Mujam Alam al-Jazair

Mujam Alam al-Jazair (Mu‘jam A‘lām al-Jazā’ir: min Sadr al-Islām ḥattā al-‘Aṣr al-Ḥāḍir, "Dictionary of Algerian Notable Figures: From the Dawn of Islam to the Present Age") is a biographical dictionary by the scholar and bibliographer Adil Nuwayhid, dedicated to documenting the lives and works of Algerian scholars, authors, poets, jurists, and judges across Islamic history Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.

Background and Composition

The genesis of the work dates to 1962, when Nuwayhid was assigned to work in Algeria under its first national government following Algerian independence Mujam Alam al-Jazair. During this time, he broadcast a series of cultural episodes on Algerian radio discussing prominent classical writers and historical personalities of the country Mujam Alam al-Jazair. These broadcasts led him to begin gathering dispersed biographical notices scattered throughout Maghrebi and eastern chronicles, literature anthologies, and local Algerian manuscripts Mujam Alam al-Jazair.

Nuwayhid prepared the first edition and issued it in 1390 AH / 1971 CE in Beirut, intending at first to follow it with a supplement (mustadrak) for omitted figures Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1. After completing other biographical projects, he resumed research on Algeria, collecting contemporary publications, press archives, and historical references on Algerian emigrants abroad Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1. While seeking biographical material on modern Algerian authors and poets, he received assistance from two scholars, Dr. Muhammad Nasir and al-Hadi al-Hasani Mujam Alam al-Jazair. Instead of publishing a separate addendum, he integrated the material into a revised and expanded second edition published in Beirut in 1400 AH / 1980 CE Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.

Scope and Content

The dictionary documents prominent figures originating from or active within the Algerian territory from the early Islamic conquests up to the modern era Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1. Its entries primarily encompass:

• Religious scholars, including Quranic exegetes (mufassirūn), hadith scholars, and legal scholars (fuqahā’) Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.
• Jurists, magistrates, and judges (quḍāh) Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.
• Litterateurs, prose writers, poets, and historians Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.

Each biography provides a concise summary of the subject's lineage, scholarly background, teachers, notable achievements, authored works, and dates of birth and death when available Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1.

Method and Structure

In the initial 1971 edition, Nuwayhid structured the dictionary strictly alphabetically by the individual's given first name (ism) and patronymic, sequencing identical names chronologically by year of death Mujam Alam al-Jazair+1. In the expanded second edition (1980), he changed the system to arrange entries alphabetically according to the subject's most famous title, nisba, or surname (shuhra), such as al-Tilimsānī, al-Jazā’irī, or al-Wahrānī Mujam Alam al-Jazair.

For date conversions where the exact Islamic calendar month was omitted in classical sources, Nuwayhid adopted the convention of listing a single preferred Gregorian year rather than dual overlapping years Mujam Alam al-Jazair. Nuwayhid concluded every entry with a list of cited primary and secondary references, supplementing the dictionary with a comprehensive bibliography at the end of the book that records full publication details of the Arabic and non-Arabic sources consulted Mujam Alam al-Jazair.