Shadharat min Kutub Mafquda fi al-Tarikh
- Author died
- 1424 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī
Shadharat min Kutub Mafquda fi al-Tarikh (Fragments from Lost Books on History) is a scholarly compilation compiled and edited by Ihsan Abbas (d. 1424 AH / 2003 CE), reconstructing lost Arabic historical and literary texts from citations preserved in surviving classical works .
Background and Composition
The project originated from Abbas's extensive engagement with large classical compilations, most notably Ibn al-Adim's Bughyat al-Talab fi Tarikh Halab (as well as works like Ibn Asakir's Tarikh Dimashq) . Recognizing that Ibn al-Adim had drawn upon dozens of rare and lost volumes from his library in Aleppo, Abbas began gathering citations attributed to individual lost works to reconstruct an impression of each original source . What began as a focused research exercise expanded as he incorporated quotations from other supporting classical works .
Abbas concentrated on thirty lost titles, deliberately restricting the selection to the fields of history and literature . He highlighted that three major seventh-century AH scholars connected to Aleppo—Yaqut al-Hamawi, al-Qifti, and Ibn al-Adim—had shared access to many of these rare sources and utilized them in their own writings .
Purpose and Methodology
The primary aim of the work is to recover buried historical material, present it to researchers, and demonstrate the vast amount of historical writing that remains lost or missing from surviving heritage . Abbas argued that understanding the broader historiography of Arabic historical writing requires looking beyond extant printed literature to account for these lost compilations .
For each of the thirty works, Abbas extracted the scattered fragments, arranged the excerpts, and provided scholarly apparatus, identifying chains of transmission (isnad), biographical details of the authors, and cross-references to other classical works such as al-Tabari's history . The gathered texts include early historical accounts, such as Akhbar al-Baramika by Abu Ja'far Umar ibn al-Azraq al-Kirmani .
Publication
Abbas completed the introduction to the work on 20 September 1987 at the University of Jordan in Amman . The book was published in Beirut by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, under publisher al-Habib al-Lamsi, appearing in 1408 AH / 1988 CE .
Answer updated