Marwiyyat Kitab Akhbar al-Madina Jam wa Tawthiq wa Dirasa
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- Madinah Research and Studies Center
Marwiyyat Kitab Akhbar al-Madina: Jam wa-Tawthiq wa-Dirasa (Narrations of the Book of Chronicles of Medina: Compilation, Documentation, and Study) is an academic study by Abd al-Aziz ibn Awad ibn Salman al-Juhani that reconstructs, documents, and analyzes the surviving transmissions of the lost historical work Akhbar al-Madina by the genealogist and historian Yahya ibn al-Hasan al-Alawi al-Aqiqi (d. 277 AH / 890 CE) .
Purpose and Scope
The original text of Akhbar al-Madina by al-Aqiqi was an early regional history of Medina that was utilized by later scholars but subsequently disappeared . Al-Juhani undertook the project to gather the scattered citations and narrations of the work preserved across later historical, biographical, and theological literature, reconstruct its contents along with their chains of transmission (isnads), and investigate al-Aqiqi's historical methodology and influence .
Structure
The work is organized into an introduction, a preliminary overview, two primary parts, and a conclusion :
- Prelude: Summarizes the cultural environment in Medina during al-Aqiqi's era .
- Part One: Focuses on al-Aqiqi and his historical methodology across two chapters:
- Chapter One: Examines al-Aqiqi's lineage, upbringing, family, teachers, students, writings, areas of expertise, theological and legal orientations, the evaluations of Sunni and Shi'i authorities regarding him, and his death .
- Chapter Two: Analyzes the book Akhbar al-Madina, its historical significance, al-Aqiqi's methods of reporting, documenting, and criticizing historical reports, his source materials, and his impact on later historians .
- Part Two: Gathers the reconstructed narrations of Akhbar al-Madina, divided thematically and chronologically into four chapters:
- Chapter One: Narrations concerning the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ in Medina up to the construction of the Prophet's Mosque .
- Chapter Two: Narrations concerning subsequent structural additions to the Prophet's Mosque and its inscriptions from the period of the Caliphs onward .
- Chapter Three: Narrations detailing the apartments (hujurat) and residences surrounding the mosque, as well as accounts of the Prophet's ﷺ death, burial, and the graves of Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab .
- Chapter Four: Narrations relating to the Battle of Uhud, the virtues and etiquettes of Medina, the Quba Mosque, and other mosques within and around Medina .
- Conclusion: Summarizes the research findings, followed by indices and a bibliography .
Method and Sources
In reconstructing the lost book, al-Juhani identified the major classical works that cited al-Aqiqi. The most extensive recipient of al-Aqiqi's reports was Nur al-Din al-Samhudi in Wafa al-Wafa bi-Akhbar Dar al-Mustafa, where al-Juhani counted 226 narrations cited from Akhbar al-Madina . Other key sources preserving al-Aqiqi's material include Abu Bakr al-Ajurri in Kitab al-Shari'a—who personally observed a copy of the manuscript in the possession of a muezzin at al-Masjid al-Haram and described it as a large volume of around 100 folios arranged by thematic chapters—as well as Zayn al-Din al-Maraghi in Tahqiq al-Nusra (26 citations) and Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Salihi al-Shami in Subul al-Huda wa-al-Rashad (30 citations) .
The study concludes that al-Aqiqi organized his book by subject headings and relied primarily on transmission with isnads, direct audition (sama'), and presentation ('ard), deriving his reports from figures in hadith, jurisprudence, and history, such as Harun ibn Musa al-Farawi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jumahi, Bakr ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Muhammad ibn Ya'qub, Musa ibn Abd Allah al-Khuza'i, Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri, and al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar .
Publication
The work was published in its first edition in 1440 AH (c. 2018–2019 CE) by Markaz Buhuth wa-Dirasat al-Madina al-Munawwara (Al-Madinah Research and Studies Center) .
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