al-Safar al-Khamis min Kitab al-Dhayl

al-Safar al-Khamis min Kitab al-Dhayl (Arabic: السفر الخامس من كتاب الذيل, lit. 'The Fifth Volume of the Book of the Appendage') is the fifth volume of the biographical dictionary al-Dhayl wa-l-Takmila li-Kitabay al-Mawsul wa-l-Sila (The Appendage and Completion to the Books of al-Mawsul and al-Sila) by the Moroccan scholar, traditionist, and judge Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi (634–703 AH / 1237–1303 CE; another report gives 704 AH) al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1.

Context and Scope

The parent work, al-Dhayl wa-l-Takmila, was compiled as a continuation and supplement to earlier biographical compendia of Andalusian and Maghribi scholars, specifically the biographical history of Ibn al-Faradi and Kitab al-Sila by Ibn Bashkuwal al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1. It incorporates biographies of figures omitted by predecessors as well as later scholars, detailing their transmissions, teachers, writings, and historical notices al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi …+1.

According to Ibn al-Zubayr al-Thaqafi, Ibn Abd al-Malik devoted most of his life to composing this encyclopedia and died before completing all his intended revisions, leaving various blank spaces (bayad) in the original draft al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1. Classical bibliographers, including al-Sakhawi and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, recorded the complete encyclopedia as consisting of nine volumes (asfar / mujalladat) al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…+1.

Method and Sources

The volume adheres to strict alphabetical ordering according to the Eastern Arabic sequence, systematically organizing the subjects' given names, patronymics, lineages, teachers, and students al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li…. In compiling these biographies, Ibn Abd al-Malik drew heavily on major Andalusian biographical and historical authorities, including Ibn al-Zubayr's Silat al-Sila, Ibn al-Abbar's al-Takmila, Ibn Bashkuwal's al-Sila, Muhammad ibn Harith al-Khushani's Qudat Qurtuba, Ibn Sahib al-Salat's Tarikh, and the biographical dictionaries (ma'ajim) of Ibn Musdi and Ibn Jami' al-Safar al-Khamis min Ki….

The text is characterized by critical engagement with biographical narratives, rigorous transmission verification, and candid evaluations of figures, interspersed with substantive historical digressions on political and literary affairs in al-Andalus and the Maghrib al-Safar al-Khamis min Ki…+1.

Manuscript Tradition and Critical Edition

During the author's lifetime, al-Dhayl wa-l-Takmila was transmitted by his son Abu Abd Allah Muhammad and by al-Qasim al-Tujibi al-Dhayl wa al-Takmila li….

The fifth volume (al-Safar al-Khamis) was edited by Ihsan Abbas and published in Beirut in 1965 in two parts, with comprehensive indices placed at the end of the second part Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1. The edition was established on three manuscript witnesses:

• The Halim manuscript at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya, Halim Tarikh 61), which served as the primary base copy; this copy contains extensive scholarly marginalia by an early annotator, alongside reader notes associated with Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Qasim al-Tujibi and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Salama al-Khazraji, who finished reading it in 768 AH Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.
• The British Museum manuscript (Or. 7940, part 1) Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…+1.
• The Rabat manuscript preserved in the General Library (al-Khizana al-Amma) al-Safar al-Khamis min Ki….