Yahsub, Abd al-Malik ibn Sa'id .
Following al-Hijjari, the compilation was expanded successively by Abd al-Malik's two sons, Abu Ja'far Ahmad (d. 558 AH) and Muhammad (519–594 AH), then by Muhammad's son Musa, and finally by Musa's son Ali (Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi) . Ibn Sa'id restructured the material, supplemented it with his own findings and contemporary records, and renamed it while in Cairo around 641 AH . He dedicated the compilation to Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Sahib ibn Nida al-Jazari . Conceived alongside a companion counterpart on the Islamic East, al-Mashriq fi Hula al-Mashriq, the two works were planned to encompass 150 fascicles, with al-Maghrib itself comprising approximately fifteen volumes .
Structure and Scope
The book is structured geographically into three broad regional domains: al-Andalus, North Africa (Ifriqiyya and the Maghreb), and Egypt .
The section on al-Andalus is arranged into eighteen major urban divisions, each designated as a "kingdom" (mamlakah) and given a rhyming title matched to the city's name, including:
- al-Hillah al-Mudhhabah fi Hula Mamlakat Qurtubah for Cordoba .
- al-Dhahabiyyah al-Asiliyyah fi Hula al-Mamlakah al-Ishbiliyyah for Seville .
- al-Khulub fi Hula Mamlakat Shilb for Silves .
- al-Riyad al-Masunah fi Hula Ushbunah for Lisbon .
These sections are further subdivided into territorial districts (kuwar); the Cordoba volume, for example, is divided into eleven component books corresponding to its districts . Within each city or district, the entries are grouped by social and professional classes, profiling princes, viziers, state scribes, poets, jurists, scholars, and ascetics .
For the Egyptian division, Ibn Sa'id integrated his personal topographic observations of Fustat, Cairo, and the fortress of al-Jazirah with material drawn from older local histories, quoting or summarizing sources such as Ibn al-Dayah on the Tulunids and Ibn Zulaq on the Ikhshidids .
Method and Contents
The work blends regional geography, political history, and literary anthologizing . Biographical notices provide genealogical and historical details along with critical selections of verse. In addition to classical qasidah poetry, the compilation preserves extensive examples of Andalusian strophic verse (muwashshahat) and vernacular poetry (zajal), recording pieces by poets such as Ibn Quzman as well as physician-poets, philosophers, and rulers .
Abridgments and Reception
Ibn Sa'id extracted an anthology of poetry from the work under the title Rayat al-Mubarrizin wa-Ghayat al-Mumayyazin (Banners of the Champions and Standards of the Distinguished), which he prepared for the Ayyubid deputy in Egypt and Syria, Jamal al-Din Ibn Yaghmur . Another abridgment was compiled by the Damascene traditionist Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ahmad al-Yaghmuri (d. 673 AH) under the title al-Maghrib fi Akhbar al-Maghrib .
The book was celebrated by contemporaries, including the scholar Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Tifashi, who praised it in verse, stating that Ibn Sa'id had left nothing further for historians or transmitters to add . Later encyclopedists drew heavily upon it, while Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari systematically debated Ibn Sa'id's assessments concerning the cultural and literary merits of the Islamic West versus the East .
Modern Editions
Surviving portions of the original manuscript text have been edited in several parts:
- The section on al-Andalus was edited by Shawqi Dayf in two volumes (Cairo, 1953) .
- The Egyptian section was edited in one volume by Zaki Muhammad Hasan, Shawqi Dayf, and Sayyidah Ismail al-Kashif (Cairo, 1953) .
- The sub-section dedicated to Cairo was separately edited by Husayn Nassar under the title al-Nujum al-Zahirah fi Hula Hadrat al-Qahirah .
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