Ittiaz al-Hunafa bi-Akhbar al-Aimma al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa
- Author died
- 845 AH
- Editions
- Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
Itti'az al-Hunafa bi-Akhbar al-Aimma al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa (Lessons for the Monotheists Concerning the History of the Fatimid Imams and Caliphs) is a specialized historical chronicle by the Egyptian historian Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (766–845 AH / 1364–1442 CE) dedicated to the comprehensive history of the Fatimid Caliphate.
Scope and Structure
The work forms the middle part of al-Maqrizi's broader historical trilogy chronicling the rulers of Islamic Egypt, bridging his earlier work Iqd Jawahir al-Asfat fi Akhbar Madinat al-Fustat (which spans the Islamic conquest of Egypt to the Fatimid takeover) and his later chronicle al-Suluk li-Ma'rifat Duwal al-Muluk (which covers the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras).
Al-Maqrizi arranged the work using an annalistic framework, recording events year by year alongside biographical narratives of the Fatimid caliphs. The book opens with an extensive genealogical register of the descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib through both al-Hasan ibn Ali and al-Husayn ibn Ali, followed by a detailed inquiry into Fatimid lineage. It chronicles the rise and establishment of the Fatimid state in the Maghreb, their conquest of Egypt and transfer of their capital to Cairo, royal customs and ceremonies (rusum), critiques leveled against them by jurists and chroniclers, and the ultimate downfall of their dynasty and the subsequent conditions of their descendants.
Sources and Historiographical Value
Itti'az al-Hunafa is regarded as the most detailed surviving chronicle of the Fatimid state. Its scholarly importance lies heavily in al-Maqrizi's extensive synthesis of and direct citations from numerous contemporary and early Fatimid-era sources whose original texts have otherwise been lost. Among these cited works and historians are:
- Al-Hasan ibn Zulaq (Itmam Akhbar Umara Misr and Sirat al-Mu'izz)
- Abu Muhammad Abd al-Aziz ibn Shaddad (Tarikh Ifriqiyya wa-l-Maghrib)
- Ibn al-Tuwayr and Ibn Abd al-Zahir (al-Rawda al-Bahiyya al-Zahira fi Khitat al-Mu'izziyya al-Qahira)
- Ibn Muhadhdhab (Sirat al-A'imma) and Ibn Muyassar
- Polemical and critical writings, including works by Akhu Muhsin, Ibn Hazm (Jamharat Ansab al-Arab), and Abd al-Jabbar al-Basri
In his evaluation of Fatimid legitimacy, al-Maqrizi distinguished himself from most Sunni historians by arguing for the authenticity of the Fatimids' Alid descent. He documented the accusations of polemicists such as Akhu Muhsin and Ibn al-Nadim, traced their claims back to the writings of Ibn Razzam alleging descent from Abd Allah ibn Maymun al-Qaddah, and refuted those claims with counter-arguments and historical evidence.
Manuscripts and Publication History
For decades, the book was known in modern scholarship only through an incomplete manuscript preserved in the Gotha Research Library in Germany, which breaks off around the caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah's arrival in Egypt. This partial text was published in 1909 by the Orientalist Hugo Bunz and re-edited by Jamal al-Din al-Shayyal (published in 1948; another account gives 1945).
A unique complete manuscript was subsequently identified by the French historian Claude Cahen in the Topkapı Palace Library (Saray Ahmad III) in Istanbul, copied by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jizi al-Azhari in 884 AH. The Institute of Arabic Manuscripts under the Arab League obtained a photographic reproduction of this codex. Using this complete manuscript, the work was published in Cairo by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in three volumes between 1967 and 1973, edited by Jamal al-Din al-Shayyal (volume 1) and Muhammad Hilmi Muhammad Ahmad (volumes 2 and 3).
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