Masalik al-Absar fi Mamalik al-Amsar

Masalik al-Absar fi Mamalik al-Amsar (Pathways of Vision into the Realms of the Metropolises) is an Arabic encyclopedia compiled by the Syrian Mamluk administrator and historian Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari (700–749 AH / 1301–1349 CE) Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1. Covering physical and human geography, dynastic history, administration, biography, and natural history, it is regarded alongside al-Nuwayri’s Nihayat al-Arab and al-Qalqashandi’s Subh al-A'sha as one of the major encyclopedic works of the Mamluk era Majallat al-Risala+1.

Composition and Scope

Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari explicitly noted within the text that he was composing it in 738 AH (1337–1338 CE), working on it following his dismissal from administrative posts and continuing until the end of his life, though some parts contain historical narratives extending to 743 AH Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1. Classical bibliographers and historians gave varying estimates of its overall size: Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Ibn Taghribirdi reported it to exceed twenty volumes, Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali cited twenty-seven volumes, and Hajji Khalifa recorded twenty large volumes Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1.

Structure and Contents

The work is organized into two primary divisions (qism), further divided into sections and chapters Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh …+1:

• The First Division (The Earth and its Realms): This division covers routes (al-masalik) and realms (al-mamalik) al-Taratib al-Idariyya = …+1. It treats the physical elements of the earth, mountains, rivers, the seven climes, celestial phenomena, and natural features, followed by comprehensive regional surveys of the known world from East to West Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh …+1. It surveys India, Sind, the Mongol and Turkish realms, Egypt, Syria, the Hijaz, Yemen, Abyssinia and Sudan, North Africa, al-Andalus, Anatolia, and European Christian kingdoms, concluding with a detailed treatment of contemporary Arab tribes and their lineages Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+2.
• The Second Division (The Inhabitants of the Earth): This division addresses the various nations, religions, and sects, opening with an evaluative discourse on the merits of the Islamic East and West (al-Insaf bayna al-Mashriq wa-l-Maghrib) Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1. It includes pre-Islamic and Islamic history, covering the Umayyad and Abbasid states, and presents extensive biographical entries for prominent figures, including scholars, over 192 physicians, philosophers, and poets spanning the late Abbasid era to the author's contemporaries Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+2.

Method and Sources

The author relied on a combination of personal observation, earlier literary and historical texts, and firsthand reports gathered from contemporary travelers, merchants, and state functionaries Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh …+1. For his literary and biographical sections, he drew on written works such as Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi’s al-Mughrib fi Hula al-Maghrib and Imad al-Din al-Isfahani’s Kharidat al-Qasr Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1. For foreign territories, such as the Christian kingdoms and Italian republics, he cited oral testimonies from European informants, including an Italian named Balban the Genoese Majallat al-Risala. In style, he routinely opened biographical entries with rhymed prose summaries before expanding into detailed historical reports and poetry selections Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal….

Reception and Publication

Contemporary and later scholars held the book in high regard; the historian Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi remarked, "A comprehensive book, I know of none like it" al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. A continuation (dhayl) to the work was written by the son of Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kirmani, as mentioned by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti al-Taratib al-Idariyya = …+1.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, portions of the text were edited and published separately: Michele Amari edited and translated the section on Christian kingdoms into Italian in 1883, Hassan Husni Abd al-Wahhab published the chapters on North Africa and al-Andalus, and German scholars published sections on Anatolia Majallat al-Risala. The first volume was edited by Ahmad Zaki Pasha and published by Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in 1924 Majallat al-Risala. A complete facsimile edition in twenty-seven volumes was later issued under the direction of Fuat Sezgin, followed by multi-volume critical editions prepared by teams of contemporary researchers Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal…+1.