Nihayat al-Arab fi Funun al-Adab
- Author died
- 733 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub wa-al-Watha'iq al-Qawmiyyah
Nihayat al-Arab fi Funun al-Adab (The Ultimate Aim in the Arts of Belles-Lettres) is a multi-volume Arabic encyclopedia authored by the Egyptian scholar and administrator Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri (677–733 AH / 1278–1333 CE; also recorded as d. 732 AH) . Composed during the Mamluk period, the work synthesizes classical Islamic learning, natural history, statecraft, administration, and universal history .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Nuwayri composed the work in Cairo during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun after stepping down from his administrative and military posts in the state chancellery and army supervision to devote himself to writing . In the colophons of various volumes, al-Nuwayri recorded specific dates of completion for portions of the manuscript; for example, he finished the fifth volume in Rabi' al-Awwal 722 AH and was compiling parts of the twenty-ninth volume in Rajab 725 AH .
In his preface, al-Nuwayri explained that his aim was to assemble material to which human souls naturally incline, following in the footsteps of previous adab masters . The historical narrative was carried forward year by year up to 730 AH, with manuscript evidence showing his intent to document the year 731 AH before his death intervened .
Structure and Contents
Al-Nuwayri structured the encyclopedia into five major disciplines (funun), each comprising five divisions (aqsam), which are further subdivided into detailed chapters (abwab) :
- First Discipline: The heavens, celestial phenomena, astronomy, the earth, and terrestrial geography .
- Second Discipline: Humankind and related affairs, including human nature, bodily characteristics, love poetry, proverbs, statecraft, rulership, scribal arts, and chancellery administration .
- Third Discipline: Non-human animals (al-hayawan al-samit), covering terrestrial and aquatic fauna .
- Fourth Discipline: Plants and flora, supplemented by sections on medicine .
- Fifth Discipline: Universal and Islamic history, which is the largest and most extensive discipline . It opens with the creation of Adam and Eve, biblical and ancient prophets, regional kings, pre-Islamic Arabian history, and the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, before proceeding through the Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, dynasties of the Islamic West (Ifriqiya, Sicily, and Crete), and later dynasties including the Ayyubid Sultanate, the Seljuk Empire, and the Mamluk Sultanate down to his contemporary era .
The first four disciplines occupy roughly the first twelve parts, while the fifth historical discipline occupies the remainder of the work .
Sources, Method, and Reception
Al-Nuwayri drew upon a wide array of earlier Arabic literature, poetry collections, dictionaries, and historical chronicles, displaying methodological affinity with classical adab anthologies such as al-Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan and Ibn Qutayba's 'Uyun al-Akhbar . In compiling his historical sections, his principal sources included Ibn al-Athir's al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, al-Tabari, and al-Baladhuri .
The encyclopedia is considered a primary witness to several lost works. It preserves excerpts from earlier historians whose works did not survive, such as Ibn al-Raqiq, Ibn Rashiq, and Ibn Shaddad on North Africa and Sicily, as well as Akhi Muhsin on the doctrines and history of the Qarmatians . Modern scholars class the work alongside Shihab al-Din Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari's Masalik al-Absar and Ahmad al-Qalqashandi's Subh al-A'sha as one of the major encyclopedic compilations of eighth-century AH Egypt .
Manuscript Tradition and Publication
The author divided the original manuscript into approximately thirty to thirty-one parts (ajza'), multiple copies of which—including autograph volumes and royal endowed manuscripts—are preserved in libraries such as the Köprülü, Ayasofya, and the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya) . The text was edited and published in Cairo by Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya and the General Egyptian Book Authority, where it appeared in thirty-three printed volumes .
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