al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbar al-Dawlatayn al-Nuriyya wa al-Salahiyya
- Author died
- 665 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbar al-Dawlatayn al-Nuriyya wa al-Salahiyya (The Book of the Two Gardens on the History of the Two Dynasties: The Nurid and Saladinic) is a historical work by the Damascene scholar Abu Shama al-Maqdisi (599–665 AH / 1202–1267 CE) documenting the reigns of Nur al-Din Zanki and Saladin .
Composition and Purpose
Abu Shama composed the work at al-Madrasa al-Adiliyya al-Kubra in Damascus, concluding its public recitation in early 649 AH / 1251 CE . The idea for the book arose from his reading of historical biographies of Nur al-Din and Saladin, whom he regarded as benchmarks of just rule, jihad, and governance . The composition was spurred by contemporary political turmoil, particularly the conflicts among later Ayyubid rulers and territorial concessions made to the Crusaders, including the ceding of the fortresses of Shaqif Arnun and Safad by al-Salih Isma'il, which had prompted the scholar Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam to leave Damascus in 638 AH / 1241 CE .
Abu Shama framed the work as an exhortation to contemporary rulers, aiming to encourage them to emulate the two sultans in upholding jihad, recovering territories from non-Muslim powers, and serving the public interest of their subjects .
Scope and Structure
The chronicle is dedicated primarily to the events and military campaigns of the Zengid and Ayyubid states under Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn Zanki and Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub . Abu Shama extended the narrative beyond Saladin’s death in 589 AH / 1193 CE to cover the internal disputes among Saladin's sons—al-Afdal 'Ali, al-'Aziz 'Uthman, and al-Zahir Ghazi—and his brother al-'Adil, continuing through 592 AH / 1195 CE . He subsequently supplemented the text with events up to 597 AH / 1201 CE, the year of the death of Saladin's chancellor, al-Qadi al-Fadil .
Sources and Methodology
Abu Shama relied on a range of primary materials from the sixth century AH, explicitly identifying his sources in the introduction and conclusion of the book :
- Historical chronicles: Ibn Asakir's Tarikh Dimashq (History of Damascus), Ibn al-Qalanisi's Dhayl Tarikh Dimashq, Ibn al-Athir's al-Tarikh al-Bahir fi al-Dawla al-Atabakiyya, Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad's al-Nawadir al-Sultaniyya, Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's al-Barq al-Shami and al-Fath al-Qudsi, and Ibn al-Adim's Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarikh Halab .
- Documents and correspondence: Archival letters, notably the official epistles of al-Qadi al-Fadil (al-Rasa'il al-Fadiliyya) .
- Poetry and oral accounts: Diwans of contemporary poets, including 'Imad al-Din al-Isfahani, alongside transmitted eyewitness testimonies from contemporaries of both reigns .
In handling these materials, Abu Shama cited sources directly, occasionally summarizing narrative accounts or rearranging them to provide clarity and coherence without altering their underlying meaning . He often provided brief overviews of major engagements before recounting their detailed developments, inserted linguistic glosses where terms required explanation, and compared conflicting accounts to adopt the most coherent narrative structure .
Abridgments and Continuations
Abu Shama prepared an abridgment of the work in a single small volume, focusing on the character and virtues of the two rulers alongside concise mentions of major events . The hadith scholar Khalil ibn Kaykaldy al-Alai (694–761 AH) transcribed this abridgment from Abu Shama’s autograph and augmented it with additional extracts from the complete original work, entitling his version 'Uyun al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbar al-Dawlatayn al-Nuriyya wa al-Salahiyya . Another abridgment was produced by 'Abd al-Latif ibn Muhammad al-Bahnasi in 790 AH / 1388 CE .
Abu Shama also authored a chronicle continuing the narrative from 590 AH to his own death in 665 AH, known as al-Dhayl 'ala al-Rawdatayn (also published as Tarajim Rijal al-Qarnayn al-Sadis wa al-Sabi') . The historian Alam al-Din al-Birzali composed a continuation to Abu Shama’s Dhayl, covering the years 665 to 738 AH under the title al-Muqtafa li-Tarikh Abi Shama .
Editions and Translations
Al-Rawdatayn was first published in Cairo at Matba'at Wadi al-Nil in 1288 AH / 1871 CE in two volumes, based on manuscripts completed in 734 AH and 1123 AH . A German translation appeared in 1879, and French orientalist Étienne Quatremère published selected portions with a French translation in Paris in 1888 . A partial critical edition was published in Cairo by Muhammad Hilmi Muhammad Ahmad in 1956 and 1962 . An edition of the work edited by Ibrahim al-Zaybaq was published by Mu'assasat al-Risala in Beirut in 1418 AH / 1997 CE in five volumes .
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