Nayl al-Muna bi-Dhayl Bulugh al-Qura li-Takmilat Ithaf al-Wara
- Author died
- 954 AH
- Editions
- Muʼassasat al-Furqān lil-Turāth al-Islāmī
Nayl al-Muna bi-Dhayl Bulugh al-Qura li-Takmilat Ithaf al-Wara (Attaining Desires by Appending the Attainment of Villages in Completing the Gifting of Mankind) is a chronicle of Mecca composed by the Makkan historian Jar Allah Ibn Fahd (d. 954 AH / 1547 CE) .
Composition and Scope
The work is the second continuation (dhayl thānin) in a multigenerational dynastic historiographical project undertaken by the Ibn Fahd family of Mecca . The author's grandfather, Najm al-Din Ibn Fahd, composed the foundational annalistic history Ithaf al-Wara bi-Akhbar Umm al-Qura, which documented Mecca from 1 AH until his death in 885 AH . Najm al-Din's son, al-Izz Ibn Fahd (d. 922 AH / 1517 CE), then wrote the first continuation, Bulugh al-Qura bi-Dhayl Ithaf al-Wara, recording events up to 922 AH . Jar Allah Ibn Fahd followed by authoring Nayl al-Muna to resume the record .
The chronicle opens with the events of Mecca in Dhu al-Hijjah 923 AH (1517/1518 CE) . In one description, the narrative concludes with the events of Rajab 946 AH (1539 CE), covering approximately 23 years, whereas another report states that it concludes in Jumada al-Thaniyah 949 AH . Coverage pauses during periods when the author was absent from Mecca .
Method and Contents
Jar Allah Ibn Fahd arranged the chronicle in a day-by-day (muwāyamatan) format, offering detailed eyewitness documentation of the political, social, economic, cultural, and administrative life of Mecca . The book devotes particular attention to the Holy Mosque in Mecca, its personnel, the annual pilgrimage (Hajj), pilgrimage commanders, and public incidents .
A central focus of the work is the political and administrative transition following the establishment of Ottoman control over the Hijaz beginning in 923 AH . The text contains frank criticism of early Ottoman governance, contrasting its policies and official Hanafi inclinations with the preceding Mamluk period, whose rulers had favored the Shafi'i school predominant among the local Makkan population . Because of its critical commentary on three contemporary political and social forces, Jar Allah avoided publicizing or citing the work within his other writings .
Transmission and Editions
The book survived in a single unique manuscript preserved in the Şehit Ali Paşa collection (MS 1961) in Istanbul, Turkey, copied from the author's working drafts and notes . The title on the first folio was penned in the handwriting of the contemporary historian Qutb al-Din al-Nahrawali .
The chronicle was utilized as a source by several later historians:
- Abd al-Qadir al-Jaziri cited passages directly from Jar Allah's history, referring to him as "our companion, the polymath Ibn Fahd the historian" .
- Qutb al-Din al-Nahrawali incorporated reports from Jar Allah's handwritten draft into al-Barq al-Yamani .
- Later chroniclers such as Ali ibn Taj al-Din al-Sinjari in Mani'ih al-Karam and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Tabari in Ithaf Fudala' al-Zaman drew upon the work .
Nayl al-Muna was edited by Muhammad al-Habib al-Hilah and published in a first edition by the Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in London in 1420 AH / 2000 CE .
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