Tarajim al-Awail wal-Khulafa (al-Aalam al-Sughra)
- Author died
- 1396 AH
- Editions
- General Egyptian Book Organization
Tarajim al-Awail wal-Khulafa (al-Aalam al-Sughra) (Biographies of the Early Figures and Caliphs: The Minor al-A'lam) is a biographical work by the Syrian historian and diplomat Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli (d. 1396 AH / 1976 CE), containing approximately 150 concise biographies of pre-Islamic Arabian figures, early notables, and Islamic caliphs .
Background and Discovery
The manuscript remained unpublished and unmentioned in previous bibliographies of al-Zirikli's works, as well as in his own autobiographical notices . Al-Zirikli left the handwritten draft without an authorial title or introduction . In November 2013, the manuscript papers were obtained from his daughter, Hayat al-Zirikli, in the al-Ma'adi district of Cairo by a research team including the editor and manuscript specialist Mustafa Musa . The work was subsequently prepared for publication under the auspices of Ahmad Mujahid, head of the General Egyptian Book Organization (al-Hay'ah al-Misriyyah al-'Ammah lil-Kitab) . The modern title, Tarajim al-Awail wal-Khulafa (al-Aalam al-Sughra), was assigned by its editor as an allusion to al-Zirikli's major biographical dictionary, al-A'lam .
Structure and Content
Unlike the alphabetical arrangement of al-Zirikli's multi-volume al-A'lam, this work is organized chronologically, opening with a biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . The text is compact, spanning under 200 pages, and contains around 150 entries whose detailed historical phrasing is distinct from the corresponding entries in al-A'lam :
- Pre-Islamic and Early Figures: Biographies of pre-Islamic Arabian leaders, legendary rulers, and ancestors of Quraysh, such as Jadhima al-Waddah, Tubba', Abd Manaf, Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, Abd al-Muttalib, and Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib .
- Early Islamic Leaders and Caliphs: Biographies of the Prophet's grandsons, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, followed by successive caliphs from the Umayyad and Abbasid eras up through figures such as Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah, al-Radi billah, and al-Muqtadir billah .
Entries typically head with the subject's common name or given name, provide estimated birth and death dates according to the most probable reports, and incorporate genealogical lines, poetic excerpts, aphorisms, historical narratives, military campaigns, and anecdotes . Cross-references within the text—such as deferring poet biographies like al-Muhalhil or 'Ubayd ibn al-Abras to an intended Diwan al-Shu'ara—suggest that the compilation was part of an earlier, broader project that al-Zirikli later set aside in favor of his comprehensive dictionary .
Publication
The work was published based on the unique autograph manuscript, typeset alongside a complete photographic facsimile of al-Zirikli's handwriting within a single volume, with editorial annotations demarcated in square brackets .
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