al-Risala al-Misriyya - Dimn Nawadir al-Makhtutat
- Author died
- 529 AH
- Editions
- Sharikat Maktabat wa-Maṭba‘at Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Awlāduh bi-Miṣr
al-Risala al-Misriyya ("The Egyptian Epistle") is a geographical, historical, and literary treatise composed by the Andalusian polymath Abu al-Salt al-Andalusi (d. 529 AH / 1134–1135 CE) describing the topography, ancient monuments, scholars, and society of Egypt.
Background and Composition
Abu al-Salt left al-Andalus and arrived in Alexandria and Cairo in 487 AH or 489 AH during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah and his vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah. Another account places his entry into Egypt around 510 AH. Hoping to secure patronage, wealth, and status, he instead fell into disfavor with al-Afdal, who imprisoned him in the Ma'una prison for three years and one month. According to an account transmitted from Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, he had traveled to Egypt as an envoy for the Zirid ruler and was held in the Khazanat al-Bunud library-prison for roughly twenty years because his patron had ceased mentioning the Fatimid caliph in the Friday sermon.
Following his release and expulsion from Egypt in 506 AH (or 505 AH), Abu al-Salt traveled to al-Mahdiyya in Ifriqiya. There, he composed al-Risala al-Misriyya for the Zirid emir Abu al-Tahir Yahya ibn Tamim ibn al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, setting down an account of his observations and experiences in Egypt.
Content and Scope
The treatise provides an eyewitness description of Egypt across several key subjects:
- Geographical and topographical descriptions of the land of Egypt and the Nile River.
- Prose and poetic depictions of its landscapes and regions.
- Discussions of its inhabitants, ethnic groups, religious doctrines, morals, and beliefs from the Pharaonic era to the Islamic period.
- Descriptions of ancient monuments and wonders, notably the Pyramids and ancient temples (barabi).
- Historical and contemporary Egyptian capitals.
- Ancient Greek and Roman scholars, noting the scarcity of accomplished practitioners of philosophy, logic, and medicine in Egypt during his stay.
- Critiques of contemporary Egyptian physicians, contrasting the ignorance of many with the merit of a few, and observing that most prominent practitioners were Christians and Jews.
- The widespread reliance of Egyptians on judicial astrology, accompanied by anecdotes and curiosities.
- Biographical notices of the men of letters, poets, and wits whom Abu al-Salt encountered in Egypt.
Reception and Preservation
al-Risala al-Misriyya served as an important documentary source for later historians, geographers, and biographers. Substantial passages and citations were incorporated into the works of Yaqut al-Hamawi in Irshad al-Arib, Imad al-Din al-Isfahani in Kharidat al-Qasr, Ibn Abi Usaybi'a in Uyun al-Anba', Jamal al-Din al-Qifti in Ikhbar al-Ulama', al-As'ad ibn Mammati in Qawanin al-Dawawin, al-Maqrizi in al-Khitat, al-Udfuwi in al-Tali' al-Sa'id, al-Maqqari in Nafh al-Tib, and al-Suyuti in Husn al-Muhadara.
The text survived in a manuscript preserved in the private collection of Ahmad Taymur Pasha (No. 601 Adab), alongside an incomplete fragment preserved at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya (No. 354 Ta'rikh). It was edited and published by Abd al-Salam Harun as the opening text of the first collection of his edited series Nawadir al-Makhtutat ("Rare Manuscripts").
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