Alam Malqa
- Author died
- 636 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Gharb al-Islami
A'lam Malaqa (Arabic: أعلام مالقة, "The Notables of Malaga") is an Andalusian local biographical dictionary begun by the judge Ibn Askar (d. 636 AH / 1238–1239 CE) and completed by his nephew Abu Bakr ibn Khamis, documenting the scholars, jurists, literati, and rulers of Malaga.
Composition and Titles
The work was conceived as a continuation (dhayl) to al-I'lam bi-Mahasin al-A'lam min Ahl Malaqa al-Kiram ("Informing of the Merits of the Eminent Persons Among the Noble People of Malaga") by Asbagh ibn Abi al-Abbas (d. 592 AH). Ibn Askar commenced writing the dictionary under the title al-Ikmal wa-l-Itmam fi Silat al-I'lam bi-Mahasin al-A'lam min Ahl Malaqa al-Kiram ("The Completion and Perfection in Supplementing the I'lam..."), also known as Matla' al-Anwar wa-Nuzhat al-Basa'ir wa-l-Absar fima Ihtawat 'alayhi Malaqa min al-A'lam wa-l-Ru'asa' wa-l-Akhyar ("The Rising of Lights and the Promenade of Insights and Visions Regarding Malaga's Notables, Leaders, and Righteous").
Following Ibn Askar's death before the work was finished, his sister's son, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Khamis, took up the task of supplementing and completing it, finalizing the text in 639 AH (1241–1242 CE) in a single compact volume.
Scope, Structure, and Sources
The book compiles biographical notices for figures who settled in Malaga, entered it, or passed through it, recording accounts of their scholarly careers, literary achievements, eloquence, epistolary correspondences, and the Andalusian and external teachers from whom they transmitted. The entries are organized alphabetically by proper name.
In compiling their biographies, the authors drew upon earlier biographical and historical sources, including:
- Tarikh Ulama al-Andalus by Ibn al-Faradi
- Kitab al-Sila by Ibn Bashkuwal
- Jadhwat al-Muqtabis by al-Humaydi
- The histories of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi and Ibn Hayyan
- The registry Rijal Malaqa prepared for the Umayyad caliph al-Hakam al-Mustansir
- Local Malagan records, including writings on the city's jurists and notaries by Abu al-Tahir al-Sabti (d. 612 AH), notes on Malagan men of letters by Abu Amr ibn Salim (d. 620 AH), and Ibn Askar's personal fahrasa (catalog of teachers)
Reception and Transmission
The dictionary served as a key source for later Andalusian and Maghrebi historians. Extensively cited passages appear in Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi's al-Dhayl wa-l-Takmila, Ibn al-Zubayr al-Asimi's Silat al-Sila, Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib's al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharnata, and Abu al-Hasan al-Bunnahi's al-Marqaba al-Ulya. Al-Bunnahi later composed a further continuation to the local histories of Malaga. The work also circulated in the Islamic East, where al-Sakhawi recorded its description and scope in al-I'lan bi-l-Tawbikh li-Man Dhamma al-Tarikh.
While early historians had access to the original portions written by Ibn Askar and the supplements of Ibn Khamis as distinct layers, the surviving manuscript transmits the text in an integrated form where the entries composed by each author are interwoven.
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