al-Manhal al-Safi wa al-Mustawfa bad al-Wafi
- Author died
- 874 AH
- Editions
- General Egyptian Book Organization (al-Hay'ah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʿĀmmah lil-Kitāb)
al-Manhal al-Safi wa al-Mustawfa ba'd al-Wafi (The Pure Spring and the Complete Work Following al-Wafi) is a biographical dictionary by the Egyptian historian Ibn Taghri Bardi (813–874 AH / 1410–1470 CE), documenting prominent figures from the rise of the Mamluk Sultanate up to the author's lifetime .
Scope and Structure
Conceived as a continuation and supplement (dhayl) to the biographical dictionary al-Wafi bi al-Wafayat by al-Safadi, the work is arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic alphabet . Its chronological coverage begins with the establishment of the Mamluk (Turkish) state and opens with the biography of the first Mamluk ruler of Egypt, al-Mu'izz Aybak al-Turkumani (r. 648–655 AH), extending through the mid-9th century AH (mid-15th century CE) .
The dictionary focuses extensively on figures from Egypt and the Levant, covering sovereigns, statesmen, military officers, scholars, and literati, while also including entries for select Christian kings and rulers of that era .
Method and Objectivity
In his preface, Ibn Taghri Bardi emphasizes his intellectual independence, stating that he compiled the work without being commissioned by any notable of his time, requested by friends or associates, or commanded to write it by any prince or sultan . Owing to his own position among the Mamluk elite of Cairo, this independence allowed him to present evaluations and biographies of his contemporaries and near-contemporaries largely unencumbered by the court factions and political animosities common among historians of the ninth century AH .
Abridgment and Modern Publication
Ibn Taghri Bardi compiled an abridgment and index of the work under the title al-Dalil al-Shafi 'ala al-Manhal al-Safi .
al-Manhal al-Safi has been published in Cairo in a 13-volume critical edition edited by Muhammad Muhammad Amin (with volumes 3 and 5 edited by Nabil Muhammad 'Abd al-'Aziz) between 1984 and 2009 . The abridgment, al-Dalil al-Shafi, was edited in two volumes by Fahim Muhammad Shaltut and published in 1983 .
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