al-Munammaq fi Akhbar Quraysh
- Author died
- 245 AH
- Editions
- ʿĀlam al-Kutub
al-Munammaq fi Akhbar Quraysh (The Embellished Chronicle Concerning the Traditions of Quraysh) is a historical and genealogical work by the Abbasid-era scholar Muhammad ibn Habib (d. 245 AH / 859–860 CE) dedicated to the history, genealogies, and traditions of the tribe of Quraysh .
Scope and Contents
The work focuses primarily on the events and notable figures of Quraysh during the pre-Islamic period (Jahiliyya) and early Islam, encompassing reports from roughly fifty years before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to about fifty years after the advent of Islam .
The text opens with the nobility, virtues, and lineage of Quraysh, tracing ancestry back from Adnan to the prophets Nuh and Adam . The major thematic subjects covered in the book include:
- The Sacrilegious Wars (Harb al-Fijar), including the first, second, third, and fourth outbreaks .
- The pre-Islamic alliances of Quraysh, including Hilf al-Fudul, the alliance of the Mutayyabun and Ahlaf, and alliances with surrounding groups .
- The custody and administration of the Ka'bah (wilayat al-bayt and hijaba) and the leadership disputes between Banu Hashim and Banu Abd Shams .
- Contests of honor (munafarat) among the prominent clans of Quraysh .
- Internal conflicts in early Islam, such as the feud within Banu Adi ibn Ka'b between the family of Umar ibn al-Khattab and Banu Jahm ibn Hudhayfa and Banu Muti' .
- Specific biographical categories, including the leading judges, generous individuals, companions and their descendants who were subjected to prescribed punishments (hudud) for theft or drinking wine, and various tribal poetry and rare reports .
Method and Sources
The material is not arranged strictly chronologically by years, but rather as topically grouped reports compiled from multiple early authorities . The author drew extensively upon earlier historians and genealogists, including Hisham ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi, Abu Ubayda Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna, Abu al-Bakhtari Wahb ibn Wahb, and Abd al-Aziz ibn Imran (Ibn Abi Thabit) .
The surviving chain of transmission at the beginning of the text opens with Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Abbas al-Hanbali (d. 384 AH), transmitting from Ibn Habib; scholars have noted that this transmission chain represents an abridgment by copyists, likely omitting intermediate transmitters such as the transmitter's father and Abu Sa'id al-Sukkari .
Manuscript History and Publication
The work remained unprinted and largely unnoticed for centuries, surviving in a single unique manuscript held in the private library of the Imami scholar Nasir Husayn in Lucknow, India . In 1925, scholars including Sulayman al-Nadwi visited the library, examined the manuscript, and publicized its significance .
Under the auspices of Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyya in Hyderabad, a transcription was prepared in 1932 . The text was subsequently edited by Khurshid Ahmad Fariq, professor of Arabic at the University of Delhi, and published by Da'irat al-Ma'arif in Hyderabad in 1384 AH / 1964 CE .
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