Inba al-Ghasr bi-Anba al-Asr
- Author died
- 900 AH
- Editions
- al-Hayʼah al-Miṣrīyah al-‘Āmmah lil-Kitāb
Inba al-Ghasr bi-Anba al-Asr (Arabic: إنباء الهصر بأنباء العصر, lit. 'Reporting of the Lion on the News of the Age') is a late Mamluk historical chronicle by the Egyptian Hanafi historian Ibn al-Sayrafi (Ali ibn Dawud al-Jawhari, 819–900 AH / 1416–1494 CE), recording the political events and obituaries of late 9th-century AH Egypt .
Background and Structure
The work is modeled after Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's chronicle Inba al-Ghumr bi-Anba al-Umr . Ibn al-Sayrafi adapted the title and opened his historical account with the year 873 AH, mirroring Ibn Hajar's commencement of his own work with 773 AH . The term al-hasr (meaning "the lion") in the title is understood as an allusion to the reigning Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay, whom the author frequently praises throughout the text for his leadership, justice, and religious observance .
The chronicle is organized year by year and month by month, documenting contemporary state affairs, military campaigns, administrative appointments, and court ceremonial, followed by biographical notices for scholars, officials, and notables who died in each year .
Scope and Preservation
The surviving text covers the period from 873 AH up to 886 AH . It is preserved in a unique manuscript housed at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, consisting of 208 folios transcribed in a clear naskh script . Photographic copies are kept in the Taymuriyya collection in Cairo (No. 2285 History) and on microfilm at the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts of the Arab League (No. 66) .
The surviving manuscript suffers from significant lacunae: the text drops the events from the end of 877 AH through the beginning of 885 AH . For the year 885 AH, only a fragmented obituary of the historian and scholar Ibrahim al-Biqa'i survives, and the record for 886 AH breaks off after a portion of the month of Safar . Ibn al-Sayrafi also drafted an autograph continuation covering the later years of Qaytbay's reign .
Editions
The work was first edited by Hassan Habashi and published in Cairo in 1970 . A second, revised edition with emendations prepared alongside Sa'id Abd al-Fattah and Umayma Ali Ahmad was published in Cairo in 2001–2002 .
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