al-Mawaiz wal-Itibar bi Dhikr al-Khitat wal-Athar
- Author died
- 845 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah
al-Mawa'iz wa-al-I'tibar bi-Dhikr al-Khitat wa-al-Athar (Exhortations and Consideration from the Mention of Settlements and Monuments), commonly known as al-Khitat, is a comprehensive topographical and historical work on Egypt and its Islamic urban centers by the Egyptian historian Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (766–845 AH / 1364–1442 CE). It is regarded as the preeminent surviving work in the Arabic topographical tradition (khitat), detailing the urban layout, architecture, institutions, and political history of Egypt from antiquity through the Mamluk era.
Composition and Purpose
Al-Maqrizi did not date the beginning of the composition in his preface, but internal evidence indicates that he commenced drafting following the economic devastation and political crisis that struck Egypt around 806 AH / 1404 CE. This period saw the second reign of Sultan al-Nasir Faraj ibn Barquq and the demolition and alteration of numerous historic structures by the amir Jamal al-Din al-Ustadar (d. 811 AH / 1408 CE). Observing the decay of Cairo's historic monuments, al-Maqrizi sought to preserve a detailed record of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. The compilation spanned several decades, and he continued adding material until 843 AH / 1439 CE, approximately two years before his death.
In his preface, al-Maqrizi explained that he organized the work by quarters, sites, and monuments rather than chronologically as annals or alphabetically as biographical entries, because the fragmentary historical data of earlier epochs did not allow for precise annual dating. He stated that the purpose of the book was to enable the reader to survey centuries of Egyptian history in a short time, inducing moral reflection (i'tibar) on the transient nature of worldly power and cultivating ethical refinement.
Structure and Content
The work provides a comprehensive survey of Egypt's geography, the Nile, and the successive Islamic capitals: al-Fustat, al-Askar, al-Qata'i, and Cairo. It includes:
- Political and dynastic surveys: Biographies and administrative accounts of Egypt's governors and rulers from the conquest under Amr ibn al-As up to the end of the Fatimid Caliphate under al-Adid (d. 567 AH / 1171 CE), alongside accounts of the Citadel of the Mountain (Qal'at al-Jabal) and the Ayyubid and Mamluk sultans.
- Urban topography: Detailed inventories of Cairo's and al-Fustat's residential quarters (harat), alleys (durub and aziqqa), gates, open plazas (rahab), mansions, palaces, stables, markets, public baths (hammamat), commercial warehouses and caravanserais (khanat, funduqs, and qaysariyyat), canals, bridges, islands, Nile ports such as al-Maqs and Bulaq, prisons, and polo grounds (mayadin).
- Religious and charitable monuments: Congregational mosques (jawami'), madrasas, Sufi institutions (khanqahs, rubut, and zawiyas), hospitals (maristanat), and the mausoleums and oratories of the Qarafa necropolis.
- Non-Muslim communities and monographic digressions: Accounts of Coptic Christian churches, monasteries, and patriarchal history; Jewish synagogues and community divisions; as well as standalone thematic monographs on the architectural evolution of prayer niches (maharib), the history of the call to prayer (adhan), and the spread of theological schools and Ash'arism in Egypt.
Sources and Methodology
Al-Maqrizi drew upon a vast library of earlier historical and topographical treatises, many of which are now lost. Among his documented predecessors in the khitat genre were Ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 257 AH / 870 CE), Abu Umar al-Kindi (d. 350 AH / 961 CE), al-Quda'i, al-Juwwani, Ibn al-Mutawwaj, and Ibn Abd al-Zahir. He made extensive use of Cairo's college libraries, which held significant holdings relocated after the fall of Baghdad in 656 AH / 1258 CE. Alongside written records, al-Maqrizi integrated building inscriptions and personal observations gathered during his administrative career in Cairo.
The author's methodology has generated discussion among scholars. His contemporary biographer Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi accused him of literary borrowing without attribution, a charge echoed by certain modern scholars such as Gaston Wiet regarding al-Kindi's works, and observed in uncredited passages taken from Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari's description of the Citadel. Nevertheless, modern editors and historians note that al-Maqrizi generally copied earlier texts accurately, making his work an indispensable repository for preserving extensive verbatim extracts of otherwise lost classical sources.
Manuscript Tradition and Editions
The work enjoyed broad circulation, surviving in more than 170 to 180 manuscripts in libraries worldwide, including more than 35 in Istanbul, 28 in Paris, 14 in the British Library, and 15 in the Egyptian National Library. Portions of al-Maqrizi's autograph draft (musawwada) are preserved in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.
Notable print editions include:
- The Bulaq edition (Cairo, 1270 AH), in two volumes.
- The Matba'at al-Nil edition (Cairo, 1324–1326 AH / 1906–1908 CE), in four volumes.
- An incomplete critical edition edited by Gaston Wiet (Cairo, 1911–1927), published in five volumes.
- A comprehensive multi-volume critical edition edited by Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid, published by the al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in London.
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