Badr al-Din al-Ayni
Aqd al-Juman fi Tarikh Ahl al-Zaman [648 - 712 H]
- Author died
- 855 AH
- Editions
- Maṭba'at Dār al-Kutub wa-al-Wathā'iq al-Qawmiyyah
Aqd al-Juman fi Tarikh Ahl al-Zaman [648–712 H] (The Necklace of Pearls on the History of the People of Time [648–712 AH]) is the early Mamluk section of the extensive universal chronicle composed by the Hanafi jurist and historian Badr al-Din al-Ayni (762–855 AH / 1361–1451 CE) .
Composition and Scope
Al-Ayni originally compiled a historical work in his early youth spanning from the creation of the world up to the year 805 AH, before subsequently revising and restructuring it with additions, vocalizations of ambiguous personal names and places, and prefacing it with an introduction addressing the nature and origin of history . The resulting universal chronicle, titled Aqd al-Juman fi Tarikh Ahl al-Zaman, encompasses world history from the time of Adam through the end of the year 850 AH, arranged annalistically year by year with the events (hawadith) of each year placed before the obituaries (wafayat) of its notable figures .
The section covering the years 648–712 AH (1250–1312 CE) forms the opening phase of the chronicle's treatment of the Mamluk Sultanate era . It opens in 648 AH with the conclusion of the Seventh Crusade, detailing the defeat and capture of King Louis IX of France ("Rayd Afrans") and the assassination of the Ayyubid sultan al-Mu'azzam Turanshah, leading to the rise of the Bahri Mamluk regime under al-Mu'izz Aybak . It then chronicles sixty-five continuous years of political, military, and biographical history up to the third reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun in 712 AH .
Content and Methodology
In handling this period, al-Ayni functioned as a critical historian rather than a passive compiler . He evaluated conflicting reports and corrected chronological errors found in earlier works; for instance, he analyzed the disputed date of Sultan al-Mu'izz Aybak's accession, arguing that his initial oath of allegiance in 648 AH lasted only five days before his deposition and reappointment as atabeg, and connected Aybak's second sultanate with his marriage to Shajar al-Durr in 649 AH against the popular narrative relayed by al-Maqrizi . He likewise critiqued chronological errors made by earlier historians concerning the deaths and succession dates of the Seljuk rulers of Rum .
For this period, al-Ayni drew heavily upon contemporary primary sources, many of which are no longer extant, alongside surviving chronicles . Key sources explicitly cited include Baybars al-Mansuri al-Dawadar's Zubdat al-Fikrah fi Tarikh al-Hijrah, Abu Shamah's Dhayl al-Rawdatayn, Abu al-Fida's al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbar al-Bashar, Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi's Mir'at al-Zaman, as well as works by Ibn Kathir and al-Nuwayri .
Manuscripts, Abridgments, and Editions
Autograph portions and later manuscript copies of Aqd al-Juman are preserved across several international libraries . The most prominent surviving text is a composite manuscript in 23 parts (filling 69 manuscript volumes) housed at the Veliuddin Library in Istanbul, comprising portions in the author's own handwriting alongside sections copied by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ansari al-Akhmimi (transcribed between 893 and 898 AH) and Abd Allah ibn Isa al-Amri al-Azhari (copied in 891 AH), with a photographic copy preserved at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya under no. 1584 Tarikh .
Al-Ayni prepared an abridgment of his chronicle entitled Tarikh al-Badr fi Awsaf Ahl al-Asr . An Ottoman Turkish translation was later produced in 1139 AH by the Ottoman Hanafi scholar and judge Ahmad ibn Rajab al-Uskudari (known as Rajab-zade, d. 1142 AH / 1729 CE) .
Due to the immense size of the complete manuscript, the Center for Heritage Editing (Markaz Tahqiq al-Turath) at the General Egyptian Book Authority divided the text by historical eras . The Mamluk Sultanate section spanning 648–712 AH was critically edited by Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Amin and published in Cairo across five volumes between 1987 and 2009:
- Volume 1: 648–664 AH (published 1987)
- Volume 2: 665–688 AH (published 1988)
- Volume 3: 689–698 AH (published 1989)
- Volume 4: 699–707 AH (published 1992)
- Volume 5: 708–712 AH (published 2009)
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