Sus al-Alima

Sūs al-ʿĀlima (سوس العالمة, lit. "The Learned Sous") is a single-volume historical and bibliographic survey by the Moroccan scholar al-Mukhtar al-Susi (1318–1383 AH / 1900–1963 CE), presenting a comprehensive overview of the religious scholarship, literary culture, institutions, and learned figures of the Sous (Sūs) region in southern Morocco Sus al-Alima+1. The book functions as a concise general introduction to al-Susi's broader historical and literary oeuvre, particularly his twenty-volume biographical encyclopedia al-Maʿsūl Sus al-Alima+1.

Background and Genesis

The idea for the book originated when al-Mukhtar al-Susi's teacher, the historian Ibn Zaydan, visited Sous and recorded his travels in a short booklet Sus al-Alima. Ibn Zaydan handed the booklet to al-Susi, requesting that he write a supplement detailing the history of Arabic learning across all historical periods of Sous Sus al-Alima. Al-Susi progressively expanded the research into an independent volume, which he dedicated to Ibn Zaydan Sus al-Alima.

Al-Susi initially compiled the material in 1358 AH while under forced residence in his native village of Ilgh, as the inaugural work of an extensive multi-volume regional project Sus al-Alima. Its publication was delayed, allowing him to revise and expand the text before finalizing it in Rabat in 1379 AH Sus al-Alima.

Structure and Content

The work provides a thematic and chronological outline of intellectual life in Sous from the arrival of Islam up to the twentieth century Sus al-Alima+1. Al-Susi addresses the relative scarcity of surviving written records from the fifth through eighth centuries AH, contrasting it with the major scholarly and literary revival that began in the ninth and tenth centuries AH under the Saadi and Alaouite states Sus al-Alima.

The book is organized into several primary core areas:

• Sciences Cultivated in Sous: Al-Susi classifies the intellectual disciplines pursued and taught in the region into twenty-one distinct fields: Quranic readings (qirāʾāt), Quranic exegesis (tafsīr), Hadith, prophetic biography (sīrah), Hadith sciences, Arabic grammar (naḥw), morphology (taṣrīf), lexicography (lughah), rhetoric (bayān), legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), scholastic theology (kalām), jurisprudence (fiqh), inheritance law (farāʾiḍ), arithmetic, astronomy (hayʾah), logic, prosody (ʿarūḍ), medicine, chains of transmission (asānīd), astronomical/astrological tables (jadāwil), and literature (adab) Sus al-Alima.
• Arabic Literature in Sous: A critical historical survey tracing the trajectory of Sousi poetry and prose across four phases: the first literary renaissance, the period of decline, attempts at revival, and the modern second renaissance Sus al-Alima.
• Scholarly Dynasties: An enumeration of families with unbroken lineages of scholarship, organized by tribe Sus al-Alima. Al-Susi establishes the criterion for inclusion as continuity in scholarship over at least three successive generations, or two generations if the family produced more than four scholars Sus al-Alima.
• Sousi Authors and Writings: A chronological survey of regional authors and their works from the sixth century AH—beginning with Ibn Tumart—onward Sus al-Alima. Al-Susi marks works verified to be extant with the Arabic letter Jīm (for mawjūd) Sus al-Alima.
• Sources of Sous History: An annotated bibliographic register listing more than one hundred historical works, biographical collections, registers of transmitters (fahāris), travel accounts, and manuscripts penned by Sousi authors Sus al-Alima+1.

Publication and Editions

The author oversaw the publication of the first edition in a single volume Sus al-Alima+1. A second edition was published in 1404 AH / 1984 CE by Muʾassasat Binnashrah (Benmed) in Casablanca through the committee overseeing the publication of al-Susi's heritage Sus al-Alima+1.