Hawadith Dimashq al-Yawmiyya
- Author died
- 1175 AH
- Editions
- Muḥammad Sa‘īd ibn Qāsim al-Qāsimī (d. after 1317 AH)
Hawadith Dimashq al-Yawmiyya (The Daily Events of Damascus) is an 18th-century chronicle and urban diary written by the Damascus barber Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Budayr al-Budayri (known as al-Hallaq, d. after 1175 AH / 1761 CE), recording the political, social, and economic life of Damascus between 1154 AH (1141 CE) and 1175 AH (1162 CE).
Composition and Redaction
The author, Ahmad al-Budayri, was a practicing barber in Damascus who learned his craft from the barber Ahmad ibn Hashish (d. 1155 AH), a craftsman who shaved prominent scholars such as Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, Murad Afandi al-Naqshbandi, and Muhammad al-Ajluni. Al-Budayri originally composed his daily chronicle in the vernacular Arabic (lisan 'ammi) of 18th-century Damascus, interspersing historical occurrences with extensive rhyming supplications.
At the end of the 19th century, the Damascene scholar Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi (Abu Jamal) revised and abridged the text, standardizing its language by removing the colloquial phrasing, repetitive details, and lengthy rhymed prayers while preserving its core historical material. Al-Qasimi completed this redaction in Ramadan 1317 AH (1900 CE), noting that al-Budayri had abbreviated the records of his final years and mistakenly added an extra year, which al-Qasimi corrected. A surviving manuscript copy was subsequently transcribed in Rajab 1323 AH (1905 CE) by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Majdhub in the Maydan al-Hasa neighborhood of Damascus.
Scope and Contents
The chronicle opens in 1154 AH during the governorship of the Ottoman official Ali Pasha under Sultan Mahmud I. A large portion of the work chronicles Damascus under the rule of the prominent governors of the al-Azm family, notably Sulayman Pasha al-Azm and As'ad Pasha al-Azm, extending through subsequent administrations up to the governorship of Uthman Pasha in 1175 AH.
The work is distinctive for documenting the everyday experiences and concerns of common city residents alongside high politics, including:
- Economic conditions: fluctuating market prices of staples such as bread, clarified butter (samn), oil, charcoal, and meat, along with the impact of scarcity and inflation.
- Natural phenomena and crises: severe winter freezes, torrential rains, and major locust outbreaks that infested Damascus and the slopes of Mount Qasyun at al-Salihiyya, prompting state mobilization of villagers to bury tons of locusts in caves and cemeteries.
- Military and civil strife: clashes and factional violence involving Ottoman imperial corps (the Qapiqul), local Janissaries, irregular cavalry (Dalatiyya), Kurdish contingents, Maghribi soldiers, and urban ashraf, as well as incidents of civil unrest in the markets and around the Umayyad Mosque.
- Urban developments: major construction projects in Damascus, such as As'ad Pasha's construction of the grand commercial khan (qaysariyya) in the al-Buzuriyya market, as well as road restorations and structural collapses of towers and market roofs.
- Hajj affairs: the annual departures, routes, and arrivals of the Syrian Hajj caravan (al-Rakb al-Shami), its military escorts (jarda), logistical hardships, and encounters with desert tribes.
- Obituaries and social vignettes: death notices of prominent scholars—including the hadith scholar Salih al-Junayni (d. 1171 AH), the jurist Abd Allah al-Basrawi (d. 1170 AH), and Muhammad al-Misri al-Azhari Abu al-Surur (d. 1161 AH)—alongside accounts of crime, public executions, and outings to the Marja meadow.
Modern Publication
The text of Hawadith Dimashq al-Yawmiyya, based on the redaction by Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi, was verified and edited for print by the Egyptian historian Ahmad Izzat Abd al-Karim and published in Cairo by the Egyptian Society for Historical Studies (al-Jam'iyya al-Misriyya li-l-Dirasat al-Tarikhiyya) in 1379 AH (1959 CE).
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