Tadhkirat al-Aba wa Tasliyat al-Abna = al-Darari fi Dhikr al-Zarari
- Author died
- 660 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Salām
al-Darari fi Dhikr al-Zarari (Arabic: الدراري في ذكر الذراري, also published as Tadhkirat al-Aba wa Tasliyat al-Abna) is a concise Arabic literary work by the Aleppine historian and scholar Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (586–660 AH / 1191–1262 CE), compiling anecdotes, literary lore, and poetry concerning children and offspring.
Composition and Occasion
Ibn al-Adim composed the work during his youth, at approximately twenty-two years of age, for the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi. He presented it to the sultan on the day his son, al-Malik al-Aziz, was born in 610 AH (1213/1214 CE).
Structure and Contents
The treatise is modest in size and organized into thirteen chapters. It opens with the phrase: "To proceed, after praising God, the One, the Unique..." (أما بعد حمدًا لله الواحد الأحد). In it, the author assembled historical narratives, witty anecdotes, humorous remarks, and poetic selections addressing the praise and dispraise of children and the relationship between parents and offspring.
Title, Manuscripts, and Publication
The authentic title under which the work was recorded by classical biographers is al-Darari fi Dhikr al-Dharari. The expanded title Tadhkirat al-Aba wa-Tasliyat al-Abna al-Musamma bi-l-Darari fi Dhikr al-Dharari ("Remembrance for Fathers and Consolation for Sons, Named al-Darari fi Dhikr al-Dharari") was not given by Ibn al-Adim, but was introduced by a modern editor.
A manuscript of the work is preserved at the Nuruosmaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 3790), with a photographic copy held at the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo (no. F 944). The text was first printed at Matba'at al-Jawa'ib in Istanbul, and was subsequently edited by 'Ala' 'Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad and published by Dar al-Salam in Beirut in 1984.
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