Hadi al-Az'an al-Najdiyya ila al-Diyar al-Misriyya
- Author died
- 1016 AH
- Editions
- Hadi al-Az'an al-Najdiyya ila al-Diyar al-Misriyya
Hadi al-Az'an al-Najdiyya ila al-Diyar al-Misriyya (The Driver of the Najdi Litters to the Egyptian Lands) is an Arabic travelogue by the Hanafi jurist and author Muhibb al-Din al-Hamawi (951–1016 AH / 1544–1607 CE), recounting his journey from Najd to Egypt .
Subject Matter and Context
The work documents al-Hamawi's travels undertaken in 978 AH (1570–1571 CE) from the region of Najd to Egypt . The author, who was born in Hama and served as a judge in Ma'arrat al-Nu'man as well as a deputy judge in Damascus, recorded several accounts of his extensive journeys during the tenth century of the Hijra . The opening of the text begins with the phrasing: «إن أحلى ما ينطق به ألسنة الإمام...» ("Verily, the sweetest utterance upon the tongues...") .
In addition to this Egyptian narrative, al-Hamawi composed a second travel work describing his journey from Damascus to Istanbul in 981 AH, titled Bawadi al-Dumu' al-'Andamiyya bi-Wadi al-Diyar al-Rumiyya (The Outpourings of Brazilwood Tears in the Valleys of the Anatolian Lands), alongside other accounts documenting his travels to Tabriz, Anatolia, and Egypt . The title of the Egyptian travelogue appears in some literary histories under the slight variant Hawi al-Az'an al-Najdiyya ila al-Diyar al-Misriyya .
Manuscript Preservation
Manuscripts of Hadi al-Az'an al-Najdiyya ila al-Diyar al-Misriyya have been preserved in multiple collections, including a manuscript volume at the Alexandria Municipal Library where it is bound alongside al-Hamawi's Anatolian travelogue . Copies are also cataloged in the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, the Khedivial Library in Cairo, Cambridge University Library, the Atif Efendi Library in Istanbul, the Oriental Library at Saint Joseph University in Beirut, and the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus .
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