al-Nujum al-Zahira fi Muluk Misr wa al-Qahira
- Author died
- 874 AH
- Editions
- Wizārat al-Thaqāfah wa-al-Irshād al-Qawmī, Dār al-Kutub
al-Nujum al-Zahira fi Muluk Misr wa al-Qahira (The Brilliant Stars among the Kings of Egypt and Cairo) is a major Arabic chronicle of Egyptian history composed by the Mamluk historian Ibn Taghri Bardi (813–874 AH / 1410–1470 CE) .
Scope and Contents
The work provides a comprehensive, annalistic history of Egypt from the Muslim conquest under ‘Amr ibn al-‘As in 20 AH (640 CE) down to the author's own time in 872 AH (1467 CE) . It begins with the conquest and the Companions of the Prophet who entered Egypt, and chronicles the successive governors, caliphs, and sultans across the Tulunid, Ikhshidid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk eras, concluding during the reign of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay .
For each year and reign, the author offers an extensive account of Egypt's rulers and high officials, while briefly summarizing notable developments across surrounding Islamic lands . Each annual entry incorporates obituaries of prominent figures—including scholars, military amirs, rulers, and poets—and systematically records the annual rise and fall of the Nile flood levels, making it one of the rare chronicles to preserve detailed hydrological records .
Method and Sources
The book is structured strictly by year and ruler, characterized by organized presentation and fluid prose free of excessive rhetorical embellishment . For the earlier historical periods (from 20 to 801 AH), Ibn Taghri Bardi synthesized information from preceding chronicles and encyclopedias, often supplementing their data with his own critical observations and analyses . For the period spanning from 801 to 872 AH, the chronicle serves as an essential primary source, as the author drew upon his personal familiarity with the Mamluk court and the leading military and political figures of his day .
Abridgment and Translations
Ibn Taghri Bardi prepared an abridgment of the work titled al-Kawakib al-Bahira min al-Nujum al-Zahira (The Shining Stars from the Brilliant Stars) . He noted that he summarized it himself to preserve its original chapter division and structure, following the precedent of historians such as al-Dhahabi and al-Maqrizi who abridged their own larger chronicles .
Following the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, Sultan Selim I examined the book, admired its contents, and commissioned the scholar Ibn Kemal Pasha (d. 940 AH) to translate it into Ottoman Turkish . Ibn Kemal Pasha translated sections at each waystation during their return journey, which were then transcribed by Hasan Bashjizadah and presented to the sultan .
Publication
Portions of the Arabic text were first published in Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: T. W. J. Juynboll edited two volumes covering 20–365 AH (1851–1855), and William Popper subsequently edited ten volumes covering events up to 872 AH (omitting the period from 565 to 800 AH) . A complete sixteen-volume edition was subsequently published in Cairo by Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya .
Answer updated