al-Suluk li-Marifat Duwal al-Muluk
- Author died
- 845 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya
al-Suluk li-Maʿrifat Duwal al-Muluk (The Path to Knowledge of the Dynasties of Kings) is an annalistic chronicle of Egypt by the Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi (766–845 AH / 1364–1441 CE), covering the history of the Ayyubid dynasty and the Mamluk Sultanate .
Scope and Composition
The work forms the third installment in al-Maqrizi's broader historical project on Islamic Egypt . In his preface, the author explains that after completing ʿIqd Jawahir al-Asfat—which documented the rulers from the Muslim conquest to the end of the Ikhshidid dynasty—and Ittiʿaz al-Hunafaʾ, which chronicled the Fatimid Caliphate, he composed this book to treat the subsequent Kurdish Ayyubid and Turkish and Circassian Mamluk rulers .
Chronologically, the narrative spans from the fall of the Fatimids in 567 AH (or 577 AH according to other accounts) down to the year 844 AH / 1440–1441 CE, shortly before the author's death . On the title page of his manuscript, al-Maqrizi inscribed a personal supplication addressing himself regarding contentment, moral integrity, and a good end .
Structure and Method
The text is arranged strictly according to the annalistic system (al-nizam al-hawli), recording historical, political, military, and administrative occurrences year by year . Al-Maqrizi consciously limited the inclusion of detailed biographical entries and obituaries in the annual entries, stating in his preface that he reserved comprehensive biographies for a dedicated biographical compilation, al-Muqaffa al-Kabir .
Continuations and Reception
The chronicle established itself as a primary reference for the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras and prompted several continuations (dhayl) and summaries by subsequent historians :
- Ibn Taghribirdi composed Hawadith al-Duhur fi Mada al-Ayyam wa-al-Shuhur as a direct continuation, picking up where al-Maqrizi ended in 845 AH, while expanding the biographical obituary sections that al-Maqrizi had kept brief .
- Al-Sakhawi wrote a continuation titled al-Tibr al-Masbuk fi Dhayl al-Suluk .
- Muhammad ibn ʿIsa al-Hindi authored an abridgment of the work .
Manuscripts and Modern Editions
Autograph manuscripts and early copies survive in several libraries, including Istanbul (Yeni Cami MS 887, carrying extensive marginalia and glosses in al-Maqrizi's hand), the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, and Cambridge University .
European scholars translated portions of the text during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:
- Étienne Quatremère translated the chronicle of the years 648–708 AH into French under the title Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de l'Egypte (Paris, 1837–1845) .
- Edgar Blochet translated the earlier sections between 1898 and 1908 .
- R. J. C. Broadhurst published an English translation of the Ayyubid section as A History of the Ayyubid Sultans of Egypt in 1980 .
The full Arabic edition was initiated by Muhammad Mustafa Ziyadah, who published the first two volumes (in six parts, ending at 754 AH) between 1934 and 1958 through the Committee for Authorship, Translation, and Publication in Cairo . Following Ziyadah's death, Saʿid ʿAbd al-Fattah ʿAshur edited the remaining third and fourth volumes (also in six parts) between 1970 and 1973 for the Heritage Editing Center at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub) .
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